So how are we doing? What’s the state of Heroclix right now? We’re moving steadily into the summer which means rotation, more product releases, and a big change to the meta game. While I’m certainly no expert on the overall pulse worldwide, I want to cover how I believe our beloved game is fairing.

Heroclix has always been a game of wonder when it comes to the overall popularity and health. For one thing, it’s an expensive game to get into since boosters typically run $12.99 a pop (or $15.99 for Infinity boosters) as opposed to the $4-$5 of card games. Heroclix also takes up a lot more space, requires bringing a lot more to your game store or friend’s place than a card game, and requires a lot more effort than typical board games. On the plus side, it isn’t quite as big as games like Warhammer or War Machine, and you’re able to build teams with very few pieces. Still, most comic stores across the U.S. probably don’t carry Heroclix, and some might not even know what it is.

It seems like multiple times a year, I see various Heroclix sites and message boards talking about bringing new players to the game, or how judges try incredibly hard to entice new players and make their events friendly for the non-veterans. I’m one of those judges as I push to make my games low in cost and simple in mechanics. WizKids themselves know this is an issue, and they’ve worked very hard to make the game as easy as possible to get into. From adding the dials on the backs of the cards to redoing the powers to make them shorter, and rewriting the rulebook to trim roughly half of the text out, the focus is about gaining new players.

So where does that leave us today? How do I feel about the game state and the player base? I’m going to cut this question into multiple topics, so scroll through at your leisure.

Comic Movies are Bigger than Ever

Whether you’re a Marvel fan or a DC fan, you enjoy the films or hate them, it’s a staggering time to be a comic book fan. With the release of Infinity War last month, Marvel has proven that super hero movies aren’t going anywhere, and for good reason. This juggernaut has broken every record before it, like an unsuspecting universe as Thanos pledges his love to Lady Death and wipes out half of all life with a snap (that was a reference to the comic Infinity Gauntlet, not the movie). How does this effect the game though?

I’m sure almost everyone has noticed the lack of movie Gravity Feed sets, as the last we had was Thor: Ragnarok, and those did a pretty good job of marketing the game to moviegoers at places like Target, or if you have a theater like I do, a comic shop literally right across from the entrance in the mall. It does hurt that those aren’t being made anymore, but I think the movies are strong enough to urge people who really like them and like games to check out their local comic shop. Once they do, Heroclix will most likely be the first thing they catch, if there’s product available.

This is a big plus for the game, even with the loss of Gravity Feed movie tie-ins. More people are allotting more time to these characters, and Infinity War did a great job of audiences accepting contrived plot lines. Chances are fans of the newest film are in it for the next leg of Marvel’s journey, so as long as the movies are going strong, it’s a boon for the game.

WizKids Prints a Lot of Movie Characters

Linking up with the last topic, WizKids does a great job of including named movie characters in virtually every set. I can already hear a good chunk of you saying “yeah, but we don’t NEED a new Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow in every freaking Marvel set”. To those of you with this argument, I plead you to reconsider, and let me give you an example why.

Let’s say you’re at your LGS and you’re playing a game of clix, be it in an event or just with your buddies for a day of fun, and someone comes through the door with a perplexed look on their face. They’re rocking a Marvel shirt, but it’s a movie shirt so let’s say they’ve never read a comic before but they really like the movies. If said person sees the game you’re playing, do you think they’ll be more drawn in by seeing the Avengers or other Marvel characters they’ve come to know and love on the big screen, or do you think they’ll know who folks like Pip the Troll or Calendar Man are? That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with these characters; variety is what keeps this set alive, but the big Hollywood characters entice new players into the game because they can immediately relate.

WizKids knows that the die-hard comic fans that play the game are going to buy their product. But you don’t market to the people who are already buying your product; you market to the people you want to buy your product. So I say again, WizKids prints a lot of movie characters because it’s better for the health of the game, meaning the Movie factor is a two-parter.

The Revision Last Year

NOTE: This section was written before the reveal of the X-Men Blackbird Convention Exclusive, so we are not leaving them behind after all.

