So Guild Ball met an ignominious end and .... I do not care? Really, I don’t. I was never much of a Guild Ball player because there was no local scene for me to enjoy. Maybe if I had been located elsewhere during the heyday of Guid Ball, I would feel differently. Clearly, a lot of the Guild Ball community is angry. I hope people still enjoy their Guild Ball models anyway because those models belong to them and not to SFG.
I guess some people might be permanently mad at SFG and thus will not continue to play Godtear. I hope that is not a large number of people because Godtear is great. If you are really so upset and petty that you want to somehow take retribution against SFG by boycotting a game you like, the joke’s on you because SFG will continue on their merry way whilst you deprive yourself of fun. If you like Godtear, shunning it because you are mad about Guild Ball is essentially drinking poison in the hopes that SFG will die.
I understand that folks have had issues getting their hands on models. This may or may not happen with Godtear. SFG seems to have done some experimentation and learning with non-assembly plastics. It seems like they are now pretty good at cranking out a box of them. In any case, continuing to develop our online community is a way to mitigate this potential threat to the game. Godtear translates far better into online play than nearly all miniature games because it is on hexes and thus there is no need to measure virtual distances.
There were issues with faction balance in Guild Ball. I suspect that it will be less of an issue with Godtear because of the factionless nature of the game. The nice thing is that a new release does not have the ripple effect it would have in Guild Ball because everyone can choose to play that champion or not, regardless of what models they already have.
Apparently there were toxic elements in the Guild Ball community? I don't really know. I DO know that how the Godtear community functions is up to us and not to SFG.
I get that people feel like the reasons SFG gave for bailing on Guild Ball seem insincere. I truly don’t know. Maybe one day Godtear will get done similarly dirty. When that day comes, I hope I get to look back on a few years of great games. I’d take that. I don’t trust any outfit whose primary goal is to take my money, but I don’t need to trust SFG in order to enjoy Godtear. My relationship with SFG is not based on trust; it’s based on the value I get in exchange for the price I pay for their product. So far, so good.
The thing is, Godtear belongs to us, not to SFG. Yes, they can release new champions and put out organized play docs, but we get to actually organize the tournaments and play the games. For example, I think that draft tournaments are fun. SFG has no format for them, so I made one. Please consider signing up for the Objective Hex Open, by the way. The point is that the game's health depends on us. We will build this community or not.
If SFG stopped supporting Godtear tomorrow, I would still play it. Sixteen champions is pretty interesting and varied. If they get to 24 champs and call it a game, I would be fine with that.
I am enjoying the game right now. That is enough for me. If it’s not enough for you, then I think it may be worthwhile to consider why. Do you need the game to be an eternal part of your life? Do you need to feel like you've somehow made an investment that will pay off in some way? If so, I think you might be missing the point a bit. This. Game. Is. Fun. Right. Now. Don't miss out!