This is directed to those Paizo folks involved with the design of the new item cards series.
Before I start expressing my concerns, I want to state that I do love this product quite a bit. This is exactly the sort of thing I have always wanted to have as a GM at my table, and I love both the appearance and production of the cards.
That said, having bought quite a few boosters, I do have some issues with the distribution of the cards I received. I want to state that I do understand that this is a randomized product. I do understand randomization allows you to produce cards in an economy of scale that you would not be able to produce otherwise.
That said, after buying a large amount of boosters (large amount for me, anyway) I came away from the experience wishing I had bought less, not more. Now, that’s not so great for me, but if my opinion is shared by many others, not so great for your guys’ bottom line, either.
I initially bought seven boosters, cleaning out the stock of my local FLGS. I told him that I would be willing to buy another display box, as well, and he eventually got it in. I ended up buying all 12 boosters of the second display box.
So, after having spent about $72 ($66.50 + tax) I now had 206 cards. Of those cards, I got 98 originals, and 108 dupes.
Now there are only 110 cards in the set. I was willing to spend the money on an extra display box because I wanted a complete set. I was missing about 15 cards or so, and much to my surprise, when I open up those 12 new packs, I found that I had gotten only four new cards, still leaving me 11 cards short of a full set.
As I understand it, this means that the same 11 cards were very likely missing in both the display boxes I drew from. Now it seems possible to me that those 11 cards I was still looking for were in the 5 boosters I initially missed buying, but it doesn’t seem likely.
Here are the cards I was missing.
3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 19, 31, 40, 50, 103
Like I said, this is all random distribution. I can accept that I should have expected something like this to happen, but it is a different thing for it to actually happen to you, if you take my meaning.
I would have much rather had complete set with few or no dupes. One of the great appeals to me of this product is that you can have a picture for a magic item, which reinforces the illusion of the uniqueness of each item. Given that premise, all those dupes do very little for me, even I were to still use them, because the sense of uniqueness is now gone. In fact, I can even hear my players complaining about it now, “My +3 Longsword of Coolness looks exactly like his +2 Longsword of Suckiness! How lame is that?”
I do understand that I can now trade for the cards I need. And that is most likely what I will end up doing.
But, and this is the point, I would have much rather purchased two 20 or 25 dollar decks of 54 cards each, then the purchase I have just made.
Now I will buy the next couple of sets as they come out randomly, but at this point, I cannot recommend that anyone buy more that a single display box. Frankly, I would buy a half a display box, or less, and see if you are OK with the sort of distribution you get.
Now, I want to add a single coda. On both sets of display boxes, all the packs I bought were open at the bottom seam. It did occur to me that someone might have tampered with the packs, either at the FLGS or the distributor. But I have seen this before with other CCG games, so it seems at least possible to me that this was a defect due to the packaging process.
Since I don’t know if this was accidental or deliberate, I don’t want to mention the FLGS in question. Please contact me privately if would like to know the name of the store in order to track down the problem.
Finally, I also would prefer that all the illustrations be new, with no re-uses from previous sets, as is the case with set 2, because of the similarity issue I mentioned above (yes, I also bought the initial deck).
Again, I reiterate that this is a fantastic product. I only wish it were better still.
JavaApp
Director of Games
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Well, let me start out by saying thank you for the feedback. We really do like to hear reaction from out consumers and we will certainly take your thoughts into consideration. As for the number of cards you have come up short, I have to say I am quite a bit shocked. I have opened up about half a dozen displays of hero's hoard and have at most come up about 10-15 cards short of the set (I do not have my numbers here at home), but having bought more than that, you should be much closer. So, while I do not want to put this one up to random chance, it might just be that. However, if anyone else on these boards has had a similar experience, please let me know.
I now have about 3 displays worth for my personal use and I find that duplicates are quite useful when it comes to giving out cards. All my potions of cure light look the same, all the guards have the same sword, etc. Nonetheless, I can see your frustration. We have quite the active trade thread on these boards, so I feel confident that you can find the ones you need.
Jason Bulmahn
Item Card Lead Designer
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Director of Games
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One other note, you mentioned that the packs were open at the bottom seam. Did this look like a slice, tear, or just that the plastic was not sealed. It is quite possible that this is a factory defect, which we would need to know about. Please post up details, or email me at the address below.
One other small note. Hero's Hoard will be the only set with duplicate images from another set. Relics of War, and all sets forward have all new art.
Jason Bulmahn
Item Card Lead Designer
jason.bulmahn@paizo.com
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For those of you keeping count, I completely concur with Doyle Tavener, and appreciate Jason Bulmahn's reply and Paizo's response.
I had the same problem: after getting 26 packs I was still missing two cards! The Law of Dimished Returns is where randomness hurts. I refuse to buy any more packs since the chance of getting one of the cards I want is darn near impossible.
Check out the trading thread. I am more than happy to send you all the extra copies of the cards I have from your list in exchange for anything you have I'm looking for.
Jason (if I may),
Thanks so much for the extremely quick response. Like the other poster on this thread, I do appreciate your honesty in dealing with my concerns.
Again, not being privy to the details of your business model for this product (and not really wanting to, thanks) I can understand that random packs may be the only way to go - and I will still continue to buy this product, just not in the same quantities as with this set.
As to your question about the packaging: the packs were completely open at the bottom, and while there was a red stripe present at the top of the packs (which did seem to be sealed properly) no colored stripe was visible at the bottom.
The 'crinkling' at the bottom, however, was very faint, as if not enough pressure had been applied to the packaging.
I am going to send a scan to your private email address, and if you will reply, I'll be happy to send you the actual packaging.
I also want to point out that this defect appeared in both the display boxes that I drew packs from.
JavaApp
Check out the trading thread. I am more than happy to send you all the extra copies of the cards I have from your list in exchange for anything you have I'm looking for.
Thanks Dithering, I'll do that.
JavaApp (AKA Doyle)
I had the same problem: after getting 26 packs I was still missing two cards! The Law of Dimished Returns is where randomness hurts.
I empathize. I opened five display boxes of Relics of War (60 packs) and was still missing a Plate Mail and a Shortbow. After opening ten display boxes (120 packs, 1200 non-foil cards), I ended up with two complete sets. I was hoping for a few more, but I've decided to start trading and sell piecemeal.
I only opened 15 packs of Hero's Hoard, but I'd be happy to trade or sell singles from that as well.
I've seen one Heroes of War pack with the bottom end open. There was no problem with any of the Relics of War packs.