Spoiled

By Tren, in X-Wing

Does anyone think that FFG does itself a disservice by spoiling so much content of distant releases?

At best it gets people talking about up-and-coming product instead of enjoying what they have, at worst people get bored with products before they are released.

I think if they had of just shown a picture of the models and names .... Everyone would have enjoyed speculating the stats while comforted that new products are in the pipeline...

Nope !! Please tell the guys in the R&D room to spill what they are working on now!

How would you like to be given the information. Through the articles on FFG's website, that actually gives us information on the release and fun things for discussion, with some speculation. Or through boring solicits that stores receive? Where we will get a name and price, that's about it. Because that's how Wizkids does it (in fact, further in advance than FFG does, baring delays).

Yes, sometimes FFG shows too much, like with the Imperial Aces. But I think they are planning out their articles better, thus keeping some info hidden. (See Decoy, Tactician, and the E-wing dial for Wave 4)

Beyond that details allow us to crunch the numbers down to science better enabling us to power game as they are released :) .

It depends on how distant the release actually is.

Personally, I did not need the wave five spoiler now . About a month after I hold wave four in my hands would suffice.

What I really want them to spill the beans on is the tie advanced aces pack with the 4 point missle delete/3rd attack slot :)

I'm glad they showed some stuff from wave 5 and that MM is already taking pre-orders. For a second there I thought I would have some money in my wallet

It depends on how distant the release actually is.

Personally, I did not need the wave five spoiler now . About a month after I hold wave four in my hands would suffice.

Attn: FFG !!! You need weekly releases. Think about moded basic ship pack's with one new pilot per blister and a new paint job. Make the pilot a meta must have, you know something to really set of the basement troll on a whirlwind :) . Don't worry I'll buy em

I love the spiolers, it's get me norte expectation about the new ships, or the picture, or the book, etc, but I understand your position, I know other friends that hate this spoilers, but the solution is simple, don't see it, and tell your friends that you don't like it, greettings.

The method FFG uses to spoil upcoming things is excellent. The intro article and then every couple weeks a specific ship highlight, with occasional side articles for unique features in the release really works and builds excitement and let's us speculate on the things that haven't been spoiled yet. But I agree that the initial spoilers tend to come a little too far in advance. Unless wave 5 is going to be available for purchase at gencon in 2 months then I think this article was a bit premature. I also would have liked all the wave 4 preview articles to have been a week or two later than they were. Basically everything about wave 4 has been discussed and analysed to death by now and the ships haven't even been released yet.

Drumming up excitement for an upcoming product is good. Drumming up excitement for an upcoming product before customers have a chance to buy the preceding 2 products, not so much.

As stated above, I think a month to enjoy wave 4 would have worked!

Nope !! Please tell the guys in the R&D room to spill what they are working on now!

We're [the forum] are part of the R&D room... we do a good percentage of the brainstorming and the actual R&D guys take those and refine them into the game. And if they're not doing that I sure it's just coincidence every so often we and them come to the same conclusions...

Besides... maybe the FAQ team want's to see what gripes and qualms we have with the way certain things are worded so once release day comes around the can send out the FAQ for the cards they missed that could be interpreted different ways.

LOVE IT...FFG is doing this right!

Problem is: if you try and keep everything secret squirrel, and with today's tech age the cat will be let out of the bag somehow someway....then you have FFG wasting time and effort to find the source of the leak and that takes away from creating a great game. Soooo might as well give some teasers but not all the info instead of chasing your tail in circles and trying to be all GW like

It keeps the game relevant and hyped.

That's good for them. Pre orders and marketing. You know. The usual.

It keeps the game relevant and hyped.

