Adventurers League Season 10 - OH NO!
First, a little disclaimer with the fact that I have not been playing D&D all the time like I used to do. With that out of the way, I will say I really miss the friends and fun from AL.
The new Wizards of the Coast (WotC) adventure product - Rime of the Frostmaiden - released yesterday, which means yesterday was also the release date for the new AL Season 10 Rules. Except, strangely, all that we got was a "Player's Guide" without a DM's Guide or FAQ or Content Catalog update. I say it's strange because, in previous years, the AL Admins have released previews of the rules a month or two ahead of time and the community has had a chance to provide feedback. And then there were rules updates along the way, as needed.
The feedback from the draft of the Season 9 rules caused the admin team to revise them to better fit the wants and needs of the community. But WotC decided this time not to release a preview ahead of time. Instead, they boldly dropped the "Player's Guide" document with the "seasonality" concept (not said in name) that the community fought against for Season 9.
Basically, to play in any of the new materials and hardcover release, you have to make a new character that is Season 10 exclusive. After getting to level 5, you can take that Season 10 character to previous material, but then you can't come back to the Season 10 stuff. It's so weird and exclusive for, in my opinion, no reason. But then again, I've always thought that AL has a bunch of extra rules just for the sake of making the system more complicated.
The community is very upset. The Facebook group received almost 1,000 negative comments in less than 24 hours. Reddit is full of negative comments. I wish I was on Discord so I could see what the AL Discord groups are saying, but according to people on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit there will be a ton of players and DMs leaving again like with Season 8.
The weirdest part to me is that we have always explained to new players that you have to use the newest season rules to play, but the person who wrote the Season 10 "Player's Guide" wrote it - it appears - with the assumption that the Season 9 rules would still be in effect for non-Season 10 characters. It makes me wonder if the person who wrote the document even knows what AL is or how it has worked in the past.
On Twitter and Facebook the AL admins have been clear that WotC has taken over and they have no power here other than being the messengers of the rules. That's really strange too. Why even have admins at that point?
Overall, the premiere of the AL Season 10 rules has been a failure. Lots of people are confused. The people who understand the rules are angry and threatening to leave AL play. Well, there are always home games to play in.
Peace!
