What would it take for you and your game community to keep playing this game all the way into 2020 and beyond?

Think about the games that have been going for 10+ years. Warmachine, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer Fantasy and ugh, 40,000.

If X-Wing were played regularly at your venue in 2020, the game would only be 8 years old. A mere padawan.

So what would it take?:

1. Nothing. Freeze the game now and we'd still be playing it until 2020.
2. Freeze the ships, but add pilots and cards
3. Keep coming with wave and wave of ships with the existing factions. I think 2020 would be wave 17?
4. Need more factions and more ships
5. Add planet side battles with atmospheric vehicles
6. More huge ships
7. Campaign/rpg-style system

Or is is something else?

Or maybe there's no way you'll still be playing in 2020.

I like the game where it is. Heck, I liked where it was a couple waves ago. The ship pool is getting diluted into obscurity. I'd rather go back to wave 3, maybe four (at least the Z-95 and Defender, as neither one has been as useless as the E nor as meta-destroying as the Phantom), scrap Epic since we have Armada coming, stick the fixes for the Y and Advanced in somewhere, and then push Aces packs from there on.

I dunno. If the game keeps coming out with new stuff, I'm good with that, too. I've just been a bit grumpy since the meta was broken. Here's hoping scum shakes things up enough.

In order for me to continue playing X-wing for 8 more years I'd have to see that the system continues to grow. I imagine with the release of the upcoming movies we'll be seeing new pilots and maybe new ships so these things should come in future waves. I think three factions should be enough to sustain the game through the next line up of movies though who really knows if we'll see something worth calling a fourth faction.

I think there was some news sometime ago about 3 new movies coming out. that could help

If the wife lets me ill still keep playing till 2050

OP: I pick the 1 icon I thought would never be used by anyone else....

Honestly I think the game reached its peak with wave 4. At least for the 2 main factions. Anything beyond should be card sets and/or aces boxes for adjusting the perceived imbalance and then large or huge ships which help for scenario or epic play.

Like I said before, scenario or mission objective boxes including campaigns (narrative, territorial or progressive orientated), sculpted asteroids, civilian craft, containers, beacons and stuff would be nice.

What I definitely don't want to see is a unit-bloat like in Warmachine just for the sake of giving consumer addicts their fix.
Games' gotten already quite complex due to the possibilities of the bazillion card combos right now. The continuous release of WM units was actually something which drove me away(!) from that initially promising game, as keeping up with its demands went beyond something a casual player could support.

That's something which really should not happen to X-Wing.

YES.

Just keep releasing stuff. I need my fix.

I think that new ship releases are necessary if the fane is still going to be played in 2020, but I don't think that they necessarily need to continue at the current pace. If the three factions were fairly balanced at the end of, say, wave 8 or 9, FFG could drop down to one wave a year, with one new ship per faction, per wave and keep people interested, and keep the game evolving fast enough that casual players wouldn't get bored. Whether or not the game is commercially viable at one expansion wave per year is another question.

I think an atmospheric ruleset would extend the games lifetime as well, since it would make a whole bunch of classic movie material available (Snowspeeders, AT-ATs, AT-STs, etc.) I also think, and Is said this before, that it's a commercial inevitability that the prequels will sooner or later be mined for ship designs. The ships they're pulling out of the EU at the moment are very much wheat from chaff, and there're only so many designs that will sell to casual players better than N1s, ARC 170s, Jedi Starfighters etc. Etc.

Ultimately, with a nice, slow trickle of expansions, prequel ships to keep those expansions recognizable to casual players, a boost from the new movies, and the novelty value of things like atmospheric rules (or other things, like space stations, co-op, better Epic ship integration etc. Etc.) I could definitely see at least a decent sized hard core of players keeping up with the game for that long.

I think there was some news sometime ago about 3 new movies coming out. that could help

If the wife lets me ill still keep playing till 2050

The new movies will definitely help keep X-wing relevant for a while and probably bring in a new influx of younger players. I don't want to see wave +15, but I do think there will be a lot more options for future waves with the new movies. We will undoubtedly see some new models of existing ships or new ships all together. I think they should not release too many more new ships for at least the Rebel and Imperials, but give us more options for the ships we already have. Looking at Shuttles, Bombers, Defenders, Y-wings, etc. No doubt we will get a few more X-wing pilots too. We already know of one X-wing pilot in the teaser.

I for one do not want a compatible atmospheric expansion for X-wing. If anything that should be its own standalone game.

I'm going to keep playing until it stops being fun. Anything on top of that is gravy.

I think you have to define what you mean by 'Still going strong in 2020'.

If you mean tournaments then most likely you need to keep expanding the game making it more and more complex until only the most avid player even has a clue how to build a decent squad. Most people seem to need something new shiny to keep there attention until the next new and shiny comes out.

If you mean will we play it in 2020. Well there are plenty of games, even war games, that have survived on one or no expansions. They are just fun to play. I like X-Wing the way it is. I want the Raider because there isn't an Epic release yet.

I'd be fine if they stopped adding new abilities, pilots, etc... and went to more thematic stuff like missions, asteroids, space stations and Epic ships. Unfortunately I don't decide these things. I rather keep the game playable for decades than overload it with complex stacking, interrupts and multiple triggers.

1 wave per year once we reach 7 or 8 would be enough for me.

I love this game; it is my favorite game period! But 10 years is a long time to sustain a game.

Getting about 5 more movies in that time could seriously help, especially if the movies come out like the Marvel movies rather than the Star Trek movies.

