My son and I started at Wave 3! Luckily, we weren't too far behind the curve and managed to purchase all the ships right away. Plus the following waves came out slow enough we could purchase them in quantity when they came out.

(As I was reading replies, I realized I had the Wave incorrect! We entered at Wave 3 with the Tie Bomber!)

I can't imagine jumping in as a newbie right now and trying to get caught up!

So when did you jump into the game, Wave 1, Wave 2, etc???

Wave 1, after the Core Set the game died pretty quickly at my LGS, but me and another guy tried to give it a 2nd chance. Nowaday our club counts more or less 40 pilots.

I too got in at the ground floor. My buddy brought the core set home from PAX and demo'd it for me. My one complaint was "No Wedge?!" My buddy then explained to me about the expansion packs. The rest is history.

Played a few games in Wave 2 but started really playing and my own collecting just Ayer Wave 3.

Imperial aces was still delayed and b-wings ruled when I started. And Imdaar alpha was my first tournament.

Just got the Blue Core, so what are we calling that? Wave 7.5?

I bought the core set during Wave 1 but didn't get any more ships until Wave 2, when I got 1 of everything. Then I stopped playing for a while after Wave 4 came out. My kids are starting to learn how to play now (though they're still a bit young) so that and the Aturi Cluster campaign have been drawing me back in.

Wave 1.

I am pretty sure wave 3 was out when I got the original base set one Christmas.

Wave 4, just before wave 5 was released. Went to my first tournament about a year ago sporting Roark, 2 b's, & 2 a's. I didn't do very well but I did get a lot of 'props' from the other players for bringing a Hawk to a tournament.

Wave 6. Never was interested in owning everything, so it wouldn't worry me too much if I started now.

My very first game was playing in Assault on Imdaar. Only narrowly missed a place on the top table for the final game too

Just before the ground floor ...

Oh man, I can practically hear Lando saying "We've had supply problems of every kind…"

I joined pretty much at the end of Wave 2, I think Interceptors hit shelves the second or third week of our playing. Maybe sooner than that. I can remember when FFG was still ironing out their production, it was utterly commonplace for them to miss their projected releases by entire quarters. If they announced something as End Q1, it was coming out mid Q3. Of course, it seems they've kicked that rep in the butt now.

January 1st 2013, so wave 1. Had absolutely no local player at the time. I lost my first 3 games against my girlfriend, then a bunch more against friends we visited during the first part of that month.

I'm now part of a 20-30 active local player group I founded.

Whenever the Core Set, Y-Wing and TIE Advanced first landed in the UK.

As the OP mentions I can't imagine catching up with all the different waves as a new player these days. Would be interesting to see the correlation between those who have been into the game from the beginning and those like myself who have full fleets of all factions.

I got in right after Team Covenant posted their videos of the Kessel Run event.

Wave 5.

Wave 2. I have struggled to find players. Luckily there has always been at least one person as 'devoted' as I. I am very excited to move out to the Seattle/Tacoma area this summer. Sounds like there is a good community in that area.

Been playing since the ground floor frieght elevator doors opened.

Wave 7

A friend of mine got me the original core set around Wave 4. Dove in head first and I still can't get enough of this game!

Pretty sure I started getting into the game in late 2013, after being shown the X-Wing Tabletop episode, and getting to play a few games with a friend's ships. I was hooked, and while I haven't always had the scratch to get the shiniest, newest ships, I've been enjoying the competitive scene quite a lot. I may have made it something of a mission of mine to get a top finish with at least one HWK in my list at a major (Regional, ideally).

Wave 7.

Well, it might be more difficult to jump in now, but it's definitely a MUCH more balanced game to get into. (Especially once wave 8 gets here) As those of us who had to deal with TIE phantoms pre-nerf, no autothrusters, and turrets ruling the meta can attest to.