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Balance Committee Rulings 2021 Options
Caedus
Posted: Friday, February 14, 2020 6:33:51 AM
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It isn't the greatest, but it is the best right now.

I like the fact that it will speed up gameplay

With the reinforcement clause it stops more fodder from being added. Yes you can still get to a certain act threshold, but you can't add situational fodder now.

It inhibits the round one beatdown

I don't think it was necessarily enough, but it's what we have.

ThrOzzel and Daala do warp the Gen Con Meta. It is a fact. I dont poo poo on those players, you play to win with what is available. That being said, it may be time to ban or at least Restrict gameplay of those squads, in a competitive nature, if we truly want to fix the meta.
TimmerB123
Posted: Sunday, February 16, 2020 12:06:31 PM
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I think ultimately this is a convoluted way of killing act control. I don't think it can be really used effectively in the top tier anymore (which I think was at least partly the goal of some of the BC). So we start the great experiment. Will worse NPEs rise up? Let's see
AndyHatton
Posted: Monday, August 17, 2020 5:37:44 AM
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Yeah as someone who has been out of the game for a minute, I don't really like this very much. It seems complicated. And as a few above said, this just really seems to hurt unique heavy melee squads disproportionately (Which If I had one complaint about the game lately is that its just that it has become way too complicated.)
Boris
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2020 3:17:17 AM
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Doing my so-called “drive-by check-in.”

I realize I’m late to the party but just curious what prompted these changes. We playtested the hell out of Morrigan 10 or so years ago and felt her ability was necessary against things like Super B&B and Rebel Stall. Not sure whether this change is a reflection of a desire to not see those things countered or if it’s an indication of how the ga,e may have evolved. The tempo control errata seems to indicate it’s the former rather than the latter but I don’t keep up with the competitive side so much these days.
TheHutts
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2020 5:16:46 PM
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Morrigan was most problematic with Thrawn - giving Black and Blue a shooter with unpreventable damage helped them with otherwise bad matchups like GOWK or Sith rocks.
DarkDracul
Posted: Friday, January 1, 2021 1:58:34 PM
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Morrigan has done more for Swap and Stall squads than she ever did to counter them. In the last 10 years Morrigan Swap and Stall squads have won multiple Regionals and several GenCon championships. This change was due to Morrigan Imperial Swap squads dominating the game and the large amount of complaints about her in those squads over the years.
Darth_Jim
Posted: Sunday, January 3, 2021 7:50:00 AM
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When I won GenCon in 2015, it was entirely about activations. I saw an opportunity in the meta, and when The Hutts won New Zealand's championship with Double Swap, I knew there would be those over here who might try and ride that horse. I reduced my squad to 1 attacker, added Gha Nacht to make all of my mice 2pts, and dropped in Wuher to counter reinforcements. My Thrawn swap outactivated everything all day except Fingersandteeth's Sep squad. Not coincidentally, his was the only squad I lost to all day and I benefitted from a good draw in the playoffs which saw Flying Arrow take out Fingersandteeth in the semifinals, clearing the way for me to my championship.

We needed to address activation control. I'm not sure it was the best option. (Tim's mention of an option where you could only activate unique characters if reducing activations intrigues me and I'd like to see more print as to what the drawbacks to that were.) Regardless, it was something, and I'd like to see how the meta plays out rather than give credence to every prediction. That's not to say those predictions are without merit, its just that this game should continue to move forward rather than be paralyzed with concern as to what COULD happen. I hate Daala squads and I hope they don't make a comeback. But... if they do, maybe seeing them in action in the meta can give designers and balance committee members more information to deal with them.

Like Boris, I've moved on from the game and just dabble occasionally in Vassal tournaments. It doesn't mean I've lost concern for the game's well being. That's my 2 cents.
TimmerB123
Posted: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 9:09:30 PM
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Darth_Jim wrote:
I hate Daala squads and I hope they don't make a comeback. But... if they do, maybe seeing them in action in the meta can give designers and balance committee members more information to deal with them.


Guess what? LOL
Lachesis
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 8:21:53 AM
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Been thinking about trying to get back into SWM. This thread made me lol. In order to Increase time, your taking away effects like dodonna. basically just makes Gha nackt mouse droids the best squad. 200 point squads with 20+ activations being the new meta. and i think thats going to make games slower, then the 9 activation dodonna squad. maybe i'm completely off.


But i remember countering Dodonna back in the day. with LONG drawn out squads like http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/99774/this-is-how-to-mando
TimmerB123
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 8:47:56 AM
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Lachesis wrote:
Been thinking about trying to get back into SWM. This thread made me lol. In order to Increase time, your taking away effects like dodonna. basically just makes Gha nackt mouse droids the best squad. 200 point squads with 20+ activations being the new meta. and i think thats going to make games slower, then the 9 activation dodonna squad. maybe i'm completely off.


