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I was just curious what people have seen, on average, with convention play for OP. (APCG developers can feel free to post anonymously on their alts :) ) Yes, this is probably colored by the players that attended, but nevertheless I’m just interested in what you’ve seen.
How many players did you have at your table? Did you ever have a solo or 2 player table? How often did you have a 6 player table?
What level was the player skill? Better than expected? Less than you expected?
Did anyone roleplay? :)
Did anyone at the table misunderstand a rule and then have it corrected by playing OP? (I think this is one of the greatest benefits of OP).
Were players teamwork orientated and did players discuss choices (at critical points) or did everyone "do their own thing"? Did players ask for blessings at critical points (or where they were in trouble) or did they just roll and fail without asking for help?
Did players try to work as a group or did some players "go rogue" and start exploring locations that benefitted them in terms of boons (but perhaps they couldn’t close the location)?
Did you ever have time to harvest locations for loot (by not closing a location on purpose)?
Were there any characters archetypes that were played more than others? Were Seoni and Kyra really common? :) Were any class decks more common than others? Were any class decks rarely seen?
Were healers frequent or were people flexible enough someone would play one if no one else was playing support? Were there ever too many support characters at a table? Did you ever play in a group with no support characters (and were you successful)?
I imagine players are very flexible with what characters they play in adventures 1+2, but in adventures 4+ do the trends in the paragraph above still hold true?
I'll be responding with my thoughts after Origins, which will be my first official session with OP with strangers.
Was there anything else you were surprised by?
Just curious. Please don’t take this post too seriously. Thanks.
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Just got back last night from Paizocon was a great time. I personally played PACG the whole time.
Almost always had at least 3 people usually 4 per table.
On Saturday a bunch of people were playing. I think I counted at least 6 tables of 5-6 per.
I played one game with 6. there is one scenario that ok to play 6 otherwise that is usually too many (IMO).
I got three characters through the first adventure and one more just needs the last scenario.
I really never had a bad experience with any of the groups but I did gravitate towards some of the same people to play with that were fun and cooperative minded. Hope to see them at origins :)
If you have a character from S&S. You should read the guide regarding conversion of the character to the new season.
Only had one experience with a player going "rogue" and unfortunately it did lead to a player death at the table :(
KUDOS to Tanis and the whole team for making the PACG a absolutely outstanding experience.
P.S. except for the death in the playtest :/
Well, I was just at PaizoCon and I ran 4 slots, so I'm probably even more biased :) (full Con Report will be coming.)
No, we don't allow solo/2p tables in OP. If a player would play solo/2p, we generally rebalance the tables to allow for 3-4. The balance gets thrown off whack mostly if solo/2p happens and why are you playing at a convention if you're not going to play with other people anyway? There were two guys who were running Tanis' copy of S&S (I apologize, I forgot your names, but I did run 1-1E with you) through Season 0.
Season of the Righteous is very hard. People didn't have time to "go rogue". In general very few people will do it because they do have to eventually play with other people again, and people have memories I think. In general though people were focused on getting it done, it's very easy to have less than 5 blessings by the time you're done.
Kyra was very common (both WotR and CD), but only because the party needs a healer. Heggal and Zarlova are also very common. I saw a RotR Seoni (my first 1-1 game too :) ) but otherwise I remember lots of Sorcerers and Wizards.
The metagame of characters really depends on your region. Very few Rogues and Rangers were in my games, but other games see lots of them.
Not going to discuss skill level. People will generally ask for blessings. I will sometimes overstep my bounds a bit in terms of suggesting things especially if time is running out, and I apologize in advance if that happens, but most of the time most players know what to do. The game has a lot of information. It can be overwhelming.
EDIT: Doc76 is right, there were a bunch of 5-6 tables that were playing, but those were generally people who really wanted to play with each other (personal friends and such), or they were people who arrived really late and the finish times of the tables drifted apart. We really try to keep tables at 3-4.
And hi, I think I ran at least one table with you, but really everything's blurring together right now which is why I want to get the Con Report out before I forget everything.
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zh, for those of us with quite a bit of experience, you'll know when to blow through blessings and allies to explore and when to hold on to them. I also tend to overstep sometimes. But when you play with the same people week after week, you know how they play. You can see the ones that hold on to cards they should be recycling. You know the ones that will blow through their cards too quickly (and always asking for heals). And you know the ones that know exactly what their doing. I know that I tend to hold back because others play recklessly and I don't want to burden the healer with healing me (unless I've been unlucky or just need to cycle more).
Last year at GenCon, it felt the same. What will be interesting is how people will adjust who they play for this new season.
