WBO 5th Anniversary! Hooray! - Printable Version

self indulgent summary of my thoughts on the format and its gameplay (Click to View)

I did some playtesting for Limited, back when it was just something a few of us were working on by ourselves, working out balancing â€“ what would work, what dominated or disrupted the balance between the types and individual parts and in particular what steps would need to be taken to maximise the number of viable parts (particularly metal wheels) â€“ and perhaps by Takara's design, most Metal System wheels in particular being somewhat aggressive, the best way to go about that also aligned with attack having a slight edge â€“ which of course is tempered by the difficulty required to use the type successfully, a balance that is generally accepted as ideal in that it rewards skill and/or risk taking while keeping the types relatively even (though it may take some adjusting to if you're used to attack being "too risky" to see the same usage levels as defense and stamina)

In particular, the gameplay reminds me strongly of the Heavy Metal System, but without the dearth of effective defense combinations, but sacrifices much less of the aggression HMS is known for than I would have thought possible. The removal of the disk tracks and inclusion of tracks above 145 height (and not just 230 like back in the day) means height matchups are more relevant than they have ever been to every single type, meaning a much broader range of customizations are viable and a lot more strategy must be used in selection, however there is still plenty of room for people to use parts that may not be the absolute best, but are still effective, and I really hope people take advantage of this and familiarise themselves with the unique quirks of each individual wheel â€“ most noticeable in the broad range of viable Attack wheels, but present in every type.

A summary of the gameplay of the format, at least with the parts I tested (I sadly have no Metal Fury and very few Zero G parts) would be that Limited is more fun than HMS, generally cheaper than modern MFB (at least right now) as well as low on breakage, and perhaps even nearing my beloved Plastics in terms of the range of viable parts and deeply nuanced matchups (perhaps slightly simpler, which is probably for the best haha).
It rewards skill, particularly with Attack types (and in Attack vs Defense, Launch Strength is hugely important), as well as experimentation thanks to the broad and varied yet balanced range of parts available while also not punishing lack of access to the absolute best parts as much as most other formats (though outside North America this could be disrupted if Metal Fury/ZG stuff dominates too much, Australia for example apparently received neither).

If you have a favourite Metal Wheel that is legal in Limited, odds are you can find some way to use it, unless it truly is bottom of the barrel (in which case why do you like poison/a legend wheel), but generally the weight and general characteristics of the legal wheels are close enough (again I don't have metal fury or many of the potentially useful zero g parts, which could alter this (though that would be reason for bans to be looked at IMO)) that type matchups hold even if you don't have the best metal wheel for the type etc.

Though the ban list is very much still open for consideration, I feel it provides solid ground to build upon, and that the right decisions have been made for early tournaments to get us off to a strong start without anything being too powerful â€“ there are a couple of things I'd have preferred to have been able to get out of the way before release, but all things considered everyone involved did a fantastic job.

I'll be around (despite being on holiday and having to use dodgy mobile internet in a very roundabout way to make longer posts like this) to help out with questions and give advice on combinations and so on, seeing as I have a fairly good body of knowledge (and also have my MFB with me, despite the discomfort my BB-10 caused in our rather tightly packed car), and generally to share my excitement for this format with everyone â€“ it really is the most enjoyable format I've played and I want everyone else to experience that too (okay so maybe I'll just ramble at length given the slightest provocation but hey scrollbars are there for a reason right?)

Spoiler (Click to View)