Quote Originally Posted by HalfTangible View Post
To have a changing meta, you can either introduce new elements to the game (see what happens whenever new Heroes are introduced in Dota 2) or have deliberate counters to each army in each other's lists. The former isn't necessary for the most part (though it's still being done, last i checked) and the latter creates a scenario where every army is in constant flux.
There is a deliberate counter to most things in the game. You just need to figure out what they are. Another thing that 'the casual meta' can't or wont seem to get on board with, is Allies. The game isn't fair. GW isn't going to make it fair either. But, GW are giving you more and more tools. Unlimited Detachments (3 is still more than enough), a bunch of Supplements and Formations, and, obviously, Allies. Yes, of course you have to pay money for those things. That's how business works.

A player finds out that strategy A is winning 3 times out of 4, let's say. That means that a bunch of people will take strategy A to multiple battles. Then another player finds out that strategy B works well at countering strategy A, and since the meta has a lot of strategy A now, a bunch of people take strategy B lists.
But that's exactly what happens now. And why we have terms like 'meta-busters'. Daemons got you down? Buy a Fortress of Redemption. S8 Barrage weapon to drop on a book-holder's head, and AV14 which Daemons can't touch outside of Monstrous Creatures. Your strategy is to kill the Monstrous Creatures. If Daemons want to compete against a Fortress of Redemption, or Leman Russes, or Land Raid-
Derp. Cheese, you idiot, not every Codex has Leman Russes or Land Raiders.
True, but everybody can take a Fortress of Redemption. It's a Fortification.

'Changing meta' is exactly what happens everytime a new Codex comes out. Most people on the internet just don't realise that the meta changes because I've found that a lot of people on the internet don't actually change their list every two or three games to reflect their meta (probably because they can't afford to, but, again, affordability is not something I take into account when talking about the game), more importantly, I found that a lot of people on the internet don't even play the game at all. They just like complaining about it.

Case in point; People are genuinely shocked that Ultramarines came second at BAO. Uh...Ultramarines have always been good. Did people not realise that twin-linking everything was really good? Or did you mean the Drop Pods? When did Space Marines change from Rhinos to Drop Pods? Uh...Ages ago, probably sometime during 6th.

At most, this might require minor retooling. Tau can take skyfire to counter flyers, like you said, because Necrons at the time could basically spam their flyers. Which means Necrons would take fewer flyer lists and, say, bring more monoliths or deadeyes. Skyfire would become ineffective, so skyfire would fade away.
Okay, real example. Do you know why Space Marines came back into the meta in a big, big way? It wasn't because of their new Codex - although that helped. Space Marines came back because Tau changed the meta. Before Tau, it was common for most armies - not just Necrons - to carry four Fliers. I myself used two Vendettas and two Stormtalons for a long time. But the reason that Eldar and Tau and Daemons were really good, was, in fact, because they didn't have 3+ armour. Did you ever face CSM/Black Legion four Heldrakes lololololol? That was a thing that happened (and, I'll point out to others that Matt Ward wasn't involved in either Chaos Codex). But then Tau came in, with Skyfire. Not just Skyfire, but Interceptor as well, for the low cost of 25 points per model. Now, most armies could only run two Fliers (and Necrons went from six to four). With literally half the amount of Heldrakes in the meta than before, it was now safe for Marines to come out of their metal boxes. Suddenly, in a meta filled with Eldar, Daemons, Tau and Zombies, it was important again to be able to kill 3+ Save models. Not because of Marines, but because of Tau.

That said I don't think codex creep is real, at least not as it keeps being defined at me, so make of that what you will.
I just think if somebody gives me a hard example of 'power creep', I'll just show that it was necessary for the game to evolve because of whatever powerful came before it, and how it was solved by whatever came after it. I believe power creep exists, but I just think it's an evolution of the game, and therefore necessary for continued playability of said game.