Is it the end of Mage Wars (as we know it)?

[iNano78]

OK, I hate to be "that guy" that starts a thread claiming the sky is falling, but there's some circumstantial evidence pointing in a bad direction for those of us that love this game.

1) The Mage Wars community celebrates as 2016 wraps up a big year for Mage Wars, with the Academy expansions, Paladin vs Siren, and Lost Grimoire v1 all hitting retail stores. Yeah!! On the other hand, there's no hope that the online card database or spell book builder will ever be updated, so it's up to awesome fans of this wonderful game to take matters into their own hands. 

2) Major rules supplement update posted on 2016-12-02 by Laddinfance. This would be his second-last post (as of this moment) on the Arcane Wonders forum; the last, a banana sticker opportunity + Hitchhiker's Guide reference. Note that Laddinfance's signature is "Don't Panic."

3) Word gets leaked that Aaron "Laddinfance" Brosman has been "let go." Since he's been the heart and soul of all things Mage Wars for the past several years, including leading the design and development of MW Arena expansions, monitoring the forum, providing rules updates, contributing to podcasts and expanding the in-universe lore, this is a big blow to the Mage Wars community/universe.

4) For the first time (e.g. in contrast to the previous 4 consecutive years), The Dice Tower's kickstarter campaign doesn't include any Mage Wars (Arena or Academy) promos. Arcane Wonders instead contributes Sherriff of Nottingham and Onitama promos (which they also did in 2016), but no Mage Wars promos can be found (uh-oh). Now perhaps this is just to scale back the release of promos, as otherwise they'll be committed to another Lost Grimoire (v2) rather than more gradually catching up on releasing promos in expansions (there are still many that haven't appeared in retail expansions). And it isn't really a big deal. But with 2) and 3) above, it surprises and worries me more than it otherwise would.

[SharkBait]

Simple answer to the thread title: No.

The sky isn't falling. Seriously. There ARE changes going on with a lot of moving pieces that I'm not allowed to speak about, and official word will come from elsewhere. However, for the time being, please stop the hysterics and chill.

[Puddnhead]

I would like everyone to heed the advice of the esteemed Laddinfance and "don't panic".

To the best of my knowledge...which is also limited...Arcane Wonders made an organizational restructuring in order that more of their time and energy and money could go to (among other things) creating a better systematized release schedule for Mage Wars products: both Academy AND Arena.

My guess is that the transition period has taken a little bit longer than expected, but I do know for a fact that Mage Wars products are still being designed and tested...and are fairly exciting if I do say so myself.

[Reddicediaries]

I would like everyone to heed the advice of the esteemed Laddinfance and "don't panic".

To the best of my knowledge...which is also limited...Arcane Wonders made an organizational restructuring in order that more of their time and energy and money could go to (among other things) creating a better systematized release schedule for Mage Wars products: both Academy AND Arena.

My guess is that the transition period has taken a little bit longer than expected, but I do know for a fact that Mage Wars products are still being designed and tested...and are fairly exciting if I do say so myself.

Aaron was let go?!

[RomeoXero]

Noooooo. Aaron is still around doing the same awesome stuff. Puddn is talking about the company itself. Im pretty sure they might fold up completely if Aaron jumped ship. Lol

[Reddicediaries]

Noooooo. Aaron is still around doing the same awesome stuff. Puddn is talking about the company itself. Im pretty sure they might fold up completely if Aaron jumped ship. Lol

Then why in the link nano posted does rey say Aaron left?

[SharkBait]

Then why in the link nano posted does rey say Aaron left?

Simple answer to the thread title: No.

The sky isn't falling. Seriously. There ARE changes going on with a lot of moving pieces that I'm not allowed to speak about, and official word will come from elsewhere. However, for the time being, please stop the hysterics and chill.

[farkas1]

Yea I agree with Puddinhead and Sharkbait.  Exciting things in the future for Mage wars.  If anything Arcane Wonders is at the top of there game having an awesome production of new games and expansions last year opening up more revenue for the company.  As a playtester there is stuff in line that I am really excited about.  As far as the online builder and updates to the rules.  Hopefully that is resolved in the near future but as of right now it's not much different than we had in the past relating to these two things.  Also Mr. Pope this is his first big design and release so technically Mage Wars is his baby/child and I would only see him holding this game to continue to grow.   So with that being said I am not concerned for the game or its future.   

