by BennyD
Darksbane wrote:
I'm confused, what does repetitive gameplay have to do with card rotation and power creep?
Power creep occurs due to the continuing addition of new cards into a game system.
As deck sizes remain constant, the percentage of cards that are playable in competitive decks goes down with each addition to the system. If a new expansion is designed at the same power level as previous expansions, that expansion has fewer viable cards at its release than did the other expansions. Given a large enough pool of cards, the number of viable cards in new expansions drops to unacceptable levels. Few cards matter in each new release, and competitive gameplay becomes repetitive without an injection of viable cards into the system.
Alternatively, to make new expansions matter, their power levels can be increased to the point at which an acceptable number of new cards are playable in the environment. Over time, this creates an effect where the power level of expansions vary based on when they were released. Older cards matter less and less to the environment. Also, the fundamental feel of the game changes, as power creep interacts with the initial game system design.
This is where rotation comes in. Rotation provides an alternative vehicle for a game to make new expansions matter. It keeps the pool of cards constant (or at least close), so that expansions can be kept at the same power level without leading to repetitive gameplay.
As far as it being universally accepted, I don't know. Anecdotally I've met far more LCG players that dislike rotation than like it and I've known plenty of people that drop games when it happens. Either way though the Game of Thrones and Call of Cthulhu LCGs have been in production since 2008 and each has ~1500 and ~1200 cards respectively with very little power creep and extremely varied gameplay. So even if it eventually comes to pass that a rotation is necessary it would seem to be a long way off.
It appears we may be looking at this issue through different lenses. I'm coming at it from a competitive gamer point of view, where deck building and play is geared toward winning. This is the environment in which rotation is most necessary. For casual gamers, rotation is understandably less important and oftentimes undesired. However, casual gamer are unlikely to go by or need an official system for allowing or disallowing cards anyway. Rotation is designed for the needs of the type of player it affects.