Yeah, they could make up the heavily increased costs of hosting in another city - but no city is without problems, and this city is much more convenient to host it in. Plus, seeing as how they are looking at a venue they can increase their player count, and still save a lot of money by not hosting it in a different city.

Judging by the fact that all three Star Wars games some through their tickets in hours, I don't think that FFG is worried about the fact some people won't be able to travel to MN - because they can fill a venue with people who are able to travel (or already live here - hell, I know quite a few local players who missed the sign-up, so there is expandability even in just the local market.)

I guess I just don't see any motivation for them to hold it in another city - sure, maybe more people could go, but it's looking like they'll be able to sell plenty of tickets right where they are, which is a huge money-saver.

Sounds like you're considering it purely from a profit maximisation perspective. I would hope FFG consider more than that.

That said, you haven't really argued the case that they couldn't make even MORE money holding it elsewhere. The fact that there are more players locally who could attend is irrelevant unless they outnumber those globally who currently can't. Similarly, your statement "but no city is without problems, and this city is much more convenient to host it in." makes little sense - the fact that it has the advantage of being FFG's local city has already been acknowledged, you haven't described any other advantage.

Sorry if this post seems overly confrontational, I'm just disagreeing, I don't mean to imply I think you're an idiot or anything.

Seems a bit disingenuous to not include Old Ben in the Escape from the Death Star set! I know he didn't actually escape*, but he was instrumental to the rest of them's escape.

*except in the form of something more powerful then you could possibly imagine

To be fair in the US there aren't a lot of better locations that also work for FFG. Minnesota has a solid and fairly cheap to fly into decently sized airport with fairly easy access to wherever they decide to host it in the area. So availability isn't a problem and the cost difference between flying into say Atlanta or New York isn't much more than flying into Minneapolis on out of country flights. Now count in the additional costs of hosting it in a larger city in the US. Most actual personal costs to attendees are higher as well.

I say this as a person who previously lived in CA and moved to MN. Most of my travel costs to events are far cheaper than they used to be in general living here. Coming here is cheaper in general as well for the US. And the area also has one of the largest FFG gaming populations (if not THE largest) in the US. Why move it out of the area?

Granted, they will likely be moving it to an actual venue next year just due to size of the events. The question then will be if they start running stuff at the same time and have a shorter convention or if they space out even just the miniature games and have a 4 day one that will cost them significantly more but boosts ticket sales as people can attend multiple events.

Also like the prizes even if my chance at winning any is pretty slim

I want to go next year. . . I want to design a card. . .

Yes, a (more) major city has some advantages, but again, I'm not sure absolute maximization of player turnout is their priority. They sold out their entire allotment of their most popular games in hours - so a bigger hub isn't necessary.

Yes, they probably would've been able to get more seating in at a venue in a bigger hub, but there are venues that can fill that purpose right here - and it's quite clear that they could've sold double, even triple the amount of tickets they sold if they had room, even given the suboptimal location.

I think we're agreeing more than disagreeing, ultimately. Yes, a bigger hub would be more convenient in some aspects, of course it would.

I think our disagreement comes from how we assign value to different things.

Winner: The World Champion receives a 2015 World Champion trophy, a 3’ x 3’ playmat, and the greatest prize in gaming, the chance to design a card for Star Wars: Armada!

Could we all please let DiabloAzul win?

Winner: The World Champion receives a 2015 World Champion trophy, a 3’ x 3’ playmat, and the greatest prize in gaming, the chance to design a card for Star Wars: Armada!

Could we all please let DiabloAzul win?

I wouldnt get too excited about the card....Paul heaver for X-Wing made "Stay on Target" with FFG. It's not the LEAST used card in the game, but it's probably in the bottom 25%, being generous.

Edited to say that being fair, it's a perfectly nice, balanced card. It's just up against seriously OP opposition in that upgrade category, and nobody wants a nice, balanced card in X-Wing

I wouldnt get too excited about the card....Paul heaver for X-Wing made "Stay on Target" with FFG. It's not the LEAST used card in the game, but it's probably in the bottom 25%, being generous.

Edited to say that being fair, it's a perfectly nice, balanced card. It's just up against seriously OP opposition in that upgrade category, and nobody wants a nice, balanced card in X-Wing

True, but X-Wing wave 2 balance was pretty good too

True, but X-Wing wave 2 balance was pretty good too

There was a good number of TIE Swarms, but they were perfectly beatable. They were certainly less dominant than a lot of the later meta crushing lists (most recently the vile plague that is TLT spam).

There was a good number of TIE Swarms, but they were perfectly beatable. They were certainly less dominant than a lot of the later meta crushing lists (most recently the vile plague that is TLT spam).

Was there as much depth though in X-wing as Armada will have in its Wave 2? That is in truth the biggest importance I think.

If they has the same depth and versatility then maybe but I also don't think we will see as many waves as fast due to the limited number of ships that are out there.

Just me or do those dice look more like D12's than D8's?