When a guy who just bought his first falcon... goes home and watches the FFG worlds finals and say "oh man I need to get a C-3PO for my Fat Han build... then finds out he has to buy an $80 corvette for one upgrade card? Then comes and complains to me about it. What should I tell him?

You should tell him that the Chewbacca card that comes with the Falcon is just as effective in general, and even better sometimes.

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards that may include alternate Tie Fighter pilot art, or a new YT-1300 pilot card, maybe you pull the upgrade card you wanted for a certain list, or maybe its a new upgrade card? Wouldn't adding a smaller priced option for someone to buy continuously throughout the year be beneficial to a company to fill in the gaps between waves? Especially when the production cost is so low.

Random? Good God, no; the community wouldn't benefit from that at all.

But the really important question is whether FFG would benefit from coming out with any kind of card pack, and they seem to think the answer to that is also "no".

When a player asks me how much my collection costs what am I supposed to do, lie to them?

We've gotten née players in our area and you know what I tell people.

It's not that bad.

You buy the core set, then every week or two buy a ship.

People spend more on coffee and snacks in a week than what it costs to buy a ship.

When our store gets stock he can't keep it on the shelves because everyone that has gotten into it because it's being bought up so fast, and not by just one person.

Your going the wrong way of introducing new players into the game.

Once they get a decent collection. I recommend another core set.

If someone asks ho much did that cost i tell them roughly x amount but over a long period of time.

I don't make it sound like I paid all at once or couple hundred each time.

Also allow people to use proxy cards.

I also highly recommend to have one of each ship anyway so over time just pick away at it, but not needed all at once.

There are websites that do sell individual cards if they wanted a card like 3p0 without buying the Tantive.

Ffg thankfully already stated they will not sell card packs, so that is just a waste of time.

In reference to how to approach new Xwing players. DO NOT whatever you do tell them how mucy you personally have spent in a real dollar amount. That is pretty much going to simply end the sale right there. Xwing is easy to get people to play. You set them down with the core set starter, let them play a round or two, then show them the starter. The game practically sells itself without much input. If you are being asked how much you spent make generalized statements such as "Oh, I've been playing for a few years now so I imagine a bit here and there." That and be sure to ring in with something along the lines of "I didn't have to spend a boat load to start playing that's for sure."

On the card pack idea, I'm still in the school of anything random would be a terrible thing for this game. That and it is already pretty affordable right now. I mean it's still way cheaper than playing either of the other two games I play (Magic the Gathering and Warhammer 40k).

Back on topic, I've always thought it was a bit silly to end up buying multiple copies of ships you may not even intend to play in order to own an upgrade card from that box. I'm sure there are many Squint and A-wing fans with Starvipers on their shelves collecting dust.

I do not want random card packs for this game.

You're a store owner. Part of being an owner isn't just teaching games and showing off inventory. Sell it like a sales man . Pitch the benefits, the enjoyment, the game, instead of making people think it's a requirement to own all the cards. Which is ridiculous. FFG doesn't have any kind of need for card packs and neither to we. They could market something to that end, but then they would end up losing money.

They're not going to do it. If it were viable they would do it, therefore their assessment is likely that it isn't.

Problem is, to make a card pack something you'd actually buy they'd need to make a lot more cards.

If upgrade cards are the issue just allow proxying. Simple enough. In an official tournament where you can't allow it let them borrow yours.

As for randomisation, FFG, thank god, avoids that like the plague it is.

A OT only league only uses ships and upgrades from the first 3 waves

So the A-wing and TIE advanced are duds, the TIE swarm is king and the B-wing's only good for generics?

Come to think of it, Fat Falcon's legal under that...

tl;dr, if you're simplifying the game that's just about the worst way to go about it.

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards that may include alternate Tie Fighter pilot art, or a new YT-1300 pilot card, maybe you pull the upgrade card you wanted for a certain list, or maybe its a new upgrade card? Wouldn't adding a smaller priced option for someone to buy continuously throughout the year be beneficial to a company to fill in the gaps between waves? Especially when the production cost is so low.

No terrible, horrible, dumbest idea ever sorry.

Having random packs is the best way to kill this game

If you want a random game, go back to magic or pokemon.

What's great is i buy a falcon, I know what it getting.

You buy a falcon, you have the same advantage/disadvantage as me.

You get exactly what you pay for

None if this buying 15 packs in hopes of getting one card you want

That's a great way to actually ruin thus game.

Worst idea ever!!!

I agree. Answering your customers' question that way is like saying you need every model of every 40k army in order to properly play 40k. I have 2,500 points of necrons, and have played many rewarding games with them. But i still don't have every Necron model; not even close to it.

