Re: how many cards total in KoT ?

In article
<59904456-67ee-4796-b3a2-4c6fccc5bea9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
preacher99@xxxxxx wrote:
You seem to continually forget that 3rd hat extreme problems with
distribution. Read James' post again.

No, I'm not forgetting that. That doesn't really impact the design of
the set, and how many cards were printed.

Sure. There is a possibility that for some reason unknown to the rest of
us, due to "distribution problems" (someone in the packing plant
somewhere accidentally spilled a pot of coffee on a big pile of Hearts
destroying half of them, and then the rest of them accidentally got
packed into boxes that got sent only to South America...), there were
far, far fewer Hearts in circulation than there should have been. That
would certainly explain the high single cost. But that isn't the problem
that people seem most concerned about here, which is having a small
number of new cards in a set that is mostly reprints, which creates
"artificial rarity". Extreme distribution problems aren't "artificial
rarity". That is just "rarity".

It was hard to pull some rares out of boosters, even when buying lots
of boxes (like I did).

If the claim here is that it was specifically harder to pull Heart out
of boxes than any other rare, making it far rarer than all the other
rares, that is certainly an argument. But not the one that is "it is bad
to have a small number of new cards mixed in with a lot of reprints"
That is the argument of "It sucks when there are unintended distribution
problems" Which it does. And is a problem. But not one that the people
designing the set and deciding to have a small number of new cards mixed
in with a lot of reprints have any control over.

It sucked that 3rd had upside down backs and crappy cutting/stock too.
But that *also* isn't the fault of the people designing the set.

I particulary remember HoN and NRA PAC as being
hard to get. This may have to do with bad sorting of the cards by the
manufacturer.

Maybe. Maybe it was just bad luck. But if it is the result of bad
sorting by the manufacturer (or that pot of coffee), it isn't a flaw in
the design of distribution, which seems to be the main villain in this
discussion.

In the whole print run, yes. But given the uneven distribution (again,
see James' post about that) it was sometimes difficult to get specific
C/U/R cards - in my case, the new ones.
Other people had the same perception.

Sure. But those cards are *somewhere* (unless after the coffee pot
incident, Smoking Man gathered up half the Mirror Walks and put them in
that big room under the Pentagon with Scully's chip). They might not
have been sent to your neighborhood due to a quirk in distribution. But
someone has them. They are in circulation. Somewhere. Again, that isn't
a problem with Mirror Walk being printed in the same numbers as the Aid
from Bats reprint. It is a problem with some sort of unfortunate,
unavoidable (other than, ya know, using a different
manufacturing/packing plant) random error. What it *isn't* is the result
of the way the set was designed to have a small number of new cards
mixed in with a large number of reprints.

I believe, that in the first batches of 3rd Ed. boxes, the
distribution was probably especially screwed.

Maybe it was. Maybe there *was* a spilled pot of coffee and Smoking Man
*did* steal and hide half of the Mirror Walks. Which is unfortunate and
a pain in the ass. But not the result of how the set was designed.

No one is saying "I love distribution problems!" I'm arguing that the
basic design of 3rd Ed card ratios was reasonable. And that Heart sells
for so much in the secondary market, not because it was extra, extra
rare (which, unless there was that coffee pot incident, it isn't
actually), but primarily because of unrelated factors (i.e. it is
stupidly good and so ubiquitous that people want lots of them and don't
want to sell the ones they have. Which does increase the "artificial
rarity" of the card. But that isn't the set's fault either).

Distribution problems are just that--problems. But assuming that KoT
avoids the same distribution problems (and this whole discussion is one
of, basically "KoT is going to suck! It has the same new/old ratio as
3rd! And 3rd sucked!"), then KoT should work out fine.

It is also possible, that a high percentage of HoN ended up in
isolated playgroups that don't trade with the community at large. Who
knows.

Sure. But again, not a problem with the design of the set. Freak Drives
are incredibly plentiful, as individual cards go (printed in the super
overprinted Jyhad set, in VTES, in CE and 3rd as an uncommon, fixed in
multiple starter decks). Yet they *still* sell for about about $5.00
each. Which is unreasonably high for an uncommon. And it has nothing at
all to do with an artificial rarity or distribution problems. It is just
'cause Freak Drive is stupidly good and people want lots of them and
keep the ones they have. Heart is an outlier. The extreme end of the
supply and demand curve.

The point is: HoN is harder to get than would be expected due to the
3rd Ed. distribution bugs.

Maybe. It also might just be that people don't want to sell them. 'Cause
it is stupidly good and stupidly ubiquitous (i.e. you can put one in
every single deck you build and get good use out of it). Heart shouldn't
be any harder to get than NRA Pact. Unless there were significant
distribution errors. But those aren't the fault of the way the set was
designed.

Peter D Bakija
pdb6@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/vtes.html

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"
-Gaff
.

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