I wonder what rules and card changes there will be. Some of the previous card's were a bit unbalanced (not many) so this will be a welcome update.

HOORAY!!!

Having the unbalanced cards return wouldn't be too big an issue itself, since I trust FFG will do a good job making sure cards exist in the meta to help re-balance them. :)

In the original game there were a few cards that were always great to get, but I house ruled and built decks with a limit of 1 of each card.  This stopped the chance of packing decks with these.  Hopefully FFG will limit the use of certain cards as this leads to more skill in deciding exactly how to use a good card knowing you only had it once.  Cards like those that allow a player to search their deck for any card, give large boosts to 'bits' - the resource used to pay for things - or return used cards, are the main strong cards.  Most of these favour the 'Runner' player, so if that player can easily find any 'Icebreaker' at any time, and have the 'bits' to pay for them, the Corporation player has no hope.

My old decks with no duplication still give exciting close fought contests where cardplay skill and good bluffing mainly win the day.  A large variety of cards always leads to a variety of strategies.  Stacking decks with 'killer' cards leads to one strategy based on who got what first.  All in all, apart from the card limit stated above, there is very little I would change from the original.  It just needed a new lease of life.  Cheers!

Rashley said:

Anyway, I think it's likely they'll be using the limit of three copies of any single card that they use in every other LCG.

 If I understand correctly, in the original game, one player had to be the Corp and the other player had to be the Runner. You couldn't have a Corp against Corp or a Runner against Runner game. In the game description it says that the game mechanics were updated "to increase clarity and promote a more dynamic play environment". I'm kind of hoping that "dynamic play environment" means that the game will no longer restrict what kind of decks I can play. If not then that really drains a lot of my interest in this game, to be honest.

It isn't possible to allow Corp vs. Corp or Runner vs. Runner without changing the game so much that it's no longer recognizable as the same game.

Trust me on this one, it ain't gonna happen.

I'd like to know the card sizes. Are they the same size as the old cards? If so, all us old timers can sleeve our old cards and add them into the box. If not, and they are larger, I guess we'll have to sleeve some other cards and then add the old card onto the top.

Jake yet again said:

Card size is same as other LCG. I would be very surprised if that is not the case. LCG cards are same size as old Netrunner cards. Thickness can change a little (CoC core set cards are not very thick for example). But I think old and new Netrunner might not mix very well and I would like to play just with new Netrunner cards.

dboeren said:

KEM said:

It doesn't hand you a pre-made deck and say "here, you have to use this".  You still get to build your deck as in any CCG/LCG.  It sounds like you've never played Netrunner, is that correct?  If so, I suggest that you should try it sometime to get a better idea how the game works.  Maybe you still won't like it, but it's much better to make that decision with firsthand information.

dboeren said:

Kinda hard to try it since it is not out yet. But I agree you should try it when it is released before passing judgement on the game.

KEM said:

To echo what dboeren is saying, the corp vs runner aspect isn't  a limiting restriction- it's a fundamental aspect of the game. I'd hardly fault the game for being designed in this fashion. It'd be like faulting Android in that you are "limited" to only playing as homicide investigators… Given the whole premise of a hacker (runner) stealing data that exposes a corporations shady agendas, I don't know what can be gained from breaking this mould.

Corp and Runner decks play very differently, and the different deck strategies available offer a wide amount of choice when deck building. There isn't a full picture of the features Android: Netrunner will hold, so hopefully this should allay initial concerns about this game.

I think FFG announcement didn't make this clear enough for players who don't know Netrunner. Usually (tournaments) both players have a Runner deck and a Corp deck. Games are Runner vs Corp. There is two games where each players play their other deck first and other deck second. Results of these both games are added together to determine the winner. Also those two sides play very different.

Toqtamish said:

Well, you can either try it when it comes out, or try the original Netrunner.  Either one should give you perspective on what sort of game it is.

And yes, being "limited" to playing the Corp or the Runner is not a limit, it's what the game is about.  Does anyone complain that they can't play as an alchemist in an FPS videogame?  You cannot, because the game is primarily about shooting people, not mixing and selling potions.  That might be a good subject for a separate game but it's not part of this one.

why would corp vs runner be a problem? It is one of the best thigns about netrunner.. I do nt get why this is a bad thing

I just want to say, I appreciate all of the responses. Obviously I haven't given up on the game entirely since I came back here, although part of that is that I just don't like to 'drop bombs' in a message board and leave. :)

I should say that no, I have never played Netrunner before. I remember it from back in the day, but I was too busy playing Shadowrun back then.

booored said:

Technically I don't think it's a bad thing, per se. I just think it's limiting. It you like it, that's great. I would just prefer to see more.

To also quote Treguard:

[quote]To echo what dboeren is saying, the corp vs runner aspect isn't  a limiting restriction- it's a fundamental aspect of the game. I'd hardly fault the game for being designed in this fashion. It'd be like faulting Android in that you are "limited" to only playing as homicide investigators… Given the whole premise of a hacker (runner) stealing data that exposes a corporations shady agendas, I don't know what can be gained from breaking this mould.[/quote]

It's a fundamental aspect of the game that limits it. It focuses the game solely and exclusively on one small aspect of the universe (Runner vs Corp), while ignoring all the other potential conflicts (Corp vs. Corp espionage, Runner vs. Runner battles).

I don't think at the end of the day your comparison to the Android board game really fits as the limitations of Android has more to do with it being a board game than anything else. One of the points of LCG/CCG is that it offers the chance to approach the game how want to, to make a deck that fits your play style. Mandating that my deck choices are limited to the opposite of whatever my opponent is playing is a far more limiting factor on the format than being forced to choose one of the pre-made characters in a board game.

Now if you like the focus that this limitation gives the game, that's great. For you it might even make it a better game than it otherwise might be. But you can't reasonably suggest that it is not a limitation. At the end of the day that limitation is going to be an issue for some people. That's really all I'm saying. I'm not even saying that this limitation/focus makes Netrunner a bad game, it just makes it a game that doesn't capture my interest.