Atkrull, when you post an open letter on a forum, you are implicitly soliciting the opinions of the others on the forum in regards to that open letter. It's been clear from the start that what you wanted was not advice, but agreement. I don't have advice to give you on running your store. I've got my own life to worry about (or to not worry about by spending too much time on forums to avoid studying). That being said, I also can't give you agreement, because I don't think your proposed solution is one that would work for me. A lot of us on the forum don't. Some of us have been better at expressing that than others. I'm sorry your feelings have been hurt, because clearly they have been. But take a step back and take a deep breath and realize that what's said on this forum isn't going to change your life one iota. It's not worth getting worked up over. And if I ever happen to be in northWEST (west) Iowa, I'll check out your store. Keep some Scum and Villainy in stock for me.

Thanks nightshrike, I now know better to just stay the hell away from the forums.

That's one option. The other one is to follow a few simple (but incredibly hard to follow rules): never get defensive, never be sarcastic, and never meet rudeness with rudeness. The major exception to this is if the other guy is so clearly in the wrong that you know being super snarky is going to win you a lot of like votes. Then do that. But you have to time it right, otherwise you'll get yourself in trouble. And, as you're a business owner, I wouldn't recommend it. You want to cultivate an image that keeps you above petty squabbles.

Yeah I would love you fly you out to help me with my struggling x wing sales. Oh and by the way could you bring about 8-10 x wing core sets with you that I might be able to buy from you at wholesale cost because gosh darn it if my distributor is all out of them and can't seem to get more? Oh and if you could please send me your resume, last years sales reports, and references from your boss or customers cuz you know I don't want to take a risk on someone who has been working at the gap for the last 20 years selling jeans to teenagers. Now if you had to work your ass off, take out a mortagage, convince your wife to let you complete a dream of starting your own game store with two of your best friends, get enough capitol to finally open, then to have your two months do better than any of your business models had predicted then I'll fly you out to help me sell a product that I love. I thought I would just share a few ideas i had on the possible evolution of x wing on a forum. But on second thought I don't think I need your advice because I just realized I have spent far to much time trying to justify my comments to you people who have blown a simple wish list letter to fantasy flight way out of hand. So I'm not going to drop a metaphorical microphone because I live in the real world and people who drop fake microphones are sad.

Sure. Msg me your email address.

Yeah I would love you fly you out to help me with my struggling x wing sales. Oh and by the way could you bring about 8-10 x wing core sets with you that I might be able to buy from you at wholesale cost because gosh darn it if my distributor is all out of them and can't seem to get more? Oh and if you could please send me your resume, last years sales reports, and references from your boss or customers cuz you know I don't want to take a risk on someone who has been working at the gap for the last 20 years selling jeans to teenagers. Now if you had to work your ass off, take out a mortagage, convince your wife to let you complete a dream of starting your own game store with two of your best friends, get enough capitol to finally open, then to have your two months do better than any of your business models had predicted then I'll fly you out to help me sell a product that I love. I thought I would just share a few ideas i had on the possible evolution of x wing on a forum. But on second thought I don't think I need your advice because I just realized I have spent far to much time trying to justify my comments to you people who have blown a simple wish list letter to fantasy flight way out of hand. So I'm not going to drop a metaphorical microphone because I live in the real world and people who drop fake microphones are sad.

The big problem is your opinions are coming quite clearly from a Magic/CCG/CMG background. FFG has abandoned that type of thinking like the Titanic. I mean, they even killed two of their own CCGs to create the LCG format. And you are going to get a lot of resistence from people here, because a lot of us are also burnt out on what WOTC and Wizkids did to their games in order to keep us buying. So suggesting FFG to follow up on some of those things is not going to go over well. The NEED to have constant product to buy, or to chase, is so far away from the FFG I've grown to love.

I really don't think that a $100 buy in to get some interesting options for one faction, and then saving $15 a month for a ship is a terrible way to get into the game. And hardly breaking the bank. Yes, this game is expensive. This isn't Magic, but as others have said, this is a lot cheaper than the more comparible miniature games.

I know what I've gotten into. FFG is my chosen drug dealer. I'm sure that FFG has more extensive research than me, but it seems obvious to me why the card packs will never happen. Why give a cheaper option, when you can encourage people to buy the more expensive product? I'm not naive enough to not see how they encourage cross buying, especially in multiples. But, they are not so bad compared to other companies and history has shown, patience can pay off. How many people were pissed when Advanced Sensors was revealed to be in the E-wing pack after buying 4 shuttles?

Eh...yea i kinda have to agree on the Raider comments... it kinda sucks to have to dish out alot of money on an expansion when all you really want is the TIE Advanced upgrade. Maybe they will offer that card in another expansion later on...

So wizards of smart, please tell me what I should do when a kid wants to buy a most wanted pack and two star vipers, then asks this should be good to get me started right? I inform him that he needs to buy a starter set to get his dice, templates, ruler and asteroids. He says but I don't want the x wing or tie fighters. What do I say then? Tough luck?

Oh, and as another thought... I just recalled that I (semi-seriously) joked with the manager of my FLGS that if he really wants to push his sales into over drive, do what the mobile phone companies do: SELL THE CORE PRODUCT AT YOUR LANDED COST ... and then reap in the riches as the customers buy every add-on they can get their paws on.