That's good for them. Pre orders and marketing. You know. The usual.

i feel like this game is so hot that they don't even need to market it

just announce the ship release 1-2 month prior to release to get all the pre-orders in and be done with it

though the spoilers are nice from time to time.. they really should have waited until after wave 4 was released before announcing the next wave

these threads are already ADHD enough about speculation to the point where an overwhelming amount of people seem bored of the ships about to be released because the new wave coming 6 months down the road looks better

.......it boggles my mind

i haven't even got my wave 4 shipment in yet and i've only really just started to play around with wave 3 models this past month because i've been so busy playing with my wave 2 models and really getting to know how to fly them with precision

and i play once a week at the minimum

anyone else feel this game is starting to move just a little too fast? (sorry if i thread jack)

i love the diversity, but we need to slow down and enjoy what we have.. at least for a short while

I'd sure love to know what Proton Rocket does. Really though, this community gets a huge meta-kick out of preplanning all their builds. And the hype manages to stay for ages. Just look at Cubanboy if you doubt my words.

Guess it would be nice to see the release of wave 4 first then wave 5 announced,

Not that I'm marketing or anything but the way I would do it would be to put a flyer in the first run of wave4 ships showing wave 5

That way the early birds buying wave 4 get a look before anyone else

..just announce the ship release 1-2 month prior to release to ...

Yeah, 1-2 months of previews and spoilers would be just about right. Wave 4 previews started more than 4 months ago and we still don't have the ships yet.

I think starting the previews 4 months before the product comes out is fine. They haven't even shown all of wave 5 yet unless it's a really tiny release.

I've found that the early previews are good for knowing what already released cards are going to appear. Now we know there's no need to buy (more) Firesprays if you want gunners/HLCs/Merc Copilots. A small mercy for our wallets.

I've found that the early previews are good for knowing what already released cards are going to appear. Now we know there's no need to buy (more) Firesprays if you want gunners/HLCs/Merc Copilots. A small mercy for our wallets.

This is extremely valid, I concede my earlier case. The Gunner/Firespray thing was a direct consideration of mine.

I do wish they would slow it down just a little and leave a surprise or two for unboxing.

Timing has been awkward recently: rebel aces before most have imperial aces and wave five before wave for is even for sale...

Awkward yes. Hype machine? Also yes.

Yeah, I think they spoil too much too soon. Rebel Aces is months away and it already feels like old hat. We've been making squads with Chardaan Refit A-Wings since March.

I'd prefer this timeline:

  • Three months out: Announce new product, show the boxart, give an approximate release date, say which ships are in it; don't spoil any cards or reveal all the fanned out cards in a promo image yet
  • Two months out: Spoil a handful of cards
  • One month out: Spoil more cards, but leave a few unspoiled, and reveal the promo image with the card fan
  • A couple weeks out: Spoil the rest of the product; give us the animated 360-degree view

That way, we don't know too much too soon, we have something new to talk about periodically and the hype is built up all the way to release.

I'm going to speculate wildly that FFG tells us about these things so far ahead of the planned release in order to gauge our reactions. Releasing two Large EU ships could be risky. There are some players (not many, as far as I can tell) who are saying that Wave 3 will be their last because they don't recognize the EU stuff.*

If the majority -- or let's say half -- of the game's player base reacted poorly to a product announcement, FFG would adjust its production orders accordingly. Distributors and retailers don't want to purchase unpopular products, and shelving space is already pretty tight for a lot of game shops.

*I wouldn't try to make a strong case for this, but: I wonder if the Wave 4 ships are beefier and costlier (points-wise) than most of what we've seen already partly because of the "ugh EU" factor. By making them tougher/better/more expensive than some of the instantly-recognizable "automatic buys," FFG can produce them in smaller batches with less risk and they'll still find their ways into lots of tournament lists. (And let's get real: tournaments and game nights exist to promote and sell product. Oh, you got beat by a list built around a TIE Defender? Buy a TIE Defender.) The exception to the Wave 4 tougher/better/more expensive assumption, of course, is the Z-95, which has "spam list" written all over it and is mostly likely to be confused with the iconic X-Wing. FFG could have made this less of a swarmer/filler-outer and more of an A-Wing hit-and-runner, but my guess is that it was a safer bet to go swarmy with the Z-95 and produce it in greater numbers than the other three ships -- although, it looks like everything FFG makes for this game is going to be a safe bet.