The lessons of a deceased Mage Knight.

We don’t do many post-mortem posts at mendax.org, but perhaps we should start. We say that because things are usually clearer in hindsight, and understanding historical events is a boon to future decision making. That’s why when we commented on the World of Warcraft (WoW) miniatures game the other day, we thought about the interesting success, and ultimate downfall, of Mage Knight. More interestingly, the lessons that Mage Knight can teach not only the miniature wargaming industry, but the gaming industry as a whole, are important ones.

What was so special about Mage Knight?

A Mage Knight base.

Rather than explore the specifics of Mage Knight (which we covered in our review of the game five years ago), we’ll instead summarize the beast that WizKids spawned and later killed. In short, Mage Knight set itself apart from other wargames (and arguably revitalized the genre as a result) by targeting would-be wargamers who wanted to spend minimal money to get started, and who wanted to jump right into gameplay. This was a new idea, since most miniature wargames up until this time required a fair amount of preparation time before units could be fielded for gameplay: units required assembly, cleaning, and painting. Furthermore, wargames ala Warhammer required the purchase of rulebooks that outlined gameplay and the abilities of individual units. Mage Knight, on the other hand, offered comparatively cheaper, pre-painted plastic figures mounted to a dial. This dial had windows to show all the unit’s attributes, and turning the dial showed modified attributes based on the damage the unit was taking. Quick-start rules were packaged alongside units, and could even be downloaded online. So while Mage Knight didn’t come with as much fluff as other miniature wargames, the barrier of entry was much shorter.

By the time Mage Knight was discontinued, it had about 17 sets released, five of which could be considered “core” sets for late-adopters of the original game. Unfortunately, by November, 2003, WizKids decided to revamp the game with a major refresh, and released a set of 2.0 figures, followed by four expansions. Two years later, the game was discontinued after a five-year lifespan.

So what killed Mage Knight?

We already covered what set Mage Knight apart from traditional miniature wargames, and the heart of that difference, at least in terms of gameplay, was the dial, or “Clix” system which simplified gameplay. The Clix system was simple to learn, was pretty robust, but wasn’t particularly expandable. That was fine for a fledgling set of figures, but as WizKids wanted to release more and more units, they realized that as strategic as their game was, its relative simplicity meant that only a limited amount of unique figures could ultimately be produced. Surely, by the time the game was two years old, WizKids began to ponder what they could do to keep new units interesting, and they realized that they’d have to extend the rules. This is why Mage Knight 2.0 was conceived: by adding new unit abilities, they were increasing the combinations of attributes that new units could have, which meant that they could keep producing new units and sets. The problem with this revision is that it effectively killed the pre-2.0 units.

Despite the new rules being compatible with the old ones (as it was just an evolved form of the older system), even the more powerful older units couldn’t compete with the abilities of newer units. This became especially true when WizKids allowed certain units to increase their power with items, which older units could not wield. In other words, by releasing Mage Knight 2.0, WizKids forced their players to effectively start from scratch.

Having to start from scratch meant players had a couple options:

Build a brand new Mage Knight army from the ground-up. [Scaling investment.]
Stop playing Mage Knight and pick-up WizKids’ Mechwarrior or HeroClix games, which had more players interested because of theme, were based on the familiar Clix system that Mage Knight pioneered, and had units that weren’t being deemed irrelevant with a product refresh. [Considerable investment.]
Stop playing Mage Knight and advance to a more traditional wargame like Warhammer. [Considerable investment.]
Give up miniature wargames. [No investment.]

For the wargaming enthusiast, only three of these options made sense, but with the increasing popularity of HeroClix, most Mage Knight gamers jumped ship to WizKids’ new flagship, which is still alive and kicking today. The thematic differences between Mage Knight and HeroClix were significant, but the transition of gamers from one to the other illustrated that gamers didn’t care: they wanted a system that offered a similar experience, not an aesthetic similarity.

What does this mean for MMOGs?

