The vamps: All of them seemed fine. Some people seem to think that John Francis was a little confusing, but that has more to do with cards like Pulled Fangs being confusing than with his power, which is pretty straightforward.
The cards: I noticed that Steve discarded a Wheels Within Wheels, although I suspect that he might have wanted to keep it had my deck not jammed horribly. He also discarded a Territorial Weapons Ban... Hmmm. But no Princes? Dark Whispers was discarded as well.
I get the feeling that some cards were just put in decks because they were playtest cards, not because they were good cards to use for that type of deck. That might be throwing some things off.
Nevertheless, if people keep discarding those cards instead of using them, that might be a sign that they are too weak.
Sense the Sin seems to be a good utility card; I think it made the Setites more effective, but it wasn't excessive. I missed the play surrounding Addictive Blood, so I won't comment.
Guess I should post my bit of the discussion. I didn't use many of the playtest cards. My whole deck was supposed to rush and burn vampires faster then they could be brought out. Never got a chance to diablerize with a small vampire which would have helped get some needed skills out to the smaller vamps. Having the playtest vampire helped build an all gangrel antitribu deck. Most of the playtest cards I used were there on an if needed basis. Like Wheels withing Wheels.
My deck is one of those that I personally consider among the strongest I have in my shelf. It contained no playtest cards (it wasn't supposed anyway) and was meant as a strong counterpart for the new decks.
I don't think any of the cards or vamps were too strong. I agree to Ruzza possibly being the most scary of the new vamps seen so far.
I like addictive blood.
We already have an ongoing discussion wether some cards are too weak.
My deck used For/Ser/Obf and was supposed to do unblockable bleed with Heart of Darkness/Force of Will/Daring the Dawn (with a few Form of Corruptions and Temptations.) Although I got the combo off once, it wasn't really worth it: too expensive and difficult to pull off. Being handjammed didn't help either.
This deck wouldn't be possible without the playtest vamps; I had 8 in my crypt, including doubles of Ruzza and Ivan. The ones who didn't show up were Quintus and Credenza. John Francis's power came in pretty handy, though I used it 1 time too many (but that was the fault of Pulled Fangs.) Ruzza I never got a chance to use, of course. Dave points out that her power is usable even when she's in torpor; it should probably read "When Ruzza is ready..."
The only playtest cards in my library were Sense the Sin and Serpent's Strike. Sense the Sin is fine, Serpent's Strike never came up.
Finally, it's interesting that the deck that did best was Michael's conventional deck; I think this goes to show that deck strategies that are too complicated (like mine, and I think John's and Rob's) don't work very well. I think a more straightforward For/Ser/Obf deck would do better.
I found, like Steven that the playtest vampires allowed me to build the All Settite deck. The Sense the sin card was very useful and even with the cost of one it seemed to be fine. The Dark whispers I never got the chance to use, since I started drawing them after the voting was done. The still seem to be good cards however.
Since I only had 16 Playtest cards in my deck, I can not comment to much on what I used.
Vampires: Ruzza is cool! One question tho, if ruzza is in torpor and untapped, can you tap him to give another vampire +1 stealth? John Francis was neat, but confusing at first. No worst than any new master card the first time you see it. Not over powerful, just unexpected.
Addictive Blood, OK card, but is limited by the hunting clause which is required to get this card in play. Possible to get these clogged in your hand if no one is hunting.
The basic idea behind my deck was a Lasombra bruise-and-vote idea. I threw in a couple of Brujah (like Stanislaus) and Anarch Rushes to hopefully cinch all the voting power on the board with Political Struggles. I even distinctly chose Crusades that might conflict with the Princes so that I could attack them as well. Also, use Political Seizures and Thanks for the Donations to get as many locations as possible. How did it go? Not particularly well. I had a great position with a voter prey, but I couldn't get my regular rushes to deal with the Setites. I couldn't see much use for the playtest cards for myself, however. I had a couple of Stock Market Manipulations and Anarch Rushes in my deck, but that was it. With the Political Struggles, I didn't need any Clan Backings. Also, if I were to redesign the deck, I'd take out the TftD and Pol. Seizures and replace them with Kine Dominances and Shadow Plays/other Obtenebration stealth. They're much cheaper in the long run.
Notes on other playtest cards:
Evan, John Francis, Ivan, Francisca, Niccolo, Stanislaus: New vampires. Useful guys, nothing too worrisome. They add to deck options. Good.
Ruzza: The scariest of the new vamps to appear. With OBF and tap for +1 stealth, she might be too much for a 4. Still, I'm willing to keep her around and see what happens in a few other games, but I bet she'll pop up with the Malks and Nossies, too. Ruzza/Cloak the Gathering is powerful.
Sense the Sin, Addictive Blood: The only playtest cards actually to be used. They also add to the options of a strategy without becoming too powerful. Very good.