I really like how Alex tackled the fortress idea. I agree with him 100% on that. I've played this game sense it's come out, and I can count on 1 hand how many times I've seen this tactic. Tempest in a teacup is spot on.

I like that Alex pointed out that Richard only used the tactic once in the whole event, that one game, and that was all. It was hit anti-phantom formation and little more.

Mist Hunter

Hound's Tooth

Punishing One

Color me excited! I'm glad Alex seemed just as enthused about bounty hunters.

Speaking of Hound's Tooth, I'd love to see that be the Scum and Villainy huge ship. It could come with a Z-95 like how the Rebel Transport had the X-wing, and the Z-95 could have the Nashtah Pup title. It's kind of too perfect. [somebody probably already came up with this idea and if so, I apologize for not having read all the X-Wing threads.]

Honestly, I would prefer the smaller version of the Hound's Tooth we have seen in Clone Wars.

Good interview.

The Hound's Tooth could be a huge ship, but I hope they make it as a large base ship.

@ Sithborg & mrfroggies

Point taken. I guess I was just trying to think of a way to get a Nashtah Pup title for Bossk's Z-95 get-away craft and thought it would make more sense in huge ship. But a large base would be fine (certainly easier on the wallet) and we could see the Nashtah Pup later on.

@ Sithborg & mrfroggies

Point taken. I guess I was just trying to think of a way to get a Nashtah Pup title for Bossk's Z-95 get-away craft and thought it would make more sense in huge ship. But a large base would be fine (certainly easier on the wallet) and we could see the Nashtah Pup later on.

So much cool stuff they can do with that.

The more interviews I watch with the designers the more I have complete faith in the game going forward.

I do find it interesting that it is likely Frank that will have most of the influence after whatever point. It's not a big deal, considering FFG moves designers around a lot.

Still excited for what else is coming.

the one thing that stuck out to me was that if they ever feel that the format becomes a 1 horse race again similar to Swarm has been previously, one of the mechanisms they are willing to explore was "Card restrictions" which presumably means that they would be willing to ban cards from tournament play if they ever feel they are impacting the format.

Very interesting

Honestly, I would prefer the smaller version of the Hound's Tooth we have seen in Clone Wars.

Good interview.

If the Tooth has been scaled down by TCW then it's almost scaled down canonically and will be a large.

the one thing that stuck out to me was that if they ever feel that the format becomes a 1 horse race again similar to Swarm has been previously, one of the mechanisms they are willing to explore was "Card restrictions" which presumably means that they would be willing to ban cards from tournament play if they ever feel they are impacting the format.

Very interesting

That isn't quite what card restrictions mean in a FFG game. They tend to have 2 lists, the banned list and the restricted list. The restricted list is a list of cards that you are allowed to use one of. It helps prevent abusive combos, while not banning a card. And example would be putting the Millennium Falcon title and C-3PO on the list. So, the Falcon player would have the option of including either the Falcon title or C-3PO in a squad, but not both.

the one thing that stuck out to me was that if they ever feel that the format becomes a 1 horse race again similar to Swarm has been previously, one of the mechanisms they are willing to explore was "Card restrictions" which presumably means that they would be willing to ban cards from tournament play if they ever feel they are impacting the format.

Very interesting

That isn't quite what card restrictions mean in a FFG game. They tend to have 2 lists, the banned list and the restricted list. The restricted list is a list of cards that you are allowed to use one of. It helps prevent abusive combos, while not banning a card. And example would be putting the Millennium Falcon title and C-3PO on the list. So, the Falcon player would have the option of including either the Falcon title or C-3PO in a squad, but not both.

I wonder if a restricted list in x-wing would even be related to ships. For example, maybe you could have 3PO and the Falcon Title in your squad but not on the same ship.

I really think he does a nice job of explaining the confluence of releases and cards that made the falcon strong. 3PO, the Title, and Engine upgrade aren't necessarily dominating by themselves on a Falcon but all together means they can duck out of some arcs more easily and then shrug off some of the shots that they do have to take.

the one thing that stuck out to me was that if they ever feel that the format becomes a 1 horse race again similar to Swarm has been previously, one of the mechanisms they are willing to explore was "Card restrictions" which presumably means that they would be willing to ban cards from tournament play if they ever feel they are impacting the format.

Very interesting

That isn't quite what card restrictions mean in a FFG game. They tend to have 2 lists, the banned list and the restricted list. The restricted list is a list of cards that you are allowed to use one of. It helps prevent abusive combos, while not banning a card. And example would be putting the Millennium Falcon title and C-3PO on the list. So, the Falcon player would have the option of including either the Falcon title or C-3PO in a squad, but not both.