*watching this thread closely*
I got three characters through the first adventure and one more just needs the last scenario.
Wow! That is quite an accomplishment.
Only had one experience with a player going "rogue" and unfortunately it did lead to a player death at the table :(
By 'going "rogue"' do you mean that they actively tried to sabotage other people's experience, or just had a different plan?
Also, I hope it was a _character_ death and not a player death.
I just returned from PaizoCon as well.
This was my first experience with Guild play and prior to the Con I had probably played ROTR at home ~10 times.
I played a total of 10 sessions...
> 2 with Wu Shen in 1-1A and we failed both times. His ability to recharge cards for extra D6's was almost useless since it added Poison to the attack. As a result that deck got pulled apart.
> 5 with Agna - I was able to complete the entire 5 scenarios that were available and think I will be continuing with her for the season.
> 3 with Lesath (B, C & D) - Seemed to work ok.
The only character death I saw during a session was at the Play test Sunday evening.
I did not have any players go rogue at my tables.
I actively looked for suggestions and checked with my table mates on when to do somethings as I knew I was lacking on experience compared to most of them.
Most of my games were 4 people though I know I did at least 1 at 6 and multiple at 5 players.
JD
FWIW, 1-1A has been made more tractable prior to official release. Thanks, PaizoCon guinea pigs attendees!
FWIW, 1-1A has been made more tractable prior to official release. Thanks, PaizoConguinea pigsattendees!
Good to hear, what changed? Or do we get to wait and see what the change was?
JD
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Good to hear, what changed? Or do we get to wait and see what the change was?
That which was Increased
Is now Decreasedvanishes in a puff of smoke
Less dead 1-1A characters, I likey
But I still have to discard tops of decks and 2 tops of decks
But on a serious note, are the 1-1B changes in as well?
Whoops, I just looked over my sheets and that change was supposed to be in 1-1D. Never mind then
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So I went to Origins 2015 and my sample size is fairly low, but just for kicks will state my observations.
How many players did you have at your table? Did you ever have a solo or 2 player table? How often did you have a 6 player table?
Most of the time I had 3 players at my tables, but occasionally we had 2 players or 4 players.
There was low attendance, so that's the reason for 2 players tables, as well as the fact that certain players needed certain scenarios.
What level was the player skill? Better than expected? Less than you expected?
For the majority of players (and certainly the guys I hung out with most of the time), better than expected. They play fast, smart.
Was also surprised the more casual players didn't understand the basics of deck building.
Did anyone roleplay? :)
Tiny bit, was funny. :)
Did anyone at the table misunderstand a rule and then have it corrected by playing OP? (I think this is one of the greatest benefits of OP).
Only with a beginner player. Wrath is so new (and were beta testing adventure 2), we frequently asked questions.
Were players teamwork orientated and did players discuss choices (at critical points) or did everyone "do their own thing"? Did players ask for blessings at critical points (or where they were in trouble) or did they just roll and fail without asking for help?
Everyone was really awesome at teamwork except in one circumstance (where the player screwed me out of an upgrade for no reason).
The players who had their hands open at all times were the best at teamwork.
Did players try to work as a group or did some players "go rogue" and start exploring locations that benefitted them in terms of boons (but perhaps they couldn’t close the location)?
Mostly as a team, I think everyone trusted that everyone knew what they were doing. Sometimes it made sense to stack, sometimes not.
Did you ever have time to harvest locations for loot (by not closing a location on purpose)?
OH YEAH! (Mansion House, I'm looking at you!)
Were there any characters archetypes that were played more than others? Were Seoni and Kyra really common? :) Were any class decks more common than others? Were any class decks rarely seen?
Did not see a single Seoni or Kyra oddly.
I saw a lot of Meliski's (3 in fact, in a small sample size). Thought this character was bad, but he's quite good.
Bard, Cleric, and Fighter decks were popular. Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, not as popular (1 character each). No wizards!
Were healers frequent or were people flexible enough someone would play one if no one else was playing support? Were there ever too many support characters at a table? Did you ever play in a group with no support characters (and were you successful)?
There were so many people playing support, I was unable to play my support character. That's in over 4 days of gameplay. I was shocked.
Yes people were flexible but people also had characters they wanted to play.
Wrath almost demands you have a healer in the party, unless you have the Herald cohort available.
Yes, my first table had 2 support characters out of 3. Too many, but it allowed me to open up and play recklessly, which is fun.
Yes, I played several (4) tables with no support characters successfully, but Wrath almost demands support, and the only reason we were able to do this was because of the Herald cohort and/or the Sacred Prism loot item.
I imagine players are very flexible with what characters they play in adventures 1+2, but in adventures 4+ do the trends in the paragraph above still hold true?
