Age of Destruction could have been the best thing to happen to this game if not for a few design decisions.
First, the blind guys are a non-starter. When I’m trying to build an army, I want what I want. I want the mech I want for the faction I want. It would be one thing if you could blind buy for specific factions, but just rolling the dice on maybe getting a decent unit for a faction you like was a killer.
Second, the factions were weird. I don’t have a problem with the Dark Age or the new mechs, but the overlap of a new era, a new story, new mechs, and completely new factions were all just too much When combined together. There was nothing familiar that I could hold onto. We’re the Steel Wolves basically just Clan Wolf? Of course they were. THEN WHY NOT JUST LET THEM CLAN WOLF!?
That being said, the actual gameplay was very solid. I like the Clix system. Is it different from CBT? Yes, but different isn’t bad. In fact, that Clix system has been wildly successful for many years, so someone was clearly doing something right.
If we could go back and do it all over again, I’d like the see the Clix system as an Inner Sphere vs Invading Clans dynamic. Mechs are classed to one of two factions (IS and Clan) and any mech, vee, or infantry can be added to any army of its faction. Maybe let subfactions (Great Houses, specific Clans, and mercenaries) come into play at the commander level. Like, 1 in every 10 blind buy boxes has a special commander unit that has slightly better stats and gives your army special faction rules if used as the leader.