...the upcoming A-wing fix, which makes A-wings 2 pts. cheaper if you "sell" your empty missile slot (meaning that we'll most likely never see anything but perhaps proton rockets on A-wings)...
...do you think that a similar fix for the Tie Advanced would be enough to make it a viable choice?
I believe that there are a lot of people hoping so however it would have to be a lot more than a 2 point reduction to make the advanced playable in my opinion at least
the tie advanced needs some role.
multi-role style, or medium fighter. thats the point value it fits anyways. and good defense for a cheap fighter.
How would you achieve that, then?
Depends on what you need those 2 points for. If it is because without it your squadron becomes 102 points then you wouldn't see those missiles anyways. Now if your squadron is say at 96 points, then you would see a missile upgrade.
Also proton rockets are not a free attack they are focus attack. So you have to action focus then fire without having the focus upgrade. You may have a target lock from earlier but it is hard to get both target lock and focus on the same fighter, not without some pilot abilities. You could see concussion missiles for that point cost. They are still a good upgrade and are great for getting more hits than other weapons because it turns a blank into a hit.
Also proton rockets are not a free attack they are focus attack. So you have to action focus then fire without having the focus upgrade. You may have a target lock from earlier but it is hard to get both target lock and focus on the same fighter, not without some pilot abilities. You could see concussion missiles for that point cost. They are still a good upgrade and are great for getting more hits than other weapons because it turns a blank into a hit.
No. Attack [Focus] means you need to have a focus token, not that you need to spend it. You can still spend it on modifying dice rolls, like you can still spend a Homing Missile's target lock on the dice results. Also note that TIE Advanced will most likely have both a focus and a target lock if they want it anyway because Darth Vader.
Compare:
The answer to the tie advanced is a systems upgrade slot.
The answer to the tie advanced is a systems upgrade slot.
What specifically would you put on it, to make it worth the points? What I'm hearing is that the Advanced is overpriced as is.
You pay for the the Advanced's good defense, but 21 points is a lot for a ship with only 2 attack die and no real way to increase them (thanks to ineffecient and hard to use rockets). When we have proton rockets I think the Advanced will be a lot more usefull.
PR benefit the most from agi 3 ships so the 'best' choices are the Advanced, Defender or Awing. PR on the A effectively cost 5 points (because you can't take refit) and the Defender is built to stay at range 3 (because of the Dial and HLC upgrade).
Proton rockets is the fix for the Advanced.
Looking forward to it then! 
...do you think that a similar fix [to the Chaardan Refit] for the Tie Advanced would be enough to make it a viable choice?
No, I don't. Two points wouldn't be enough (because you'd still be paying +7 for a TIE Fighter's offense), and more than two points would be too much (because defensively it would be a monster). Among other issues, you don't want to encourage players to turtle up, and you don't really want to see something like Howlrunner + Shield Upgrade with 4x Tempest Pilots become the new swarm.
The answer to the tie advanced is a systems upgrade slot.
Maybe, but what you want to avoid doing is increasing its cost--it definitely doesn't need to be less efficient on offense.
PR benefit the most from agi 3 ships so the 'best' choices are the Advanced, Defender or Awing. PR on the A effectively cost 5 points (because you can't take refit)...
I'd suggest politely that you're underestimating the value of A-wings with Proton Rockets. There's a reason they're coming with Rebel Aces.
...and the Defender is built to stay at range 3 (because of the Dial and HLC upgrade).
The Defender isn't a great choice for Proton Rockets, but that's because (at Range 1) they only offer one extra attack die for 3 points. Defenders are perfectly happy to close to Range 1 if they can get it, which they often can.
Proton rockets is the fix for the Advanced.
Proton Rockets are a handy fix for the Advanced; I doubt, over the long term, FFG will leave the Advanced alone.
Ah, one of my favorite rampant speculation topics!
...do you think that a similar fix [to the Chaardan Refit] for the Tie Advanced would be enough to make it a viable choice?
No, I don't. Two points wouldn't be enough (because you'd still be paying +7 for a TIE Fighter's offense), and more than two points would be too much (because defensively it would be a monster). Among other issues, you don't want to encourage players to turtle up, and you don't really want to see something like Howlrunner + Shield Upgrade with 4x Tempest Pilots become the new swarm.
I don't think we'll see Chaardan refit cloned for the TIE/adv, but I do think it would be a reasonably viable fix to the problem. Broadly speaking, there's only two ways to fix an overcosted ship; lower the cost or increase the power. And I don't think the advanced turtle swarm would be so bad. But like I said, I doubt we'll see an exact chaardan equivalent for the advanced.
