Well here we go. I have been on the beta since it was released by FFG. My thoughts on the Beta are.

1. This is not a beta its a errata/proofreading club.

2. The dice system is not an issues, as the custom dice kind of work here.

3. The issues are with the character creation system(4), skill system(5), weapons(6), strife system(7), and abilities(8).

4. Character creation in this game is for lack of a better word a game of mad-lids.For those that are unfamiliar with these. A mad-lib is a story with missing nouns, verbs, etc that you fill in the blanks to form a story. The current system does just that. You go through and at the points it tells you you pick a skill, ring, or advantage/disadvantage. This takes one of the most important parts of role-playing out of the players hands and turns it into a MMO. FFG answer is, this is how they want it to fight power-gamers and force players to take disadvantages.

5. The skill system is a mess. The game uses what they call an approach system, where you come up with some narrative/excuse for why you want to use a ring on the roll. Just to be clear rings are the traits of this game. Nothing is set with just a few exceptions, so most players will look for any reason to use their highest ring. The skills themselves are just as bad. First we have skills like Martial Art[melee] which cover every non range weapon in the game. Then we have Seafaring. the writers can't seem to makeup their minds if they want to be general or specific.Overall the system is a mess and the only fixes so far have been to patch issues like the missing perception skill with more rules on how to use the broken system to get around it.

6. The Katana, the most iconic weapon in a samurai game seems to be made out of glass in the beta. To be fare all edged weapons are fragile in this beta. The Razor-Edged trait was added to most edged weapons in the game. While this trait allows you to use some abilities it also states that if you hit and you do not do damage something that can happen quite often your weapon brake. Other issues are the inclusion of non-Rokugan weapons such as crossbows and Chinese weapons that have never been in L5R before.

7. What can I say about the strife system other then why. This system is your typical FFG system to force you to role-player how they want. The system is like all their narrative games build into the dice. You get strife if you chose a dice face that includes one. If your strife equals or exceeds your composer you are compromised. You suffer and inability to use strife faced dice until you unmask. For lack of a better word, until you make a fool of yourself. Which is better, but not by much then the original rule that you unmasked immediately after equals or exceeds your composer. Overall the system is terrible, but due to design can't be remover as it is connected to a lot of the abilities in the game.

8. A lot of Abilities as stated above are linked with the strife system, some to the point that all they do is remove or use strife. Most other abilities are either limited in their usefulness or just useless most of the time.

9. The biggest issues here is that FFG seem to have already decided what they want out of the game and don't care what the players think. The only changes that have been made so far have been cosmetic like renaming things or just adjusting abilities/traits so they are usable.

10. void is gained by failing rolls because of your disadvantages. and the rule are designed so you have to role-play to the GM approval to get them.

overall it is clear that FFG, contrary to their statements did not buy this IP due to their love for it, but just as a cash-cow like most of their other IPs.

I figured this out when I watched a FFG podcast about the L5R LCG and only one person of the group responsible for it had ever played the original game before, and the others just voiced their issues with the AEG product.

I would give this game a -3 star rating if I could, but I'll just say my suggestion is to give it a pass and stick with 4th ed.