I quit and when I looked back at the mid 2010s the game was unrecognizable
I have to say, I’ve played on and off for a long while - from the mid-90s until a few years ago - and I agree. But that was sort of the appeal of the game. Always evolving. Constantly trying new mechanics and styles of play. It was a kind-of laboratory for game design and implementation that kept me coming back to see what was new.
The thing that has turned me off more now than ever before is the way the game has fully stagnated. Every new release is just a reskinned iteration that calcified at the end of COVID. The mechanics have gotten cookie-cutter and have really divorced themselves from the different styles and themes between sets. The gulf between Common and Rare/Mythic, plus the way Common cards are totally interchangeable across editions, has made Pauper a lot less fun.
And now that AI art is popping up in all the new sets, I can’t even enjoy that much.
That’s before you get into the shameless cash-grab that was the 30th aniversery set. $999 for a box with four packs in it which, apparently, did so badly that the excess cards were dumped in a landfill rather than going into discount. Really painfully shameless overmarketing and underdeveloping. Heartbreaking to see Hasbro rip the beating heart out of the company, because they saw a golden goose and couldn’t be satisfied with just one golden egg a day.
I have to say, I’ve played on and off for a long while - from the mid-90s until a few years ago - and I agree. But that was sort of the appeal of the game. Always evolving. Constantly trying new mechanics and styles of play. It was a kind-of laboratory for game design and implementation that kept me coming back to see what was new.
The thing that has turned me off more now than ever before is the way the game has fully stagnated. Every new release is just a reskinned iteration that calcified at the end of COVID. The mechanics have gotten cookie-cutter and have really divorced themselves from the different styles and themes between sets. The gulf between Common and Rare/Mythic, plus the way Common cards are totally interchangeable across editions, has made Pauper a lot less fun.
And now that AI art is popping up in all the new sets, I can’t even enjoy that much.
That’s before you get into the shameless cash-grab that was the 30th aniversery set. $999 for a box with four packs in it which, apparently, did so badly that the excess cards were dumped in a landfill rather than going into discount. Really painfully shameless overmarketing and underdeveloping. Heartbreaking to see Hasbro rip the beating heart out of the company, because they saw a golden goose and couldn’t be satisfied with just one golden egg a day.