After seeing recent developments in Wave 4 and beyond, such as Blount / Munitions Failsafe with Assault Missiles, Phantoms, Ruthlessness, Oicunn and such, I cant help but wonder why is close formation flying being punished so hard currently?

Because two years of stale meta tactics was getting boring, and not particularly healthy for the game. Formation flying isn't being punished so much as rigid formation flying is. Adapt or lose.

Times are changing

because Star Wars dogfights were based on WWII dogfights, and in WWII if you flew in tight formation you died in tight formation

Times are changing

Hey, in this thread we determined that the songs for X-Wing need to come from Fiddler on the Roof, not Bob Dylan.

because Star Wars dogfights were based on WWII dogfights, and in WWII if you flew in tight formation you died in tight formation

I'm not sure the analogy was supposed to carry quite that far. I've always thought that GL felt that it was supposed to capture the dramatism of fighter/dive-bombers pilots of that time, not necessarily the tactical mechanics of it.

Because two years of stale meta tactics was getting boring, and not particularly healthy for the game. Formation flying isn't being punished so much as rigid formation flying is. Adapt or lose.

Yeah; formation flying is strong and will continue to be strong going forward, for lots of well-documented reasons.

FFG has tried to adjust it in the past; assault missiles were the first attempt to reduce the incentive to fly in tight formation. Now we have Ruthlessness, which has a similar effect, and Lone Wolf, which promotes solo ships rather than punishing formations.

The ork ninja'd my reply, so I'll add that it's not so much that formation flying is being "punnished" as it's the automatic choices that the meta has favored overall. This includes using more ship with low pilot skill/cost, tight formations, push the limit, the exclusion of ordnance, etc. look at how they specifically mention Expose in the VT-49 article, they've taken something that never gets used and given us a reason to consider it again. Then there's Expermental Interface, making those action based EPTs and ordnance more useful. They're attempting to revitilize upgrades and pilots that the overall meta rejected.

Because Biggs and Howlrunner needed a bit of a kick.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Which is why some people on these forums (like Wonder) have a stick up their butt.

Oh god, the tears, the tears of laughter. Are you serious? God I hope you're serious. This coming from the guy who trolls everyone by construing his highly polarized opinions as objective fact.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Which is why some people on these forums (like Wonder) have a stick up their butt.

The game is being pushed towards more diversity and adaptability. It's developing a complicated meta where it takes some real thought to build a good squad.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

EGYPTIAN KITTY CLAWS OF DOOM STRIKE!

ZOING!!!

The very essence of dogfighting is a dude and his wingman vs another dude and his wingman.

I think we would all like to see "two small ship" lists become at least somewhat plausible.

2x TIE Defender is getting close...

a shift in the meta towards Three Amigos style lists would help tremendously.

Not everything here is subjective, and it's been pretty obvious that FFG has been attempting to change up the meta. Read through all their preview article from wave 4&5, and you'll see that trend.

Personally I like the change, if anything it makes high PS ships and non-formation flying viable. I find that playstyle more fun, and if anything that was being punished up until now. All I see is more options being offered.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Which is why some people on these forums (like Wonder) have a stick up their butt.

Oh god, the tears, the tears of laughter. Are you serious? God I hope you're serious. This coming from the guy who trolls everyone by construing his highly polarized opinions as objective fact.

I've found a convenient solution to your issue:

Back to the main topic at hand. The meta of the game needs to be swirled around a bit every once in a while to keep things interesting. Prior to Wave IV almost every list had Biggs or Howlrunner. They'll still be good but they won't be optimal like they used to be.

Convenient and perfectly respectable.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Well that's, like, your OPINION, man.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Well that's, like, your OPINION, man.

*ding* Correct for five points.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Well that's, like, your OPINION, man.

Don't be fatuous, Magadizer.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Well that's, like, your OPINION, man.

Don't be fatuous, Magadizer.

I cant help but wonder why is close formation flying being punished so hard currently?

Personally, I think Biggs is a boring, frustrating constraint on the game's design, and he needs to go die in a fire. Howlrunner is better, but she still restricted the development of Imperial play for a long time.

Virtually everything on here is a subjective opinion. That's a fact.

Well that's, like, your OPINION, man.

Top marks for the Lebowski-reference, dude.

Formation flying is not being 'punished', unless people actually field all these new shiny toys which might put the hurt on swarms. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of the new toys in lists - just because they're new - and after a while, people will bring'em if they feel they need'em. That depends on how many swarms will remain in a given player's local habitat. Formation flying will still be out there, it just won't be able to corner the market to the extent that it has been doing up till now.

Three Waves of TIE Swarm dominance was in dire need of a check.

Happens all the time during warfare. New tactics are thought up and new equipment is created to counter-act the conventional thinking of the current military minds and limitations of current materiel.