Like others have said, start them off with a couple of core sets, and Imp Aces and rebel Aces set. Let them build their list as it comes, and if there are specific cards they want, let them do homebrew jobs printing them off the web. not a big deal, really.

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards

No we wouldn't because then the cards start to cost more than they do now. It's like MtG, where you drop $250+ on a single deck because of all the cards you need to make that deck work.

Because then to make the packs worth it to FFG they have to make the desirable cards rare, that means having to buy 20+ packs to get a Engine Upgrade and HLC. That's $74 to get what you would get anyway buying a Falcon and Firespray, for only $60. How in the world is this a good deal?

Also... The Falcon is quite effective without C-3PO, you don't need to run a Fat Han to make an effective and enjoyable list.

In fact you can make a fairly good HSF list for fairly little money. You need a core set, a X-Wing, and a YT-1300. Total cost retail is $85.

if you're simplifying the game that's just about the worst way to go about it.

Fat Han wouldn't be legal, the CR-90 came out after Wave 3. A-Wings wouldn't be that bad and Tie Advanced are bad until the Raider comes out.

Atkrull, I’m sorry that you’re having such a problem with your business, I experienced that and understand your pain; I’m sure everybody here would be glad to help with advice and although the comments might seem a little bit too hard, I’m sure they’re well intentioned.

I don’t mean to add to your frustration, but I think your approach is not the best, I was also lucky to get into X-Wing during the first expansion and of course my collection is probably bigger than it should; I usually play at my FLGS, the owner is kind enough to have a small room for my Gamers club and we play in there in the weekends, every time a person asks and/or shows interest about the game we try our best to explain that the game can be perfectly played with even one core-set and even invite them to try it, also we explain that anybody can go as crazy as we are and buy at least two of every ship, but make sure that they understand that it is not necessary and that $70-$80 or even less is a good starting point to the game

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards that may include alternate Tie Fighter pilot art, or a new YT-1300 pilot card, maybe you pull the upgrade card you wanted for a certain list, or maybe its a new upgrade card? Wouldn't adding a smaller priced option for someone to buy continuously throughout the year be beneficial to a company to fill in the gaps between waves? Especially when the production cost is so low.

If you want M:TG, you know where to find it.

I'm just going to add the 32nd "NO RANDOM CARDS" post.

well i was apparently wrong, i'll nip it in the bud.

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards that may include alternate Tie Fighter pilot art, or a new YT-1300 pilot card, maybe you pull the upgrade card you wanted for a certain list, or maybe its a new upgrade card? Wouldn't adding a smaller priced option for someone to buy continuously throughout the year be beneficial to a company to fill in the gaps between waves? Especially when the production cost is so low.

no the shortage of product was caused by an outside, unexpected source. They have a good system right now.

how many cards does a magic player need to be competitive, or a Star Trek Attack wing, or a heroclix player?

I looked at your profile because you seem to be lacking some basic knowledge of HOW to sell stuff.

"Being an avid X wing player I would be lying if i said that I didn't start this store basically to be able to play more X wing.... because let's face it, I did :)"

never...never start a game store to make it easier to play that game you like. Start a game store to share your love of games to the community...but always balance that with needing to pay the bills....even make a profit if you can.

X-wing should fly off your shelves if promoted properly. It should be a huge seller.

quick question (which I suspect you won't answer)

what is your biggest seller?

how many players play that best seller in your store?

So by the comments posted, the x wing community wouldn't benefit from FFG coming out with a $3.75 pack of random cards that may include alternate Tie Fighter pilot art, or a new YT-1300 pilot card, maybe you pull the upgrade card you wanted for a certain list, or maybe its a new upgrade card? Wouldn't adding a smaller priced option for someone to buy continuously throughout the year be beneficial to a company to fill in the gaps between waves? Especially when the production cost is so low.

no the shortage of product was caused by an outside, unexpected source. They have a good system right now.

how many cards does a magic player need to be competitive?

well i was apparently wrong, i'll nip it in the bud.

It's come up many times in the past and the answer is always that it's not a realistic viability. The thread wasn't a waste of time though, plenty of suggestions for other ways to fix your problem.

Fat Han wouldn't be legal, the CR-90 came out after Wave 3.

Anything before Wave 4 is Wave 3.

A-Wings wouldn't be that bad

The A-wing was stone cold dead before Rebel Aces, hence measures as drastic as Chaardan Refit.

There difference is, they didn't hide bits of necron in eldar boxes, and place parts of your codex in a Basilisk box. Well, unless you're sisters of battle, then I think your codex is a fetch quest across white dwarf magazines.

