WotC Hasbro CEO is going to have a Fireside Chat With Investors Over WotC

[Charlaquin]

So not much of consequence will be said, then--nothing that they wouldn't already be willing to make part of a press release, anyway.

Yeah. But, the fact that they’re making any kind of statement shows just how badly they’ve bungled things with MtG, and in particular with Magic 30th.

 

[Charlaquin]

That kinda went out the window about 10 years ago.

I bailed 12 years ago after seeing what was happening with the mythic rarity.

Mythic rarity was a tempest in a teacup. The real tipping point was project booster fun.

 

[Zardnaar]

Mythic rarity was a tempest in a teacup. The real tipping point was project booster fun.

More info required please

 

[Charlaquin]

Its the optics that matter more in this case. It was a product that was soundly rejected by near everyone involved in the ecosystem.

Yeah, they did the impossible and actually got players and collectors/investors to agree on something. Unfortunately for them, it was “this product is disgustingly greedy.”

 

[Charlaquin]

More info required please

Project Booster Fun was pitched to the public as an initiative to make opening booster packs more exciting. But to the discerning eye it was an attempt to replicate the “loot boxes of cosmetic upgrades” model from video games in MtG. Prior to Project Booster Fun there was one type of booster pack, used for the limited formats, and four rarities (three prior to the introduction of mythic rares of course), plus parallel foils. Project Booster Fun introduced two new types of booster: set boosters, and collector’s boosters. Neither of these can be used for playing limited, their allocations of cards and rarities are different than that of draft boosters, and they cost more than draft boosters. They also introduced several new types of “premium treatments” which are like foils in that they are functionally identical to the regular treatments, but have alternate artwork, frame designs, and foiling. I frankly don’t remember how many types of these there are, but they are found at greater frequency in set boosters and collector’s boosters, and some of them can only be found in collector’s boosters.

Mythic rarity may have foreshadowed that they were looking into messing around with rarity as a way to increase profits, but Project Booster Fun was where they really went all-in with the idea. Here’s a link to the announcement if you want to read up on the specifics yourself: Project Booster Fun | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

EDIT: Huh, I guess I misremembered; set boosters actually came later. Still, they were a further continuation of what Booster Fun started.

 

[Scribe]

Mythic rarity was a tempest in a teacup. The real tipping point was project booster fun.

This, plus FIRE plus Arena plus what they did to organized play, pretty much covers it I think.

Oh, and banning Splinter Twin. Never forgive, never forget.

 

[Zardnaar]

Project Booster Fun was pitched to the public as an initiative to make opening booster packs more exciting. But to the discerning eye it was an attempt to replicate the “loot boxes of cosmetic upgrades” model from video games in MtG. Prior to Project Booster Fun there was one type of booster pack, used for the limited formats, and four rarities (three prior to the introduction of mythic rares of course), plus parallel foils. Project Booster Fun introduced two new types of booster: set boosters, and collector’s boosters. Neither of these can be used for playing limited, their allocations of cards and rarities are different than that of draft boosters, and they cost more than draft boosters. They also introduced several new types of “premium treatments” which are like foils in that they are functionally identical to the regular treatments, but have alternate artwork, frame designs, and foiling. I frankly don’t remember how many types of these there are, but they are found at greater frequency in set boosters and collector’s boosters, and some of them can only be found in collector’s boosters.

Mythic rarity may have foreshadowed that they were looking into messing around with rarity as a way to increase profits, but Project Booster Fun was where they really went all-in with the idea. Here’s a link to the announcement if you want to read up on the specifics yourself: Project Booster Fun | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

EDIT: Huh, I guess I misremembered; set boosters actually came later. Still, they were a further continuation of what Booster Fun started.

I must have been a trend setter. I bailed when Jace the Mindsculptor was being silly in standard.
Saw a lot of this coming.

 

[Remathilis]

So we're all clear that its MTG that's getting called on carpet this time and the D&D is just going to sit there and keep its mouth shut, right?

 

[Scribe]

So we're all clear that its MTG that's getting called on carpet this time and the D&D is just going to sit there and keep its mouth shut, right?

Pretty much. I just wish I could watch it live, but I'm booked up already.

 

[Dausuul]

IMO, the decline of Standard is the thing Wizards ought to be freaking out about.

Overprinting, excessive pushing of the collectible side, those can be corrected fairly quickly and easily. Just quit doing that crap, and the problem sorts itself out. But it's not so easy to revive a dying format; and Standard is absolutely essential to WotC's long-term health.

I believe the reason Standard was invented in the first place was a crucial insight by Wizards of yesteryear: Eternal formats are unsustainable over the long haul. If you want people to buy new cards, those cards have to be better than what they've already got, so the only way to keep selling cards is power creep. And if you try to keep power creep in check, you drive up the barrier to entry -- new players have to lay out tons of cash to get the older cards that will let them sit at the table with the grognards.

Card rotation solves both problems. Wizards can do a kind of "endless staircase" of power creep, where the cards get stronger in one area while simultaneously weakening in another, so the power level overall stays constant. And while it has never been cheap to buy the cards for a top-tier Standard deck, the price was at least fairly stable and everyone was in the same boat -- those of us who've been playing since the '90s had no advantage over the folks who started two years ago.

(And, of course, rotation also gives Wizards a way to recover from mistakes, other than outright bans. The freedom to push the envelope, knowing that if you screw up, you won't be dealing with the fallout forever, is huge.)

I've grown more and more worried as WotC's focus has shifted to Commander. I like Commander, it's my format of choice -- but it was better for everybody when Wizards treated it as an afterthought and kept Standard front and center. Without a rotating format at the heart of the game, Magic will wither.