Oh yeah. Once I meet some people down in LA (I just moved down here), I plan on running a Nu!Boba Firespray with an Imperial squadron. Because Nu!Boba is awesome.

That doesn't seem fair to the S&V faction folks. Otherwise, I'd run the nuHWK and nuY-Wing with salvaged astromechs and illicit upgrades with my Rebels. And in the end you don't have so much a third faction as an aces pack for Rebels and Imperials.

And on the flipside, it's not really fair to the rebel players if the Y-wings they've hoped to see upgraded for so long can only be played by the S&V faction.

Scum are certainly their own pilots (and there's a good chance the named ones will be more cost effective than Horton), illicit upgrades, and salvaged astromechs. However, Y-Wings will have likely have access to turrets and astromechs that are in the kit, so it's not like they're just ignoring the Y-wing.

Why isn't it fair? No offense, but that's what kids say when they don't get what they want. There's nothing unfair about it, you just didn't get your way. Rebels are getting a bunch of new stuff from this and Aces also; seriously Rebels have had it good. What would be unfair is people mixing factions just because their faction doesn't get some of the new stuff. Sure why not mix Imps and Rebels while you are at it? Given how the balance in the game is fairly decent for the most part, I wouldn't go messing with it. My wager is that if mercenary Scum was balanced they might have tried that. I trust the designers' choice not to go that route.

Mreh, I can live with not being able to field the new Fett. It's frustrating that a new faction gets a new Fett that costs the same but has a much better pilot ability, but the Firespray itself is still a solid ship with two solid pilots, so as far as "not getting my way" I'm pretty well off.

However, there have been many rebel players that want to field Y-wings in a serious environment. Not just a single pilot, but the basic ship. But in the more serious environments, the Y-wing has been lacking, I am told. And has done so for a long time. Assuming the new Y-wings are better (which, I'll admit, is still a pretty big "if" at this stage) I can see many rebel players being more than a little frustrated at seeing that a potentially improved version of what is the second most iconic rebel fighter after the X-wing going to a different faction.

Scum are certainly their own pilots (and there's a good chance the named ones will be more cost effective than Horton), illicit upgrades, and salvaged astromechs. However, Y-Wings will have likely have access to turrets and astromechs that are in the kit, so it's not like they're just ignoring the Y-wing.

That is true, and there is that card that seems to give Y-wings the bomb slot too (as an Imperial player, I really should be more upset about that than I am).

I'd guess the new named pilots are going to be more cost effective than Horton. It also wouldn't be surprising if the new Y-Wing generics feature a PS1 and PS 3 pilot (making them cheaper) but I have a hard time believing they won't fit the current cost structure of the rebel generics.

Why isn't it fair? No offense, but that's what kids say when they don't get what they want. There's nothing unfair about it, you just didn't get your way. Rebels are getting a bunch of new stuff from this and Aces also; seriously Rebels have had it good. What would be unfair is people mixing factions just because their faction doesn't get some of the new stuff. Sure why not mix Imps and Rebels while you are at it? Given how the balance in the game is fairly decent for the most part, I wouldn't go messing with it. My wager is that if mercenary Scum was balanced they might have tried that. I trust the designers' choice not to go that route.

Mreh, I can live with not being able to field the new Fett. It's frustrating that a new faction gets a new Fett that costs the same but has a much better pilot ability, but the Firespray itself is still a solid ship with two solid pilots, so as far as "not getting my way" I'm pretty well off.

However, there have been many rebel players that want to field Y-wings in a serious environment. Not just a single pilot, but the basic ship. But in the more serious environments, the Y-wing has been lacking, I am told. And has done so for a long time. Assuming the new Y-wings are better (which, I'll admit, is still a pretty big "if" at this stage) I can see many rebel players being more than a little frustrated at seeing that a potentially improved version of what is the second most iconic rebel fighter after the X-wing going to a different faction.

Scum are certainly their own pilots (and there's a good chance the named ones will be more cost effective than Horton), illicit upgrades, and salvaged astromechs. However, Y-Wings will have likely have access to turrets and astromechs that are in the kit, so it's not like they're just ignoring the Y-wing.

That is true, and there is that card that seems to give Y-wings the bomb slot too (as an Imperial player, I really should be more upset about that than I am).

I have seen Y-wings and often use them in serious games. Stress Ion is a great tool and Y-Wings are just perfect for that ship. R3-A2 and Ion cannons and you can do both stress and ion. add in some flechet torpedoes just to double it on. As for Y-wing bombers it is about time. The Y-wing Bombers will make interceptors more viable than phantoms as an Interceptor can't get 1 shot by a bomb (but a phantom can, prime the Depth Charges and release!) Sometimes meta is not just making new stuff that is better than what is out there but also shifting the dominance from pieces that are already out there to others that are not as used.

I think they should allow scum ships to be recruited by imperials or rebels with no point penalty, but only the generics and without the illicit upgrade icon.

This would probably minimally impact game balance, although it's tough to say until we get more spoilers.