Warhammer 40K: Lessons to Learn From the GW Balance Update
Adam here to talk about the recent balance update from Games Workshop… but from a different angle.
A lot of talking has been going on this week. The release of the new balancing datasheet has caused a bit of a stir for a number of reasons. The obvious ones are how the different armies, not just the ones people were concerned about, have new rules and rule tweaks in order to make that army a bit more competitive as a whole. There are plenty of websites, videos and articles are all talking about how these changes affect those armies and what this may or may not mean for the meta as a whole. So his week we will look at the balance datasheet in another way and look at what lessons we should take away from the recent balance update, some advice, and what it could mean for the future of the game.
Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)
For a majority of us, we basically play whatever we want. Sure we may follow the meta and what’s trending but for the most part we stick with what we like and the cool units in that army. If the army we play happens to be the “it” army then we can luckily just add a few units to that army and there ya go. There are those, however, that are constantly chasing the meta and switching armies as soon as a new hotness takes affect. They use any netlist that they see wining events and are constantly buying and selling models at a fast pace.
Maybe I should have waited…
With the new balance update Games Workshop is showing that they are recognizing some of the issues within the game and are more than willing to correct those issues. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is that when they make these corrections a lot of people are stuck with an excess of models or models that are unusable. Because of this people should probably be concerned when a unit or army is too good. You can still play the army but do not be surprised when the army or unit in question is adjusted and you all of a sudden have all these extra, or now useless, models that no one else wants. That is unless they didn’t have the models to begin with.
Always Wait for the FAQ
Building on that last premise, you should probably take the safe route with any army purchases and wait until a FAQ is released for that new codex or a certain period of time has passed and there is no correction. Waiting for a codex FAQ can help you save some money, especially if there is a unit out there that seems too good to be true. Now it is true that you may be missing out on some prime winning by not having that key unit or model but if you are cost conscience then a little patience can go a long way, especially if the FAQ actually boosts a unit you may already have on your shelf.
From my past experience, and really after this balance update, you can really see that Games Workshop is trying make the game more balanced in a more reasonable amount of time. Now if a month or 2 passes and nothing has been done, then go all out. I would still advise caution or maybe sell those soon to be excess units as soon as you hear rumblings about any adjustments or to stop using any loophole or edge case strategies in your army.
Balance Updates in the Future and You
Overall I think that the balance update was a good thing as it addressed a few concerns. It corrected some of the issues with the armies that were at the top and also helped raise a lot of the other armies with some additional rules for them or clarifications on rules that the armies already had. We were also told that we should be seeing these types of updates about every quarter. What this means is that you can easily plan how you build an play your army with this knowledge in mind.
Hold tight, that next rebalance is just around the corner…
Combine this with the, hopefully, FAQs that would release soon after a codex drops and there can be times where you won’t be able to take advantage of any model, units or quirky rules interactions for too long. I know that some may feel like this it a bit much, especially with the amount of rules locations out there, but I think that a majority of players will see the benefit of a basically living ruleset.
~That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, and your opinion of the Balance Datasheet, in the comments section below.