Ah OK, can't say I have played any other FFG games so I wasn’t aware that a “restricted list” would work in such a way, quite an interesting Idea in that you don’t outright ban something but rather restrict it's actual usage with other specific cards.

Coming from a MTG background where it's either in or it isn’t impacts a lot of how I see things, though ironically MTG could probably benefit from a “Restricted List” as you describe it as well.

I like the Restricted List. It keeps the powerful cards, but "restricts" how abusive they can be. And it is far less annoying than banned lists.

Coming from a MTG background where it's either in or it isn’t impacts a lot of how I see things, though ironically MTG could probably benefit from a “Restricted List” as you describe it as well.

Ok, magic must have changed a lot more than I thought. The entire idea of restricted and banned lists comes from magic and how badly overpowered a lot of the cards used to be.

I thoughtnhe was refering to upgrades that were a counter to Fat Han . . .

Coming from a MTG background where it's either in or it isn’t impacts a lot of how I see things, though ironically MTG could probably benefit from a “Restricted List” as you describe it as well.

Ok, magic must have changed a lot more than I thought. The entire idea of restricted and banned lists comes from magic and how badly overpowered a lot of the cards used to be.

Well certainly they haven’t needed to ban cards in standard for quite a few years, but the scars of affinity are still there for many, and indeed anyone who gets that reference will understand my next point.

Alex “implies” that they have designed hard counters for Fat Han yet said that they won't be reviewing them let alone implimenting them it for about another 6 months.

If there is something in a game that has a negative impact the last thing you want to do is give it another 6 months then decide there's an issue (not that I'm suggesting there is one quite yet) then you jam that solution into a product, give it another 3 months for it to be “released” which with their current track record is usually about 2 months late on top of that.

All of a sudden you have a problem that has been an issue for 11 months and the solution while effective can't repair the damage already done.

Though I have every faith that Wave 5 and 6 will shake things up a bit, I am hesitant to enlist Alexs enthusiasm that the meta will, to quote him “look totally different”. (of course there is still plenty of info from wave 6 yet to be released, and of course whether or not your perception of Fat Dash justifies "Totally Different" from Fat Han)

I will be happy to eat my hat in 6 months time if it's true, but having had a few games with Paul “Jedi Master” Heavers worlds list, it truly is amazingly resilient and if flown well, or even just competently, it will win considerably more than it losses.

Keep in mind, he might not just be referring to Wave 5 and 6. Now, that will likely be the largest impacts on Store Championships. But who knows what will be out by the time Regionals start? And their development time makes it really hard for counters to come out in a timely fashion. But, they have also had the product a lot longer than we have.

And I am pretty confident with what we've seen of Scum so far, Fat Falcons will have some issues. And there are some very interesting upgrades and pilots we haven't seen yet.

one good thing is that with 3 factions it does increase the amount of material to sift through, leading to a slower formation of the solved meta-game.

The banned and restricted lists are very much alive and well in Magic, just not in standard. Wizards won't ban something unless it's absolutely format warping, and the last time they did (Jace 2.0 and Stoneforge Mystic) the cards weren't banned until two months before they were going to rotate anyways. They understand that banning cards is a last resort, and they only ban the cards that are most ubiquitous, not everything capable of enabling a specific strategy.

I'd rather they didn't rush to make counters for any list that seems to domimate the meta. Waiting to see what effect Scum has on Han males sense.

Alex “implies” that they have designed hard counters for Fat Han yet said that they won't be reviewing them let alone implimenting them it for about another 6 months.

No, that isn't what he was saying. He was saying that they have designed counters to fat Han that will be out soon (probably wave 6) and that in 6 months those counters will have been "in the wild" with us players long enough for them to be able to determine whether fat Han and turrets have been sufficiently countered or whether they are going to have to do more.

He was pretty explicit that we are at the peak of fat Han viability right now.

I think that's a pretty conclusive response on the fortressing front.

I think he is still too focused on the tournament scene and the idea that it needs to be "dominant" to be a problem. (I cringed when he said "dominant") I think just being useful enough to sometimes occur is enough, given what a crappy experience it is. Oh well. What do I know. I'll just to go start working on my YT-2400 fortress list.

I think that's a pretty conclusive response on the fortressing front.

I think he is still too focused on the tournament scene and the idea that it needs to be "dominant" to be a problem. (I cringed when he said "dominant") I think just being useful enough to sometimes occur is enough, given what a crappy experience it is. Oh well. What do I know. I'll just to go start working on my YT-2400 fortress list.

Tournament play is the only thing FFG can control. In casual play, the solution is to not play with people who play like that (if you think it is a big issue).