Everyone knows by this point that the game underwent a massive overhaul last year and WizKids is still working to tweak things and make it easier to understand and play. While a lot of high-level players have commented that this makes the game weaker and bland, it does do a pretty great job of changing Heroclix into a pick-up-and-play game. Before the revision, the rulebook was like a school textbook; this giant pamphlet with tiny type that you took one look at and said “no freaking way”. Now the game is a lot more streamlined, and it’s insanely easier to learn the game than it was a year ago.

Linking with this, we’ve practically seen an elimination of overly complex game systems. Items like Resources and Possessors are a thing of the past, and come June 1st, we’ll have just one resource left in Modern with the Punisher Van. Some will argue that ID cards and Colossal Retaliation are a new plague to the game and have tainted what it used to be, but I’m in the camp that there will always be something out there that people claim is overpowered or killing the game. If you ban something or remove something from the game, the next percentage that was held in check will be free to run rampant and will create a new ‘meta’, so I’m in favor of eliminating these systems that were frankly very hard for newer players to grasp.

I almost never allow resources at my venue because they usually come with a double or triple wide card that takes 5-10 minutes to explain to a newer player, and even then they probably still won’t understand what the hell the thing does. Whether you agree or disagree with me, you have to admit that resources leaving the game is much easier for players.

The Aim for Most New Characters is Much Simpler than the Past

Really? THREE Traits and two special powers? This couldn’t be simplified?

One of the reasons why I don’t like anything older than Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD is because I don’t know any of the dials, and when I look back at many powerful pieces, there are literally walls of text on the cards for a single trait or special power. While it’s true that this does still happen on occasion, WizKids has done a fantastic job of simplifying wording and cutting down on extra text to make pieces easier to read, understand, and memorize what they do.

This is a huge gatekeeping aspect to the game; it’s already hard enough to memorize all the aspects of gameplay, the powers, what you can do on your turn, how many actions you have, and so much more. Adding layers upon layers of character rules and abilities just makes it that much more difficult. I believe that’s why we’re seeing a power creep in numbers again. Characters are a lot easier to portray if you use their numbers to gauge what they can do with one or two small special powers or traits rather than characters like Elektra from the Deadpool set that had three special powers on her dial at any given time granting her access to around 12 different powers.

Pick-a-Power is also a way around this because it gives players the complexity that THEY want rather than having this huge piece that does a ton of different things and figuring out how to use them. I’ll tackle Pick-a-Power in a bit and why it’s a negative aspect as well, but it’s still a fair point that this is a great way to simplify the game for new people and keep the challenge for veterans. It’s a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-to factor.

Sets are Evolving in Fun Ways

Sure, Avengers: Infinity might not be the strongest set ever in terms of competitiveness, but man is it selling like hotcakes! Promise everyone a giant figure in every booster and people will dish out quite a lot of money on them. I was amazed that even with the increase in cost to play in a pre-release, I had a packed house at my venue, even more so than a regular release.

Remember that most people that aren’t into something and see it for the first time will be more enticed by something that looks cool, and WizKids has done a really great job of catering to this. The Mighty Thor really kicked this off with a return to Super Boosters for the first time since Superman/Wonder Woman, and the inclusion of various equipment meaning it paid to buy sealed product, thereby supporting your LGS and rewarding newer players by allowing them a kickback on blind product over singles.

Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls kept this trend up by releasing a set with more women than any other set in the game. It did a tremendous job of catering to the female audience and helping to break the stigma that comics and games are just for men. Xavier’s School brought back ID cards, once again pushing players to purchase sealed product over singles, and of course Infinity gave us the previously mentioned colossal in every pack.

Looking down the pipeline, we’re getting an 8-bit Turtles set, something that’s never been done in the game before, a Batman: The Animated Series set, something we’ve been asking for pretty much since the game launched, and a Star Trek: The Next Generation set, a continuation of a completely different set of characters. While you can argue that Batman is once again the main character of a DC set, we’re getting some really neat sets rather than the typical sets we’ve seen over the last few years.

Upticks in New Player Threads Online

When I came back to the game, the first place I jumped on was Reddit, and I’ve been a big player there since. I’ve seen more “I’m new to the game, what do I purchase?” threads in the last 6 months than I have in probably 3 years. This is a direct link to the overall health of the game. Even on HCRealms, I see a decent chunk of people commenting how they just bought their first packs, or how they’re looking forward to new characters in dial and evidence threads. I even get tweets from newer players on my @ClixFix handle. I don’t know if this is true across the board, but from what I’ve seen, this is a big surge.