*boom* <mike drop>

that sounds oddly familiar...I told him something very similar earlier in the thread. Sell the first stuff at little or no profit. (I had said core + 2 small ships from wave i but it''s the same concept)

I am not in sales but I know how to get people into a good game.

So wizards of smart, please tell me what I should do when a kid wants to buy a most wanted pack and two star vipers, then asks this should be good to get me started right? I inform him that he needs to buy a starter set to get his dice, templates, ruler and asteroids. He says but I don't want the x wing or tie fighters. What do I say then? Tough luck?

Oh, and as another thought... I just recalled that I (semi-seriously) joked with the manager of my FLGS that if he really wants to push his sales into over drive, do what the mobile phone companies do: SELL THE CORE PRODUCT AT YOUR LANDED COST ... and then reap in the riches as the customers buy every add-on they can get their paws on.

*boom* <mike drop>

that sounds oddly familiar...I told him something very similar earlier in the thread. Sell the first stuff at little or no profit. (I had said core + 2 small ships from wave i but it''s the same concept)

I am not in sales but I know how to get people into a good game.

Hmm well if he has the money to spare he could visit Team Covenants site they have really great template sets and sell single ships and cards ... I bought myself an orange template set from them for my scum and villany stuff and man I was impressed

The problem I see several small stores doing is cling to a 50-point margin on *every* product in the store, including the core/starter sets (for the non-retail crowd - that means you double your cost to get to your selling price). It makes perfect sense for some product, but not the core sets. Of course, I've seen the huge volume stores in major urban centres run on a 15-point margin and make up for it purely in volume, but that's a super dangerous game to play with your business and a heck of a lot of work for your staff. So sure, if you're going to run 40- to 50-points on every item and have a limited number of clientele for a small market trading area, you're going to have to accept lower volume of sales. Of course, with the power of a good marketing strategy, your trading area doesn't need to stay all that local...

have spent far to much time trying to justify my comments to you people who have blown a simple wish list letter to fantasy flight way out of hand.

Shenanigans - Nightshrike is correct - you surely knew what would happen here and are getting irritated that A: a lot of people don't agree and B: many people have simply pointed out that this request is dead already because FFG has already said so

If you *truly* wanted to make this request to FFG in all seriousness, you would have sent it directly to them. Instead, you posted the question to a forum (which is an interesting question that has generated discussion: forum goal: accomplished. Well done - honestly

It seems to me you are getting a bit worked up over one guy not wanting to jump in and have proposed a solution where there is no problem. Look at the 'out of stock' tag for just about every distributor for almost every X-Wing product. The line forms to the left when it comes to interest in the product.

Wait, waitwaitwait...

I just realized I have spent far to much time trying to justify my comments to you people...

Wait, waitwaitwait...

I just realized I have spent far to much time trying to justify my comments to you people...

Well all jokes aside I do hope he listens to the advice here and get a starter league going.

I've slept on it and calmed down. I've never been in an x wing league so I will open the floor on how to get people into a league and sustain it. Also what are some of the discount options your local flgs offer.

Actually this thread is too long I'll start a new topic.

As a new player who has a small collection and a very tight budget I first bought the core set plus 2 ships (Tie advanced and a Y-wing) and I played that for a few months learning the game ,then later I bought two more ships (Tie-Phantom and a B-wing) played with that and then recently(last month) I just bought 2 large ships (YT-2400 and VT-Decimator ) sure you need certain cards for builds but you can have a decent build without them. I have been making decent builds without certain upgrades take my friend who liked the game and bought all the waves I beat him twice using what I just have so it is plausible to play with limited upgrades. And it clearly states on the expansions that it is not a full game and to get the core set.

EDIT: There are places that sell single cards

I know I'm late to this conversation.

You should actively advise any new players AGAINST buying everything all at once. and not just to save them money. It's also so that they can get a feel for different ships as they get them. If you were to drop $800 bucks and just WHAM BAM get everything... would you even know what it's like to fly an interceptor without Autothrusters? What it's like to fly an A-Wing before Rebel Aces? Would you EVER even bother equipping a proton torpedo? When I got into the game, i bought in for around $115 bucks, getting a core set, a falcon, a Slave 1, and I think one other expansion. I had just barely enough stuff to fill out a single list for either side. And each time I picked up one more ship, I had so many new options, and I got to fly that ship multiple times, and really experience it.

The buy in for this game with many ships typically being on sale, is right at or about 100 bucks. It goes up from there but it's at your own pace, and that is fine. Heck you can even buy in for under 60 bucks right now. Go to coolstuff, get a core set, an E-Wing, and Rebel Aces - and that gives you 4 rebel ships, for under 60 bucks before tax. Lots of configuration options there too.

Something that would also help new players is if you don't play fat turrets or super phantoms against them when they only have a half dozen ships to build lists with. I have spent an embarrassing amount of money on this game, the raider will only increase that, and then there's Armada. Meanwhile I have a friend who only has the core set and dash. I do not toss ridiculous meta crushing lists at him while he is building up his collection, even though I have the ships to do most of them (except bbbbz). It gives him a chance to get comfortable with his ships while I play around with scum. He also borrows my ships to try out stuff so he can plan purchases. It's a win win and never once has he looked at my collection and felt despair at the cost.

EDIT: also, FFG is good at eventually packing really good cards in with additional ships. PtL is in A-wing and imperial aces, advanced sensors (which used to mean buying a few lambdas) is in e-wing, HLC seems like it's all over the place now. Now we just need them to release predator in a different ship