[GS] Did you enjoy the leak?

[kaspergm]

I like surprises. But on the plus side we were spared the building tension as people with strong views on the inclusion of Byzantines, Portugal, etc. became steadily more anxious that their favourite civ was not going to be in the expansion. At least the leak meant that the frothing-at-the-mouth-with-rage threads were all over and done some months before the release. Stages of grief...

Good point. I do think the leak killed some of the buzz, but on the other hand, my frustration that Mayas are still not in the game is now not in its peak one week before release, which is nice.

 

[BackseatTyrant]

You know, I can't help but feel that the leak might have been intentional on Firaxis' part. That this act of espionage was really just a marketing trick in order to stir up hype

 

[Victoria]

I think it was unprofessional if it was not intentional. I cannot see the reason for intent here, more hype from not knowing.

It is likely some idiot who thought they were being clever or would be appreciated by all.... as this poll shows.. most people either do not care or dislike the person for doing it.

I would happily dislike and ignore such a person.

 

[pokiehl]

No. I feel awful for the team at Firaxis because this expansion is truly breaking the mold and they must have been so excited to reveal everything. They put in the time and work on this product and they deserve the right to show it off on their terms. That goes for any artist or team developing a product.

As a fan, it was also much less exciting. The R&F cycle was so hype-inducing as we didn't know nearly as much information. The GS cycle became much less interesting once it was apparent the leak was real. It's sad because the content of GS is so much more interesting to me, so if we hadn't known everything, the hype would have been awesome.

 

[Scaramanga]

Leaks are natural disasters and require flood barriers.

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

You know, I can't help but feel that the leak might have been intentional on Firaxis' part. That this act of espionage was really just a marketing trick in order to stir up hype

I always suspect companies of being behind the leaks. They stand the most to gain from it. In this case, it built up hype for Gathering Storm and created a lot of great discussion.

When it is not intentional and done by data miners, I hate it. I hate those losers who want to spoil everything for the rest of us. They are scum.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I'm torn. I wanted to know more about what was going to happen, but then when I did I wish I hadn't.

 

[Giskler]

Maybe in the future there can be “leak-free” threads where people who don’t want to be spoiled can continue their guessing/speculation? I don’t mind leaks but I can see why people don’t want to be spoiled.

If you don't want to be spoiled, you would have to stay off the web and all social media until release.

 

[ExemplarVoss]

Nobody want to be spoiled way ahead of any official announcement.

Some do.

Its a product a company is trying to sell. Many people want as much info as possible before buying, and info independent of the company's advertising is useful.

 

[WillowBrook]

On the whole, I prefer surprises. But it was really nice not to have a ton of people disappointed that their favorite civ wasn't in two weeks before release. So if there are future leaks, I would like the leaker to reveal who's not in. E.g., if there's a third expansion, tell us that, say, Morocco, the Iroquois, Vietnam, and Assyria are not included. (I'm not advocating this exclusion list! It's just an example! Please don't stone me!)

 

[Ziad]

I dont mind it. I'm here for the game. I can get my thrills elsewhere

 

[pgm123]

I liked the blurry picture of leaders for the base game better. This was too direct.

 

[ehecatzin]

It was, interesting, specially at the begining while we slowly realized it might actually be real. After that to me the interesting part was trying to guess what mechanics could each civ have tied to GS, instead of just guessing the civ.

 

[Equilin]

One more thing that leak helps imo, is that it kinds of neuter the rage on weird/controversial civ choices (Canada anyone?). I still prefer surprises tho.

On the topic of Spoilers thread, how about putting up curfew and have all talks about leaks go in the leak thread? Certainly better than non-spoilers thread.

 

[Phoenix1595]

I will be honest— I appreciated the leak because it did prep me for what to expect. While I generally don't get too rattled by the civ selections and try to be open-minded, R&F threw me for a loop when they introduced civs out of nowhere at the expense of some old standbys. To date, there are one or two R&F civs that I simply do not like because of the shock that came with their inclusion. Irrational, but it is how I feel as a player and consumer. The leak does help some people process surprises.

That said, I generally liked all of the GS civs, even Canada!

 

[Sagax]

It balanced out.

Bad:
- less excitement
- perhaps mediocre sneak peeks as a result (I mean come on...a pink square as a tease was kinda ridiculous)

Good:
- damage prevention: we knew the Missing Three were not coming, and so we aren’t experiencing a rage storm now.
- I kinda enjoyed the leak bingo game.

 

[Arianrhod]

If it wasn't leaked ahead of time that Canada and Sweden got in over Babylon and the Maya, I would probably be taking to the streets right now with pitchforks.

 

[Wielki Hegemon]

I think I enjoyed First Looks knowing list of new Civs the same as I enjoyed it last time not knowing them. So I don't mind leaks.
The best leak so far was a blurry photo with leaders. It was revealed not straightforward and gave us a lot of fun in guessing the hints.

 

[King of Prussia]

I would of rather been surprised.

 

[CPWimmer]

I am torn on this. I loved the original partial leak of the images ("Vesuvius", Kupe, Seastead, Eleanor, Corsairs) but not the full leak of all the Civs and features. But I do agree that knowing everyone of the leaders helped dull the shock that Maya, Portugal and Babylon are still missing, and we get the unexpected things like Canada, Hungary and Eleanor.

So I am not voting at this time.