Locally is tougher to gauge because every city and state is different. Here in San Diego, CA, I’ve seen more new players since we moved venues in January than ever with roughly 2 new players every quarter. Half my players for our pre-release for Infinity were newer players, willing to cough up the $35 to play in a sealed environment. We’re even getting people who come in and watch what the games are like and how the game works.

A West Coast Circuit Launches

For a long time, it’s felt like those of us on the West Coast of the U.S. have been forgotten when it comes to big events. With the recent Majestix cup launching, we’re finally getting some love. While that doesn’t really do anything for new players, it does a great job of keeping us in the game. No longer do we have to fly across the country to compete in literally any competitive event. Instead, we can plan out where the cup will stop closest to us and hop in the car for a small road trip. It’s a breath of fresh air to those of us out here, and in turn we help promote the game more.

This is a smaller factor than the rest of this list, but it’s still worth mentioning.

Of Course, it’s Not All Roses

While the inclusion of the same characters in almost every set is a good thing for new players, it does discourage veterans to a degree, and just because you want to market to the folks that aren’t strong players yet doesn’t mean you should forget about your dedicated player base. This is true for resources as well, but I kind of covered that counterpoint in the same section. You certainly can’t write off this issue and there have been people dropping out of the game due to it.

Veterans are also taking issues with the game moving towards a more simplistic state, and that’s a valid concern. When you have a game that’s all about strategy and positioning, the less variables there are the more everything starts to blend together. Some people are worried that WizKids is taking things too far in the urge to bring in new and casual players that they’re killing the best parts in the game.

Newer aspects like Colossal Retaliation that proved successful have been printed to the point where they fetch higher prices than main force pieces. Just look at Carnage, Surtur, and Groot; all of them are vastly more expensive than Uni-Mind or any of the Eternals that play with him. The issue with retaliation is that they counter the idea of positioning since you’ll most likely get destroyed as soon as you make an attack, putting the game into a much bigger necessary alpha strike state. However, I would argue that it adds another layer of tactics to the game as it requires you to maneuver in a way to eliminate the retaliators before engaging the main force. Is it perfect or does it offset this plague? Certainly not, but it’s at least a different outlook.

Likewise, ID cards have been associated as another negative aspect to the game. Pieces with more health and higher points are being played more for their ability to stick around and summon rather than fighting on their own. Many players were looking forward to their retirement come June 1st, but with the resurgence in Xavier’s School and their inclusion in Batman: The Animated Series, it’s clear this tactic isn’t going anywhere, and with the combination of retaliation, the game is fundamentally different.

There’s more of a pay-to-play aspect that practically ever before to break into any sort of competitive gameplay. All you need do is look up items like a Wolverine ID card, any of the three retaliators I mentioned above, Mini Shredder, or any other high-caliber piece and you’ll see that just one of these items fetches at least $50 or more. When you figure that most teams are running 4-5 ID cards and at least 1 retaliator, it adds up extremely fast. Granted, I’ve only been back in the game for 3 years, but I’ve never seen it cost this much to play competitively.

Finally for this point, we’ve seen an uproar in Pick-A-Power pieces that folks have argued that regular figures aren’t even remotely capable of competing. Most of these have even been errata’d at least once because the proper testing hasn’t been done on them. Thankfully WizKids aimed to reel this in with Xavier’s School by introducing three cheap pieces that counter this strategy, but time will tell in the new meta if they’ll have a place and will actually stop this.

Final Thoughts

I feel like even though the game is moving in a simpler direction and the amount of extra game aspects is dropping a bit, the game is in a truly better state than it was when I came back in 2015. There seems to be more interest overall and the new rules and systems are great for embracing the new folks. Almost every person I’ve taught to play at my LGS has stuck around since the rework in August, and I’m finding that these new players are latching onto the mechanics and powers better than people who learned on the previous rule set.

What are your thoughts on the state and health of the game? Do you think it’s in a good place, or do you feel it’s getting worse and this is the death knell of Heroclix? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

See you all next week on Clix Fix and back here in a fortnight. Remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!