We'll see some sort of fix for this ships' cost. Either the cost goes down or the power of the ship goes up, and whatever fix it will be won't be a total no-brainer, like a negative point cost modification card that doesn't have any drawbacks. I doubt we'll see the missile slot sold off as in the A-Wing. With not much else to sell off, I think we can expect that the advanced is going to get something for cheap to buff it a little. A systems slot is not a bad guess.
Of course the whole situation is deeply complicated by Vader, who could easily be buffed to auto-include status with a power tweak to the advanced. It's a rough fix to work, and I don't envy whoever FFG has working the problem.
Just a rough idea, cost value likely off...
TIE Advanced Series 2
Cost: 3-4?
TIE Advanced only
Missile Slot
Increases the TIE Advanced Attack value to 3
Of course the whole situation is deeply complicated by Vader, who could easily be buffed to auto-include status with a power tweak to the advanced. It's a rough fix to work, and I don't envy whoever FFG has working the problem.
That's why I think the easiest solution is to print 4 new pilots and let the existing ones just fade away. Just add double the number of generics so existing Advanceds can be used with the new pilots.
A chardaan-style cost adjustment would help the advanced, but they could also just make some new pilots with great abilities that can play off the defensive strengths of the ship. I have no idea what those abilities would be, but I'm sure FFG will come up with something great--they've been on quite the roll lately.
Yea the Tie defender is expensive, but it LSO get's 3 attack, agility, hull, and shield.
I find it really unlikely we will get a cost reduction on the Advanced because it is so statistically similar to the X-wing.
If they do a fix, I'd guess they give us more stuff for the same price, or give us a title or mod that improves it but also further increases the cost.
FFG needs to get creative. Chaardan Refit or boosting to 3 Attack are not creative, nor are they good solutions. Something more along the design lines of Test Pilot or Royal Guard Interceptor title are what the Advanced needs.
Came here expecting cool builds and the idea that A-Wings will start making their way into more builds because they are hella fun to fly and only 15 points now for a basic which has the same dial as the Int. but trades 1 dmg for 1 shield. Can we talk about the awesomeness that is Jake Farrell and being able to run him with 2 EPTs?
Left dissapointed after reading ANOTHER Tie Advanced thread.
Came here expecting cool builds and the idea that A-Wings will start making their way into more builds because they are hella fun to fly and only 15 points now for a basic which has the same dial as the Int. but trades 1 dmg for 1 shield. Can we talk about the awesomeness that is Jake Farrell and being able to run him with 2 EPTs?
Left dissapointed after reading ANOTHER Tie Advanced thread.
Well, what's stopping you? Go forth and start a new topic!
The cost reduction would have to be a LOT more than 2 points for me to consider flying it. More like 4-5.
The answer to the tie advanced is a systems upgrade slot.
What specifically would you put on it, to make it worth the points? What I'm hearing is that the Advanced is overpriced as is.
How would you achieve that, then?
the thing ive been advocating is a title that gives -2 pts and systems upgrade.
FCS makes good cluster missile and missile carrier. or good dogfighter. increases damage output a little more.
Advanced Sensors for good positioning, better fighter.
Sensor Jammer for even more resilience.
I'm still thinking that we might get a bunch of options for it instead of just a blanket fix. I'd love to see Advanced 2x-7x and be free or very cheap unique titles that add a different dimension and ability to each one for a REALLY customizable ship. I had a list of all of them at some point.
I could also see a "Production Model" modification: -3 pts. You may not equip any other cards to this ship. Would make the generics useful (well tempest would be an option at least) and not be beneficial to Vader (or Maarek sadly) and shut off any future combos that might pop up.
FFG should release an Imperial Prototypes pack with a pair of TIE Avenger hulls that use TIE Advanced x1 pilots, including the same 2 basic generics, but add a higher PS generic (Test Pilot or something) and a few more unique pilots.
Include 3 of each of the following titles:
x1 Production Model: -4 point title.
x2 Upgrade: -2 point title, gain the Boost action.
x3 Ugrade: The hull form is a radical depature from the other Advanced marks, and it doesn't seem to offer much that the x1 and x2 don't already have. I say skip it.
Avenger Upgrade: 0 point title, gain +1 Attack and a Cannon upgrade slot.
x7 Upgrade: 0 point title, lose the missile upgrade slot, gain +1 Attack and make the k-turn white.
I like the Systems Upgrade idea. I think it'd be interesting if the Advanced gets a FREE Systems upgrade of your choice with the Title, so you can choose to do FCS, AdvS, or SJ (2-4 pts), depending on your build. I think that should make the Adv more useful as you can customize it for more offense, flexibility, or defense.
I don't think you need a minus points in that case, just so it doesn't force you to give up one thing for another (like the Chaardan Refit, which does blunt the attack ability of the A-wing).