Drawing parallels between Mage Knight’s career and that of other tabletop wargames is a moot point, as the pitfalls to avoid for a new publisher should be obvious. They’re not quite as obvious when applied to other gaming genres, such as MMOGs, however. These pitfalls may stand out more when we break them down:

Firstly, we have game mechanics, which applies not just to the fundamentals of a system, but also to the ease of entry and simplicity. Mage Knight wouldn’t have caught on like it did if it catered to the tried-and-true wargaming aficionados; Mage Knight didn’t sell itself through books and an array of purchase options. Rather, getting into Mage Knight was as simple as buying a starter set and then buying boosters to expand one’s army. With a barrier of entry so low, and with quick start rules packed in every box, learning the basics of the game was incredibly simple. In a similar fashion, Blizzard’s Word of Warcraft (WoW) set the bar very low for new gamers, by giving new characters very few abilities from the get-go, and holding the player’s hands for the first few levels until they understand how the greater game worked. This degree of polish and simplicity is one of the primary reasons that WoW attracted a pool of subscribers as large as it currently has, and why it became the first mainstream MMOG. For any competitor in the MMOG space, the barrier of entry as exemplified by Mage Knight and WoW is an important one, because it determines the ease of obtaining new players and keeping their attention long enough to give a new title a real try.

Secondly, we have the issue of player investment. WoW itself has succumb to this pitfall not just with class nerfs, but with fundamental class design issues. That’s because the class one plays in the early leveling game, can become a drastically different class in the end-game. Players should realize the “true” role of their class as late as they do, and instead should have a very keen idea as to what their class is about after investing only a couple hours in a character. Instead, Blizzard fails to explain to players that certain classes will become bastard stepchildren unless specced a certain way, many times in a way that the player didn’t use that character for the majority of the character’s existence. In short, players shouldn’t feel betrayed by the state of the game after investing many, many hours developing a character. Instead, the character they develop should play in a consistent manner throughout a player’s journey. Mage Knight’s failure to address legacy units after 2.0 was the catalyst that killed the game, and forcing a class to tank in an MMOG when that wasn’t a clear role in the early game will similarly chase players away from a game they’ve already invested in.

Following the same issue is a related note: gameplay evolution. Games do need to evolve in order to keep making money, and in the case of Mage Knight, the game was doomed one way or another, as a lack of new attribute combinations meant that the game would stagnate and die if it didn’t refresh the rules. Sadly, that refresh killed the game, which begs the questions as to whether WizKids could have somehow fixed the old system on conjunction with releasing the 2.0 rules. For example, releasing updated dials for old units via a direct-purchase option (even if it mean sending the old bases in), or somehow retrofitting the old dials.

For MMOGs, the issue is similarly real: with Blizzard’s “more of the same” attitude, the game will stagnate and die, but drastic changes may not be the best bet either, especially if those changes seriously alter the mechanics players have come to love. That’s why WoW’s arena system wasn’t universally praised, and why Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is receiving great reviews for its world PvP focus (which WoW players have asked for since the game’s inception).

And what about wargaming?

The miniature wargaming market is a different one today than it was when Mage Knight premiered. With the landscape changed, players now have multiple options for quick-play, in the form of other collectible miniature games spanning numerous genres, from fantasy, to science-fiction, to historical periods like WW2. Furthermore, many systems utilizing the tried-and-true build-and-paint methods of unit selection and army building are much friendlier to new players, as the respective rule systems resolve quicker, are made for smaller armies, and yet still incorporate the flexibility of rules changes and gameplay evolution.

It may not be accurate to say that Mage Knight is what got us to where we are today, but certainly, without Mage Knight, there’d likely be a lot less fuel behind the wargaming fire that so easily captures out attention. Without the success of the Clix system, who knows if there’d be major labels behind todays wargames, be that Axis & Allies, D&D, Star Wars, and even WoW. While some of these may not escape the pitfalls that Mage Knight fell into, we’re bound to see better and better design behind wargaming systems. Heck, for all we know, WizKids may give Mage Knight another go when the timing’s right, and when disgruntled former players are no longer cursing the game’s name.

The lessons of a deceased Mage Knight.

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