RicardoRix wrote: ↑17 February 2023, 15:39
Ranior wrote: ↑17 February 2023, 15:14
It's fine if you like that and want to play with it, but trying to argue they are simply different versions/ideas of base games factions feels very disingenuous.
If the new clans were all the same as the base clans, then there wouldn't be much point in having them. I don't think anyone is arguing that.
Even the base game Terra Mystica embraces the fact that different clans/abilities can play together in one game. And competitively that's what the auction feature is for.
You're missing the point.
The fan factions expansion has shown how you could have added a lot more factions to the game that work within the base mechanics just fine.
Those of us that don't like FI are telling you that it becomes a different game for us. The base game factions all:
Have a home terrain they want to expand to so they can build on it for free
Use spades to terraform hexes to their color
Must build on a hex to claim it for themselves, otherwise it can be changed by others
FI factions break all these fundamental rules that every other base faction and fan faction follow.
Many enjoy these changes, and that's fine if you do. But while the poster above me more or less argues that more expansions = more better, not everyone has to see it that way. Yes most of the community has embraced the mini expansions, variable turn order, and auction. That doesn't neccessarily mean FI factions should be embraced either--they are a much bigger change to the game, and it should not be shocking that people don't like them.
I'm sure if Merchants ever gets added to BGA plenty will love it and want to play with it as well, but there will be another subset that just does not enjoy it. It should be very easy to conceive that some future expansion could be made to Terra Mystica that would no longer make you enjoy it.
Please note I'm not arguing FI factions are too strong. I'm not arguing they should never be included in arena. I'm simply here defending the very simple idea that some in the community don't like FI factions and why, and why that's a valid thing. What should arena be is a lot harder question, and while I have opinions on that, I don't much care honestly. I still think most TM players would be a lot better off ignoring arena completely and just making simple games with the settings they want. (I also think the community would be better off if Terra Mystica had less options, but that's a battle I've long since lost as we're clearly not going to be removing things, so oh well).
TLDR; Some of you seem to be pretty set on the idea that since an expansion exists, we should adopt it and play with it. That's why the comparison to chess and chess variants keeps coming up by the way--some of us simply are trying to tell you that we don't agree that more stuff = more better, and we've chosen to draw the line at what feels like "Terra Mystica" to us at a certain point. For me, that's FI factions--it now feels like another game, one I'm far less interested in.