As you get into adventure 2, people are less flexible for the simple reason that they don't have a character of that tier.
Was there anything else you were surprised by?
Was surprised that some people would stick to their group of 3 and never offer to take another player. Always thought the point of OP was to play with (at least some) players you don't usually play with.
In general though I was very pleasantly surprised by the majority of people I met and only wish they were around locally.
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Was lucky enough this year to attend PaizoCon and Origins, so will try and respond about both.
How many players did you have at your table? Did you ever have a solo or 2 player table? How often did you have a 6 player table?
PaizoCon: Was almost always a table of 4, sometimes three and sometimes 5. A table of 6 was alsmost always broken up into two tables of 3.
Origins: Mainly played with the same group, so it was mainly a table of three but this was mostly due to the fact that we were either playing a scenario others weren't looking for or we had already started when others showed up.
What level was the player skill? Better than expected? Less than you expected?
PaizoCon: Those who were there specifically for PACG were very well skilled. Those who wandered over to the back of the room to see what was going on that wasn't quite role-playing had a different skillset. But every table seemed welcoming and I saw the experienced players being very welcoming to teach new players.
Origins: Organized Play seemed to be experienced players, and into two groups...those looking for Adventure 1 and those looking to play-test Adventure 2. The main focus of the booth seemed to be to provide demos, and was great to see how many people were coming up to get demos of the game and then asked about organized play.
Did anyone roleplay? :)
Roleplay seems to take on a bit of a different meaning from a full RPG. We would often describe our character doing something or how the effect was impacting the characters, but it was more descriptive than traditional roleplay. There are also many fun moments when card synergies fall together and you can describe how that would have all worked as narrative...and the flip side when cards come up which make no sense in context and you can all laugh as you describe how bewildered the characters would be.
Did anyone at the table misunderstand a rule and then have it corrected by playing OP? (I think this is one of the greatest benefits of OP).
PaizoCon: I'd say this happened a few times but not as a major rules meltdown but more of a "hrmmm" should this be X or Y? And if a Paizo person was close we would get an answer, if not we made a best judgement...then when we could we asked someone from Paizo and either congratulated ourselves on being "right" or said, "well, now we know for the next game."
Origins: As most of the time was playing Adventure 2, there were quite a few questions that came up about what the Scenario was wanting to have happen...but not so much about the game rules.
Were players teamwork orientated and did players discuss choices (at critical points) or did everyone "do their own thing"? Did players ask for blessings at critical points (or where they were in trouble) or did they just roll and fail without asking for help?
Did players try to work as a group or did some players "go rogue" and start exploring locations that benefitted them in terms of boons (but perhaps they couldn’t close the location)?
PaizoCon: Lots of teamwork. A few players who couldn't or wouldn't play as a team member but I didn't play multiple games with them. For the most part though, it is one of the best parts of the game of being able to develop a team strategy.
Origins: Lots of teamwork. But this also ended up being pretty much the only group I played with at Origins as we sort of started down our path and just kept going. There looked to be some other fun Organized Play people that would have been fun to group with, so was a little sad that I didn't get to mingle more. But the teamwork that developed with the group I played with was great.
Did you ever have time to harvest locations for loot (by not closing a location on purpose)?
PaizoCon: Not very often.
Origins: Yes.
Were there any characters archetypes that were played more than others? Were Seoni and Kyra really common? :) Were any class decks more common than others? Were any class decks rarely seen?
PaizoCon: It felt that when you saw someone playing from a class deck it was almost always the same one or two characters from the class deck. I'd say that it seemed Rogues and Wizards were the one's I saw least.
Origins: There were few enough organized play players that people just seemed to play what they wanted.
Were healers frequent or were people flexible enough someone would play one if no one else was playing support? Were there ever too many support characters at a table? Did you ever play in a group with no support characters (and were you successful)?
It always seemed that there were support characters, and even if it was all support or no support the groups I played with viewed that as part of the challenge of the scenario for that team.
Hope that was somewhat useful commentary. :)
I just want to thank everyone who came out to Origins to play with us! I got some very valuable playtest feedback for Adventure 2 and it sure seemed like a lot of people had a lot of fun.
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I just want to thank everyone who came out to Origins to play with us! I got some very valuable playtest feedback for Adventure 2 and it sure seemed like a lot of people had a lot of fun.
I had a great time. got through adventure 2. did some adventure 1. really liked the reward for finishing adventure 2 ;)
really liked the reward for finishing adventure 2 ;)
Feeling Mythic yet? :)
Let's cool it with the spoilers for stuff you playtested, please.