But i remember countering Dodonna back in the day. with LONG drawn out squads like http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/99774/this-is-how-to-mando


Here's the link to prior balance committee rulings:

http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=20395

Specific to your point:
Quote:

Nov 2015
FLOOR RULE CHANGES

-Mouse Droid: Mouse Droids gain the following SA for competitive play: "Diminutive: this piece does not provide cover or block movement."

-Rapport: Rapport cannot decrease a piece's cost below 3.

Lachesis
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 9:43:51 AM
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Quote:

Nov 2015
FLOOR RULE CHANGES

-Mouse Droid: Mouse Droids gain the following SA for competitive play: "Diminutive: this piece does not provide cover or block movement."

-Rapport: Rapport cannot decrease a piece's cost below 3.



I see, a lot has changed. Wheres a best place to see all rule changes?
FlyingArrow
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 3:04:11 PM
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FlyingArrow
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 3:31:39 PM
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This thread is more confusing now. The 2020 changes are no longer listed, so the first page of conversation doesn't make sense. Have the 2020 changes expired?
DarkDracul
Posted: Friday, February 5, 2021 10:59:57 PM
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FlyingArrow wrote:
This thread is more confusing now. The 2020 changes are no longer listed, so the first page of conversation doesn't make sense. Have the 2020 changes expired?


The 2020 changes are listed directly below the 2021 changes. They have not expired.

It was late and I need to get the rulings posted before going to bed so I added it to my stickied thread.

FlyingArrow
Posted: Saturday, February 6, 2021 6:11:09 AM
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ThumpUp
dreadtech
Posted: Sunday, August 28, 2022 4:21:44 PM
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Well I have been gone a long time, and my group is now getting back together sort of, we play Legion more now than SWM. Looking at this, well got to say I am really glad our group did not do comp play, and still not going to. Banning characters from play is just not on. Still not affecting our group as we don't do it. But it's things like this that made us keep away from it years ago and still is.

Anyway that aside, I am glad to see that the Vsets are still going. I am now a few sets behind, well prob more than a few sets behind. So prob have to use/make do with the pdf downloads for them. My criterium aside about how you do comp play does not take away the appreciation of all the hard work done by everyone involved in the Vsets and for keeping the game alive.
gandalfthegreatestwizard
Posted: Sunday, August 28, 2022 6:53:06 PM
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dreadtech wrote:
Looking at this, well got to say I am really glad our group did not do comp play, and still not going to. Banning characters from play is just not on. Still not affecting our group as we don't do it. But it's things like this that made us keep away from it years ago and still is.

Why's that? If a character has been dominating the competitive meta for a long time, even after being changed multiple times, why is it so bad to ban them? A more understandable criticism to me would be that power creep and complexity creep make the Vsets harder to get into for WOTC players.
dreadtech
Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2023 10:35:44 PM
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well post 1 says why i would never ever play at any comp ever.

if you you have to ban characters, alter listed printed skills, change or ban maps, then why bother playing?

No squad is unbeatable, only unbeatable on the day due to the squad you or your opponent chose.

Also the reason I stopped using Vassel.
gandalfthegreatestwizard
Posted: Friday, November 24, 2023 1:02:57 AM
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dreadtech wrote:
if you you have to ban characters, alter listed printed skills, change or ban maps, then why bother playing?

because we enjoy it? the game isn't less fun because we have a list of balanced maps to use or because we change or ban characters or effects that make squads with them too powerful compared to others. quite the opposite, in fact.

dreadtech wrote:
No squad is unbeatable, only unbeatable on the day due to the squad you or your opponent chose.

no one claimed that any squad is unbeatable. there are squads that make the game more or less enjoyable, though.
thereisnotry
Posted: Friday, November 24, 2023 9:27:59 AM
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dreadtech wrote:
well post 1 says why i would never ever play at any comp ever.

if you you have to ban characters, alter listed printed skills, change or ban maps, then why bother playing?

Simple answer: Because it's more fun that way.

Now I'll rephrase that question and pose it to you:
"If you have to play certain characters or alter your playstyle in order to not lose every game, or play on unbalanced or abusive maps, then why bother playing?"
This is a sincere question.

Personally, I play this game for the sheer enjoyment of it; I have plenty of other hobbies that I could invest myself into if I didn't play SWM. If the game stops being fun, then I simply won't play it. If an occasional ban or alteration needs to be made in order to keep the game fun, then I'm all for it.





Ideally, you're correct: in our game nothing SHOULD ever need to be banned or changed, etc. However, we don't live in a perfect world, and (despite a great deal of effort from many dedicated people) our game is not perfect either.

Just looking at the meta from the past two VassalCon Championships alone, I think this year was a massive improvement, and that was in large part due to the Balance Committee changes that happened after the 2022 competitive season. The VassalCon Championship of 2022 saw several high-activation out-activate-and-smash squads that steamrolled everything else, while 2023 saw a much more diverse meta where the SITH finally won a championship (and it wasn't even with Tulak)! Furthermore, the winning squad wasn't made with the newest broken pieces, but it had been around already for a couple of years and was well known. (Similarly, the GenCon Championship squad was also several years old.)
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