I second all of this, and very eloquently put, Kenny. I still enjoy Netrunner and I want it to succeed, but it’s just… not the same game that it used to be and there seems to be no acknowledgement by FFG that this isn’t a healthy meta.
Event attendance is dwindling, and I can personally attest that it has been hard to generate interest in local meets and GNKs (we used to get between four and eight usually, but I stopped organising meets when for two weeks in a row nobody showed up), and this has been the case for a while now. We used to get ~20-25 player GNKs with relative ease, but our last one got 6.
The meta being complete shit and increasing work pressure has done a lot to dissuade me from Netrunner, but I’m still holding out hope. I want to believe that things are going to change for the better. I don’t want to be saying these things about dwindling attendance.
I wish we got a bit of communication, to show that FFG acknowledge the problems and are working to fix it. The Netrunner that is played in tournaments these days is about as far from intended gameplay as perhaps is possible. ICE and ‘fair’ gameplay doesn’t exist any more. The MWL is overdue by at least a month and we haven’t heard anything publicly.
What I’d like to see, first and foremost, is scheduled dates for MWL updates. For example, after every three datapacks, every two/three months, or something else uniform. It would do a lot to inspire confidence to be shown that the MWL is coming, and also provide more of a systematic response to problems if and when they develop. MWL and OP things are announced seemingly at random times. We don’t (publicly) know one is even being considered, and to the layperson there’s no guarantee FFG will release another MWL. Give me something to be excited about, FFG.
This might sound negative, and I guess it kind of is? But, that’s not really the point of my post. I don’t hate Netrunner, I don’t want it to die, and quite the opposite. I’m just concerned. A lot of players are concerned, and they have every right to be.
Come on, Boggs, show us what you can do.