[silverclawgrizzly]

For the love of.....fine a fear mongering post based on half true information. No Mage Wars is going anywhere, we're designing sets right now actually.

[V10lentray]

There are currently X different mages in playtest (I know I'm playing with them). Also Y Mages are in Final proof stage, so were basically only looking at formatting, Spelling, and Grammar on y different Mages (yes Mages as in Plural) - So there is still plenty of more content being developed.

Also if you look at Aaron's profile he was last on the forum 2 days ago. While he doesn't always post, he's at least still looking at what is going on.

While I'm disappointed that there were no DT promos this year, I'm ok with it because they were always lumped into a category with a high dollar value where you got a ton of other stuff for games I didn't have or wanted. Sure you could buy them from the DT after it was over, but I believe, last year,they were selling them at GenCon for $15 for the set. (Plus Onitama is AMAZING!!!)

[Halewijn]

Apart from maybe promoting the game. I very much dislike promo cards, so I'm happy they didn't do it this year.

I think the word is "reforming" not "ending" mage wars. I don't know details, nor do I now the future, but I don't think they plan on ending the game.

[V10lentray]

Apart from maybe promoting the game. I very much dislike promo cards, so I'm happy they didn't do it this year.

I think they are more supposed to hype you up for them coming out in future sets and get you thinking about how to use them. although sometimes they change from Promo to Print Version.  For example, [mwcard=MWBG1A04]Sandstorm[/mwcard] use to be a quick spell.

[iNano78]

There are currently X different mages in playtest (I know I'm playing with them). Also Y Mages are in Final proof stage, so were basically only looking at formatting, Spelling, and Grammar on y different Mages (yes Mages as in Plural) - So there is still plenty of more content being developed.

Also if you look at Aaron's profile he was last on the forum 2 days ago. While he doesn't always post, he's at least still looking at what is going on.

While I'm disappointed that there were no DT promos this year, I'm ok with it because they were always lumped into a category with a high dollar value where you got a ton of other stuff for games I didn't have or wanted. Sure you could buy them from the DT after it was over, but I believe, last year,they were selling them at GenCon for $15 for the set. (Plus Onitama is AMAZING!!!)

Apart from maybe promoting the game. I very much dislike promo cards, so I'm happy they didn't do it this year.

I think the word is "reforming" not "ending" mage wars. I don't know details, nor do I now the future, but I don't think they plan on ending the game.

OK. Thanks for negating my fears. With the "news" about Aaron, I started to wonder if there was a big push to get in-development products out by the end of 2016 (as was accomplished), then lay off their staff and shut down the MW side of the company as AW shifts more towards publishing games by other designers rather than focusing on further development of MW. But I'm very glad to hear that isn't the case. Looking forward to all these new mages and product - e.g. I hope to see more terrain and new mounts and arch-mage and all the other stuff that's been promised or eluded to over the years.

Feel free to lock this thread if you want.

P.S. I agree Onitama is awesome (my spouse and I enjoy it), and I've heard great things about Sheriff of Nottingham. Still would have liked more MW promos... but it's not the end of the world...

[silverclawgrizzly]

Pfft no the MW side isn't getting shut down. Wait til Gen Con and tell me how shut down Mage Wars is.  We gonna hit this thing like a freight train.

I aint spoiling jack but be prepared to see some very nice changes in how certain mages are perceived, landscapes about to change Mage Warriors.

[iNano78]

Pfft no the MW side isn't getting shut down. Wait til Gen Con and tell me how shut down Mage Wars is.  We gonna hit this thing like a freight train.

I aint spoiling jack but be prepared to see some very nice changes in how certain mages are perceived, landscapes about to change Mage Warriors.

I certainly didn't intend to take anything away from the Gen Con tournament or any other events to be held in 2017 and onward. Even if/when Mage Wars "ends" with respect to being "finished" (e.g. no additional expansions), I fully plan to continue to play it. It's a wonderful game and is terrific in its current state, especially with so many new combos and play styles after PvS and Lost Grimoire. But I hope that era is a long ways off yet.