Lets face it! Ezra is a jedi! He can use the force to do lots of things, so an EPT on him kinda represents that.

Most mid level pilots without an EPT would immediately see some to moderate play with an EPT. Have yet to come up with a broken combo by giving any PS4+ unique pilot an EPT. Seriously, come up with your best combo. It doesn't hold a candle to Fel or dash or brobots.

Calculation on Wampa would be pretty sick.

Not out yet. Might be broken but probably not on a tie (and he'd probably be an extra point on top of it all). Potent? Yah. Broken on any other ship? Maybe. On a tie he probably just doesn't get to shoot.

Most mid level pilots without an EPT would immediately see some to moderate play with an EPT. Have yet to come up with a broken combo by giving any PS4+ unique pilot an EPT. Seriously, come up with your best combo. It doesn't hold a candle to Fel or dash or brobots.

IF, and it's a big big IF, you can come up with one then limit it to higher PS or just make it a unique upgrade.

Lambdas barrel rolling? Named pilots might actually see play. Kir with +1 dmg a round at the cost of positioning requirements? I'm ok with that. Graz can take...um...predator? Laetin can get a focus and evade? Seriously... None of those are even close to the power levels of most elite pilots.

I think you're overstating things. Some mid-PS pilots might see a tiny increase in play, but a lot of them have bigger issues.

Part of the reason that I think this is a silly argument is that you're trying to reason out a game mechanic instead of just looking at it as a Game Mechanic.

Ezra has an ability and a Pilot Skill. He is unique. They looked at the pool of EPT cards released and potentially the unreleased ones. If nothing seemed to break Ezra, it seems reasonable to add one to him given that he's a unique character, and not particularly powerful given the ship and ability. Allows him to then be slotted into a squad and tailored to fit his squad role a little better with an EPT. That's why he has an EPT, not because 'he's Jedi' or because 'FFG are correcting their mistakes'.

To ascribe current choices regarding pilots and why they do or don't have EPTs based on past examples has more to do with the game mechanics now, and the current design approach as evidenced by the various interviews released with the FFG Design crew. As to why Kir or the Y's or anyone else does or doesn't have an EPT, that's a past design approach, perhaps one that could have been done differently, but it's past now. I think we should stop reasoning current design approaches based on what could or should have done in the past, or on imaginary 'jedi/pilot skill' factors.

Jacob

People may have taken that position if FFG didn't have a trend now of "fixing" things. Since that is the trend people now look at pilots that collect dust and theorize about what would make them good. EPTs are seen as a good easy way to give unused pilots a lot of options for being useable.

Yeah, except the fixing is happening to ships, not to pilots. Can you give me an example where they've errata'd any pilot to add an EPT?

Jacob

Why would it take an errata? Autothrusters was an obvious fix to Tie Interceptors and other boosting arc-dodgers, and it's not an errata. The A-Wing got Chaardan Refit and the Tie Advanced got TWO upgrade cards to fix it.

As for pilots - Boba Fett and Kath Scarlett both got improved when they were made in S&V form. Same ship, same pilots, way better functionality. FFG could certainly release new versions of old pilots in an upcoming expansion, even releasing new versions of the same pilot for the same faction. It's quite possible, and it's not far afield from what they have done in the past.

Ezra shouldn't have an Elite upgrade slot, based on the character and the abilities he has currently shown. There's nothing "Elite" about Ezra...his budding Jedi abilities could be adequately represented by his pilot ability.

I actually like that there are non-unique pilots that get an Elite upgrade slot...the stories we have can't cover all the excellent pilots that are out there flying ships in the Star Wars universe, and there are whole squadrons out there known for their elite pilots (Saber Squadron, the Royal Guard, etc.). Without releasing every pilot for the ship that an elite squadron uses, a "generic" with an Elite upgrade slot lets us give character to these unknown, but elite, pilots.

Ezra's different. He's actually covered in these stories pretty well, and we know quite a bit about Ezra's abilities base on the show. IMO, Ezra shouldn't have an Elite upgrade slot, based on the character and the abilities he has currently shown. There's nothing "elite" about Ezra as a pilot...his budding Jedi abilities could be adequately represented by his pilot ability. It doesn't anger me or anything ( ), it's just a bit jarring. I'd love to know the design justification for the Elite upgrade slot on Ezra.

This is precisely what I'm talking about. You are equating a Television character, or more precisely, your understanding of a television character as he is being represented thus far, with the entirety of whom that character might be moving forward and throughout time, as representing all of who he is in the X-Wing game and how he should be represented in GAME PLAY MECHANICS.

By that token, we know less of and have seen almost nothing of several of the X-Wing and Tie Fighter pilots we have little to no reason to assume any of them deserve their elite upgrades.

The point is, this is about Game Play Mechanics, not about lore. You, and others in this thread are equating them, and they're not the same. You're basing your understanding of Ezra's Elite Upgrade based on your current understanding of the character given the limited screen evidence, and not giving the same weight to characters you think should have them (Horton, Kir, etc.)

Again, this is about current Gameplay Mechanic decisions, and it's obvious that the current people designing the game are moving a very specific direction. Wherever possible, they are giving pilots Elite upgrades. The only exceptions seem to be pilots that would be broken if given that upgrade slot. The new Tie Pilots in the Gozanti pack as evidence of this.

Jacob

I understand some times why for gameplay they make certain decisions but then it creates pilots like Horton and Kanos that leave us all scratching our heads.