https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/5/18/ffgs-2015-world-championships/

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

Most likely, it is the best option to have the most space. You HAVE to seperate X-wing from Netrunner. And Armada is going to require a lot of room, even with a smaller playerbase. So you need to seperate them from Netrunner as well. There is a lot of choices that will hurt any player of said game. This time, X-wing is the one that ran out.

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

How do you figure that?

I like that they're giving out a copy of the X-Wing alt-arts to EACH player that attends (even non-X-Wing players) and then 2 more copies to each X-Wing player that completes the premlims.

Maybe they won't go for $100+ on eBay this time.

Interesting that they say everything is capped, yet don't give you the slightest hint about what the cap will be.

Given that X-wing has 1 preliminary and cuts to top 16, it feels like that tournament will be even more brutal that Gencon will be (I.e. At least 200 players or more). I predict Worlds will sell out faster than Gencon did.

Nice to see that they recognised Regional winners to at least get something out their win (if they weren't able to use their bye at Gencon).

Wait, they went to Top 32 last year, the game has grown, and they are only going to Top 16 this year??? Crazy.

So, I'm guessing 256 players (which will sell out), and 7 rounds. Probably 3 7-0s (depending on byes and how things progress), and 14 6-1's. One unlucky 6-1 won't make the cut, otherwise MoV won't really matter - except for the all-important victory conditions.

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

How do you figure that?

To be fair the time and space and prime days devoted to Armada does make you feel like the X-wing is the new red-headed step-child (despite being their current biggest cash cow).

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

How do you figure that?

It's harder for people to take Wed off, in many cases, Tuesday also (for travelling) to play, this really making it difficult for many people to attend. If a popular game is supported, wouldn't you want to let more people be able to attend and give the game the best chance possible to determine a World Champion, rather than have potential good players who might have to drop out due to the scheduling?

Wait, they went to Top 32 last year, the game has grown, and they are only going to Top 16 this year??? Crazy.

So, I'm guessing 256 players (which will sell out), and 7 rounds. Probably 3 7-0s (depending on byes and how things progress), and 14 6-1's. One unlucky 6-1 won't make the cut, otherwise MoV won't really matter - except for the all-important victory conditions.

Yeah, looks like the new thing is a massive preliminary and a very small top cut. Ironic that they required such a high % cut, upwards of 50% of the field, for Store Championships that caused so many store owners all sorts of issues this season.

I imagine that they are capping Armada at a much lower number than X-wing. Remember, it requires twice the space. This way, with less space to compete, and less games going on, they can fit more X-wing players. I don't foresee a large number of side events during the X-wing preliminaries.

And I hate to break to you, but everything is the red headed step child compared to Netrunner.

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

How do you figure that?

To be fair the time and space and prime days devoted to Armada does make you feel like the X-wing is the new red-headed step-child (despite being their current biggest cash cow).

Yeah, why does Armada or conquest or imperial assault get the weekend days and X-Wing gets moved to the first day ?

Eventually they'll have to have their larger games on different weekends. Hopefully this is the last year before they give in.

Looks like X-Wing is moved to Wed prelims, top 16 Thursday. Feels like with this and GenCon, X-Wing is losing favor with FFG.

How do you figure that?

To be fair the time and space and prime days devoted to Armada does make you feel like the X-wing is the new red-headed step-child (despite being their current biggest cash cow).

Yeah, why does Armada or conquest or imperial assault get the weekend days and X-Wing gets moved to the first day ?

Because Wednesday is likely to have the least amount of side events. Thus, they are able to fit in more people. If you have to fit in 2 other championships, you lose tables. X-wing will take the largest amount of space. You can easily fit more card games or even Imperial Assault games in an area compared to X-wing. So, because you can get more value out of space, those games are going to be grouped up.

Don't expect Armada to have a very large tournament.

Most likely, it is the best option to have the most space. You HAVE to seperate X-wing from Netrunner. And Armada is going to require a lot of room, even with a smaller playerbase. So you need to seperate them from Netrunner as well. There is a lot of choices that will hurt any player of said game. This time, X-wing is the one that ran out.

Presuming they do similar for Worlds, the same will be true there as well. And they aren't separating Armada from Netrunner, even though it will take at least as much space.

Apparently X-Wing players are just going to get worked over so the new kids can play. Heaven forbid we help out X-Wingers who already get the bad slots at Gen Con.

Umm, last I checked, Armada is on Thur and Fri at Worlds. Netrunner is Sat and Sun.

X-wing preliminaries and AGOT Draft prelims are the only major events on Wed. That is why there is probably going to be a lot more space allocated to X-wing than Armada at Worlds. There may be some side events, but it is doubtful to be too many. Thur, they cut to the top 16, sure. But they are also adding the SWLCG and AGOT championships, as well as Armada. That adds a significant drain on space. They know X-wing is popular. They know it is one of the biggest draws. So, do you cut the number of X-wing players in order to fit all of the games, or do you try to keep their day as open as possible?

Yes, it sucks. But some games were going to have to take that bad spot. Might as well be the one they are confident of still filling and try to open up more spots along the way.

I understand the change as well but man that's frustrating you're basically looking at having to take off two whole weeks to go to Gencon and Worlds.