There is not a single upgrade card in a ship's pack that doesn't fit that ship. You spin it like they're splitting a ship up over lots of different packs, they're not. The only two things they could do is limit a ship to using the upgrades it comes with, killing variety, or release every single cannon in every Defender, every missile with every Z-95. Redundant cards everywhere.

Autothrusters is in the Viper because it fits the StarViper.

I can see an argument for "upgrade packs" that included things like PTL, Autothrusters, etc. Maybe theme them like a Mobility Pack, Firepower Pack, and so on. The LCG started adding QR codes on the package so you can scan them and see every card in the pack, they could do that with these. FFG won't randomize them, it's a stupid idea because even ignoring how much the playerbase likes the certainty of nonrandom upgrades it makes it harder to sell.

"Oh, if you want a heavy laser cannon you could buy some of these packs. HLC is a rare, though, so hope you're lucky!"

...is not a compelling sales pitch to a new player. Magic has a lot of formats that take advantage of the random nature of booster packs, like Draft and Sealed. X-Wing wouldn't really have a lot of success imitating that, and definitely not enough to justify making it weird and potentially more expensive to grab the upgrades that I want.

Here is a suggestion

Do a xwing night

Monday night let's say

Offer a promo that night.

Xwing 15% off if you buy on xwing night.

People always buy more when they ate saving a buck. Doesn't have to be 15%. Offer 5 or 10 % off. But only on that night.

Or maybe to new players. Give them a discount.

What you don't want to do is throw huge numbers at them and scare people away

For under 100 dollars they can get a tournament ready squad.

Imo any squad can win

It's all about how you fly it

I can see an argument for "upgrade packs" that included things like PTL, Autothrusters,

A £10 LCG data/force pack contains three copies each of twenty unique cards, released monthly. 240 cards a year, big boxes excluded.

well i was apparently wrong, i'll nip it in the bud.

It's come up many times in the past and the answer is always that it's not a realistic viability. The thread wasn't a waste of time though, plenty of suggestions for other ways to fix your problem.

Fat Han wouldn't be legal, the CR-90 came out after Wave 3.

Anything before Wave 4 is Wave 3.

A-Wings wouldn't be that bad

The A-wing was stone cold dead before Rebel Aces, hence measures as drastic as Chaardan Refit.

There difference is, they didn't hide bits of necron in eldar boxes, and place parts of your codex in a Basilisk box. Well, unless you're sisters of battle, then I think your codex is a fetch quest across white dwarf magazines.

There is not a single upgrade card in a ship's pack that doesn't fit that ship. You spin it like they're splitting a ship up over lots of different packs, they're not. The only two things they could do is limit a ship to using the upgrades it comes with, killing variety, or release every single cannon in every Defender, every missile with every Z-95. Redundant cards everywhere.

Autothrusters is in the Viper because it fits the StarViper.

I agree. Answering your customers' question that way is like saying you need every model of every 40k army in order to properly play 40k. I have 2,500 points of necrons, and have played many rewarding games with them. But i still don't have every Necron model; not even close to it.

Like others have said, start them off with a couple of core sets, and Imp Aces and rebel Aces set. Let them build their list as it comes, and if there are specific cards they want, let them do homebrew jobs printing them off the web. not a big deal, really.

There difference is, they didn't hide bits of necron in eldar boxes, and place parts of your codex in a Basilisk box. Well, unless you're sisters of battle, then I think your codex is a fetch quest across white dwarf magazines.

Even so, you'll spend WAY more on 1,850 pts of a 40k army than you will on 100 pts. for an X-Wing Squad. You don't *need* all those upgrade cards to get your squad to work. And even if you do, you can print them out online.

Then you have to factor in the hundreds of manhours you will spend assembling and painting your 40k stuff.

I get what you're saying...you potentially have to buy stuff you don't want in order to get stuff you do want. That's a fair statement. Regardless of all that, you (and by "you" I mean the OP and/or any store owner) cannot seriously tell me that X Wing is a harder sell than 40k. Spend $200 on X Wing, and you AND a friend can be playing in 45 minutes. Spend $200 on 40k and you now have a great 2 week homework assignment and a commitment to GW for more stuff before you ever get a game in.

I shouldn't have to buy Star Vipers because I wanted to play interceptors.

You don't. You don't need Autothrusters.

You only need to buy all these other packs if you're only capable of doing what the Internet tells you to.

set, like their LCG

240 cards per annum.

I can see an argument for "upgrade packs" that included things like PTL, Autothrusters,

A £10 LCG data/force pack contains three copies each of twenty unique cards, released monthly. 240 cards a year, big boxes excluded.

Lone Wolf, Ruthlessness, the Warthog upgrade...lotta good/competitive cards require you to purchase ships from other factions.