Hi!
Your not the only one with a bad feeling on this one. Once I learned what the plans for Epic A were (Tom, our webmaster has direct conversations with Jervis, so I have been able to find out pretty much everything I need to know on how they are planning to "pitch" epic) I pretty much knew the game had a large hurdle to overcome.
You are correct about the mixture of concerns, some are pretty valid and have yet to be answered fully. I lurk on the Epic A forums too and I have seen quite a few polite, but very well constructed posts bring these concerns forth. At least for me, Jervis's responses don't do much to reduce these concerns.
As for the playtesting, well, Jervis has his design philosophy, which I dont agree with, but he's the designer, so he can use what he wants. He may be "open" to feedback, but since the whole project began from a point and form of his choosing, the real issues on why people left the game were not cleared up prior to start designing the game. IMO a fatal mistake since I beleive they are STILL not listening to their customer base in this regard. A game designed from scratch guided by actual research on what epic players want to see in a game (via polls or forum discussions) would have gone a long way in easing anxieties.
Epic gamers, as you state, are a minority in the world of GW players. Therefore the willingness to allocate resources and give epic a really big push is not there. But they do not realize this is a vicious cycle. If they do not invest big in the game to make it big, how can they expect it to succeed?
Its a basic tenant of business that to make money, you must invest money. Dont expect a big return for little effort.
Primarch
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