Well, I for one will be emailing FFG to let them know how disappointing it is that there is only a single prelim day and it is on Wednesday. If there were two prelims like last year and it was Wednesday and Thursday, no problem. But as previously stated, it could seriously impact a lot of peoples decision to come or not. I was there last year and had an absolute blast meeting people from all over and making great friends. Taking two days off work for 3-4 days of gaming, I can do that. Three days off work is so much harder to do, at least for me. Especially since X-wing is the ONLY game I play. I wish they would have either had two prelims like last year, or have it on Thursday or Friday. Give people an option and a chance. And cut to 16? Seriously? As stated above as well, this is insane considering store championships, the lowest level, had to cut to top 25% or higher (don't remember exact numbers). 32 is a reasonable number and I would almost argue for 64.

I know there is considerable time and effort put into making these decisions, but it seems like one of the bigger games is getting screwed over. I am biased as this is the only thing I play, but I would think a newer game like armada could be on Wednesday. Or even limit some side events and keep it to four days? Starting on Thursday was really nice. I hope this doesn't become the norm!

Huh, no Armada announcement. Are they waiting until Wave 2?

Never mind I'm just going blind that's all.

I wasn't there, so I could clearly be wrong, but weren't all of the side events (including escalation) played off site at their old location last year?

I think it is likely they would do the same this year, so side events are unlikely to impact upon space for the big events.

Umm, last I checked, Armada is on Thur and Fri at Worlds. Netrunner is Sat and Sun.

I'm making the assumption they'll get the same space, but it is a fair assumption given Gen Con as a precedent.

I would not be surprised if the reason that X-Wing is on Wednesday was because no matter how inconvenient of a day they put it on, it will still sell out.

Imagine if they put Armada on Wednesday; it would be a wasteland.

Looks like X-Wing gets an Imperial card, plus a crew upgrade?

Calling it now: alternate Howlrunner using her card art from Armada.

I would not be surprised if the reason that X-Wing is on Wednesday was because no matter how inconvenient of a day they put it on, it will still sell out.

Imagine if they put Armada on Wednesday; it would be a wasteland.

I believe you are correct in that it was FFG's intention to put the most popular game early because a lot of people will still go. But the game has grown so much in the past year (most store champs and regionals increased up to double the participation), and in my case, quite a few folks from my area are gearing up to go to Worlds for the first time after I shared my experience from last year with them. Worlds was a highlight for me in my relatively short X-Wing experience at the time, and I met a ton of wonderful people around the world am still in touch with many of them. It made me even more addicted to the game and motivated me to help grow the X-Wing community back at home.

I want the "first timers" to have that same experience, but not everyone has the work flexibility or vacation days to do it. I can do it, but even I hesitate at taking Tue-Friday off (travel time takes most of a day from the West Coast), considering most people have only 2-3 weeks of vacation days per year. Even having it on Thursday/Friday will be a lot better than Wed/Thur, and there are some games that are small enough that it wouldn't impact as many people as a popular game like X-Wing. Actually, I think even if they had a Wed/Thur Prelim and Finals on Friday, it would be good enough for most people.

Hopefully people who want to go but can't because of the schedule or the very limited spots available can email FFG so they either add more spots and/or move the event later in the week.

I'm very curious to see how many slots they had. Last year they had 64 tables for X-wing, and there was no overlap between X-wing and Netrunner, both run at the same time.

I would not be surprised if the reason that X-Wing is on Wednesday was because no matter how inconvenient of a day they put it on, it will still sell out.

Imagine if they put Armada on Wednesday; it would be a wasteland.

I believe you are correct in that it was FFG's intention to put the most popular game early because a lot of people will still go. But the game has grown so much in the past year (most store champs and regionals increased up to double the participation), and in my case, quite a few folks from my area are gearing up to go to Worlds for the first time after I shared my experience from last year with them. Worlds was a highlight for me in my relatively short X-Wing experience at the time, and I met a ton of wonderful people around the world am still in touch with many of them. It made me even more addicted to the game and motivated me to help grow the X-Wing community back at home.

I want the "first timers" to have that same experience, but not everyone has the work flexibility or vacation days to do it. I can do it, but even I hesitate at taking Tue-Friday off (travel time takes most of a day from the West Coast), considering most people have only 2-3 weeks of vacation days per year. Even having it on Thursday/Friday will be a lot better than Wed/Thur, and there are some games that are small enough that it wouldn't impact as many people as a popular game like X-Wing. Actually, I think even if they had a Wed/Thur Prelim and Finals on Friday, it would be good enough for most people.

Hopefully people who want to go but can't because of the schedule or the very limited spots available can email FFG so they either add more spots and/or move the event later in the week.

So no, it's not ideal, but I don't think your picture is really complete.

First, the difference between taking off Wednesday through Friday and taking off Tuesday through Friday is... one more day. I understand that a week's worth of vacation is a lot for most people (it is for me, too) but that one extra day is a much smaller proportion.

Second, they started out with a lot of constraints. They have a number of very successful games and they want to support all of them. They have lots of space but it's still limited in comparison to the number of prospective attendees, and it seems as if they have lots of staff until you consider they'll be distributed them over multiple simultaneous events for hundreds of players.

The only direction they can expand is in time. That means something has to be scheduled for that Wednesday time slot, and (as WickedGrey said) if they tried to do it with Armada or Imperial Assault, that event would be attended mostly by crickets and tumbleweeds.

***

I'm not saying it's ideal. I'm already looking nervously at my paid leave balance and wondering if I can afford to attend both Worlds and GenCon. That one extra day I talked about might prevent me from going, and that would be really frustrating. Friday prelims and Saturday elimination rounds would be best for me, not Wednesday and Thursday.

But they can't plan the entire event around my personal needs--and, more specifically, they can't plan the event around my needs instead of (e.g.) the needs of Netrunner players.

Was there even a Nationals announcement? It's also looking like there won't be Summer Tournament kits this year.