But 10 years is a long time to sustain a game. I think if this game is really going to last, FFG will need to release a 2nd edition. I have no idea what this would entail. Mostly likely they would change the rules, but keep ships stats the same so ships released in previous editions could still be used. This is at least the way that Games Workshop has sustained their franchise.

I don't think simply going to wave 17 would be enough unless they retired some ships. Maybe even replaced them. But I would be anoyed if a new TIE came out that replaced the old TIE since I already have 8 TIEs.

There seems to be some desire to mix in ep. 7 ships and technology into X-Wing Miniatures. I, for one, really hopes this doesn't happen.

(ep. 7 rumors)

difficult to see, the future is

1 wave per year once we reach 7 or 8 would be enough for me.

You'd be surprised how long a year feels in a games life. A new wave once a year would leave long stagnate periods and players could leave from being bored. The only way a single wave per year would work is offsetting Aces packs to help keep things fresh for the players. say 2 aces a year and 1 epic ship a year. that would give you new product every 3 months.

1 wave per year once we reach 7 or 8 would be enough for me.

You'd be surprised how long a year feels in a games life. A new wave once a year would leave long stagnate periods and players could leave from being bored. The only way a single wave per year would work is offsetting Aces packs to help keep things fresh for the players. say 2 aces a year and 1 epic ship a year. that would give you new product every 3 months.

This is true only for a certain type of player.

We've had threads about this before and the consensus, in the past, seems to be that different types of players have different types of answers (tautology, ftw).

For some players, they game as is will be fine. They like the pieces, the have fun flying the ships and makings the lists, and imagining dogfights in space. They tend to play mostly at home, avoid the tournament scene, and treat the game in general more like a boardgame than a war game. I am one of these players. X-Wing is in my box and I pull it out when we want to play dogfights. It's a lot of fun, but I am done buying new ships (excepting maybe the S&V core set and maybe the Raider[though likely not]).

For others, the game needs new pieces because part of the fun is the newness. New ships, new tournaments, etc... are part of the game. These players often play in their LGS where new product can be displayed on the walls of the store and continue to generate interest. Release night turns into game night and new tournaments can be organized around new products.

So the "survival" of the game depends a lot on what we're looking for. If new waves are being released in 2020, they will likely be so complex that the new ships will have lost any/all appeal to me--but other players may love it. I grow wary of Warhammer bloat, but the game is hella interesting and always sounds fun to play so who knows?

1 wave per year once we reach 7 or 8 would be enough for me.

You'd be surprised how long a year feels in a games life. A new wave once a year would leave long stagnate periods and players could leave from being bored. The only way a single wave per year would work is offsetting Aces packs to help keep things fresh for the players. say 2 aces a year and 1 epic ship a year. that would give you new product every 3 months.

usually one of the most important reasons for boardgame-affiliated gamers to take the leap into this game is, that compared to "real TTGs" this one was the one with the most easy access and maintenance effort.

I have a hunch that these people form the majority of customers.

Pumping more and more ships and cards into this game will most likely result in a reduction of potentially new players due to its perceived overcomplexity.

Or to put it another way: X-Wing would be detached from the broader player mass just to satisfy the "grasshopper"-type of player (you know, the type of player who has to feed on a constant diet of new stuff to avoid him getting hungry and flying to another field of "bling" to satisfy his hunger) and his "30 second endorphine rush" when holding a new shiny.

Trying to please the latter customer only is a very unstable ground to build on keeping a game alive. It's a struggle a game company cannot win in the long run.

To keep the game going strong into the 20's, what do you think of:

1. Introduction of 2 or more "official" levels of play: Basic and Expanded
2. Continuing to release new expansions. Be it ships, cards, repaints, etc. (Games wither away without shiny things)
3. More factions
4. New mechanics, maybe a Range 4+ sniper-type ship, troop boarding, or something

I've seriously considered stopping when the Raider comes out.

But, knowing my love of the miniatures (rules aside) they may depend on what comes next.

My hope (and it may be too late already) is that they don't ruin a great and easy to play game with over complication and over whelming lists to choose from. This game had a wide range of type and ages of players. Now it may be moving more toward the new and shiny Warhammer crowd.

Xwing 2.0 will seriously be needed, errata prints to the cards, maybe some new rules, get rid of some old silly ones.

they have to keep the game evolving, for better or worse, the games you listed haven't been stagnant they have had new rule releases regularly.

New cards, obviously. One idea that hit a few weeks ago was to have new variations for existing unique pilots i.e. creating a Luke Skywalker(2) card with different ability than the current one. Something that could afford more options to players.

Ffg are pretty smart when it comes to games

I'm sure they will keep it going as long as they have the license, and so long as they keep making money they will have the license

But thinking about that last part, eventually they will likely do something

Existing players only need to buy what they need or want to play.

They have to branch out to newer players, or do something to keep us existing ones to spend money

An example, wave 5 came out and they sold out at our store very fast

He got a few more they sold out. Now everyone in our area has the wave five ships they want and the store has had what they received on their last order still sitting on their shelves.

It will likely be there until a new player comes along, but how often that happens kind of depends on your area

I know there are some who buy more than they need, but if a player only wants one awing expansion that is all he will buy. Eventually players will no longer need the older waves as they have all they need.

I cannot see ffg stop selling previous waves and continue on with new ones

If there becomes a decline in new players old waves will sit on retailer shelves

Then it could be time to call it a day for ffg, or maybe they will have some crazy awesome idea that'll make us buy it all over again and market it towards a new crowd.

Honestly though They need to throw little money around and advertise.

I've never seen any add of xwing, or any ffg game come to think of it