This forums is for questions, answers, and discussion about First Edition rules, formats, and expansions.
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Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#587789
Hi all,

I'm back with another Friday question, and today I'm going to ask you to be armchair playtesters. Throughout the history of First Edition, both during the original Decipher era and the current Continuing Committee era, a lot of new cards with new mechanics have been released. They have all been tested by hard working designers, testers, and staff - this post is not about talking trash about the work done.

But it's a reality that sometimes, no matter how much a new mechanic is tested, it might not land the way everyone hoped. Sometimes a mechanic ends up being a lot more powerful than anyone expected. Other times, players find an ingenious and unexpected use that takes a mechanic from "okay" to "crazy." Even other times, a mechanic is released that just falls entirely flat.

Today's question is all about the mechanics that didn't work the way the designers thought it would. Which mechanic, across the history of First Edition, do you think needed more testing before it came out? And remember, this is not an excuse to put down or shame any of the Decipher employees and CC volunteers that worked on these mechanics. Playtesting is a difficult, thankless job and no amount of testing will catch everything. Please keep in mind that we have the benefit of hindsight when talking about this topic.

And, if you have any interest in helping to test the next generation of 1E cards, reach out. James Monsebroten (Orbin) is our Playtest Manager, and he'd love to hear from you and get answers to any more questions you might have.

Have a great weekend everyone!

-crp
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By Professor Scott (Mathew McCalpin)
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Trailblazer
1E Cardassia Regional Champion 2023
#587793
Armus wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:14 pm Hexany.

How can it be anything else?
Hexany is/was 6 cards working in concert. This is not what I would call a mechanic. I think Charlie is talking about something like [DL], or [NemL] [NemR], or Side decks.
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By Armus (Brian Sykes)
 - The Center of the Galaxy
 -  
Regent
Community Contributor
#587794
Professor Scott wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:51 pm
Armus wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:14 pm Hexany.

How can it be anything else?
Hexany is/was 6 cards working in concert. This is not what I would call a mechanic. I think Charlie is talking about something like [DL], or [NemL] [NemR], or Side decks.
I guess I'll generalize to unlimited interrupts, of which Hexany is the most egregious example. It also applies to Rogue Borg (remember them?), Barclay Transporter Phobia, Loss of Orbital Stability, and, most recently, Double Dumbass on You!
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 - Beta Quadrant
 -  
#587842
Armus wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:56 pm
Professor Scott wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:51 pm
Armus wrote: Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:14 pm Hexany.

How can it be anything else?
Hexany is/was 6 cards working in concert. This is not what I would call a mechanic. I think Charlie is talking about something like [DL], or [NemL] [NemR], or Side decks.
I guess I'll generalize to unlimited interrupts, of which Hexany is the most egregious example. It also applies to Rogue Borg (remember them?), Barclay Transporter Phobia, Loss of Orbital Stability, and, most recently, Double Dumbass on You!
This could probably be generalized further to getting rid of the 60-card limit.
 
By Klauser
 - Beta Quadrant
 -  
#588078
Oh, easy one here. The Unholy Hexany. The broken game mechanic that effectively killed Decipher's 1E game until the CC eventually fixed it.

As I mentioned before - on the old Decipher boards towards the end and during the early days of the CC - (see viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1788&p=23081), too many expansions being released too close together and not enough time to solidly playtest the cards towards the end of Decipher's 1E run.

Of course, we didn't know at the time that Decipher's embezzlement scandal was the driving force behind these rushed releases.

It's telling that five of the six Hexany cards came out in Voyager and Holodeck. The end result was a horrible perversion of a game mechanic that plagued the final years of Deciphers 1E run..
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