A designer friend of mine told me about this game, saying I'd probably enjoy it a lot and to give it a try. Based on that recommendation, I went out and bought the Core Set and two expansions. Then I started my learning and exploration phase. I started taking in the wealth of information around and trying to understand how to play. The more I learned about the game, the more I thought I would enjoy it. Then, some things started happening in the community that disturbed me. Keep in mind that I've only been aware of this game about 3 weeks and it's my first FFG (and tabletop) game.

1) This whole thing about intentional draws. I don't want to get into it here, but as a newcomer, what I see is an issue that has divided the community and no response from FFG. Maybe this is because they want to let the tournament play out first (which I understand), but it doesn't feel right to not have any official response on this. Even if it's simply "We're aware of it. We'll review it after the Open is over." Maybe they have and I've missed it...

2) I see no visible signs of moderation on this website. Now, I believe that a good community shouldn't need any signs of moderation, but I've seen some things on here, like sexism, that I wouldn't have expected on an official forum. When I check the lead moderator of this section of the forums, it says he last logged in in October. That concerns me, but maybe there is a wider moderation team and that doesn't mean anything...

3) There seems to be a split in the community of what I would describe as newbie-friendly and newbie-agnostic (I'll use the nicer phrase). I won't hark on about that one too much as it's pretty normal for a gaming community, but the balance doesn't feel right here from what I've seen...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going anywhere yet, but thought I would mention these few points... It's basically me trying to figure out how FFG runs things and if that works for me or not before I plunge more money and time into the game. Things currently seem a bit chaotic, but maybe I just started playing at the wrong time?

This community, just like real life, has people from different backgrounds, and they have different ideas and opinions.

Sometimes we'll argue and go in the huff with each other, but that's life. In addition to that, this is the interwebs, people have a tendency to say things that they wouldn't say otherwise.

As for moderation? I've vented my opinion on that chestnut in the past, but it is moderated.

This community has a lot to offer, but you've got to decide for yourself what you're willing to participate in.

Cheers

Baaa

Every community will have it's bad eggs sadly, and X-Wing is no different. You quickly come to learn which posters you should just ignore, and the majority of the community feels the same way about them as you do. By and large though, this is definitely one of the more civil, friendly gaming communities I've seen. I frequent forums for a few other games (admittedly those are video games, not miniatures games) and there really is no comparison. The amount of toxicity on some of those forums is staggering, and just highlights how much worse the X-Wing community could be. As for moderation, there definitely is some. Threads get moved or locked if they're inappropriate, and spam gets dealt with pretty rapidly. I think it's actually better that the mods tend to take a backseat approach. Ruling the forums with an iron fist and clamping down on the merest hint of off-topic conversation or remarks that may be slightly offensive to some people would not be a good way to go I feel.

I can't really comment on the whole intentional drawing debate as I don't play in tournaments. I would expect some official response from FFG soon though. They're usually pretty on the ball with responding to their players and addressing their concerns.

A designer friend of mine told me about this game, saying I'd probably enjoy it a lot and to give it a try. Based on that recommendation, I went out and bought the Core Set and two expansions. Then I started my learning and exploration phase. I started taking in the wealth of information around and trying to understand how to play. The more I learned about the game, the more I thought I would enjoy it. Then, some things started happening in the community that disturbed me. Keep in mind that I've only been aware of this game about 3 weeks and it's my first FFG (and tabletop) game.

1) This whole thing about intentional draws. I don't want to get into it here, but as a newcomer, what I see is an issue that has divided the community and no response from FFG. Maybe this is because they want to let the tournament play out first (which I understand), but it doesn't feel right to not have any official response on this. Even if it's simply "We're aware of it. We'll review it after the Open is over." Maybe they have and I've missed it...

2) I see no visible signs of moderation on this website. Now, I believe that a good community shouldn't need any signs of moderation, but I've seen some things on here, like sexism, that I wouldn't have expected on an official forum. When I check the lead moderator of this section of the forums, it says he last logged in in October. That concerns me, but maybe there is a wider moderation team and that doesn't mean anything...

3) There seems to be a split in the community of what I would describe as newbie-friendly and newbie-agnostic (I'll use the nicer phrase). I won't hark on about that one too much as it's pretty normal for a gaming community, but the balance doesn't feel right here from what I've seen...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going anywhere yet, but thought I would mention these few points... It's basically me trying to figure out how FFG runs things and if that works for me or not before I plunge more money and time into the game. Things currently seem a bit chaotic, but maybe I just started playing at the wrong time?

First, welcome to the addiction!

1) I wouldn't worry about that. You have to remember the Internet likes to be vocal about things it doesn't like, justified or not. People are up in arms about an entire Top 8 using the ID rule at one tournament, but there seems to be a rare set of perfect storm circumstances that allowed it to happen. FFG may not have said anything officially yet, but I all but guarantee they're thinking exactly what you're hoping they'll say. The X-Wing team does monitor tournament results and the forums and will make changes as needed (see the recent half-MoV change to Large ships).

2) There are moderators and they do lay pretty low. Which is a good thing, IMO. It means our community is healthy for the most part. Rest assured they do step in from time to time when things get really out of hand. In the mean time, if you see something unacceptable, make liberal use of the 'report' button at the bottom of the offending post.

3) Again, unfortunately this is the Internet. There are people who like to behave like asses just because they're behind a screen. However, there are fewer of them than there are the nice, helpful folks. You'll find out who's who soon enough, and you can use an ignore feature to block out the idiots who aren't improving your time here. Additionally, I'd suggest using the subforums (Squad Lists, Rules Questions, etc.) at the top when applicable. Those tend to be far more friendly, as they're more focused, and the trolls seem to be much more active out here on the general forum.

Again, welcome to X-Wing, have fun, and Fly Casual!

I wouldn't get too worried. It's a game and this is the internet -- in the scheme of things you'll see a lot of tempests in teacups around here. Don't let the boards scare you off. As to your questions:

(1) The ID thing is recent, there is an uproar, and I do expect FFG will eventually act (they do try to keep the game balanced). What happens at a regional shouldn't affect your fun in the game for most play, so I wouldn't judge the whole community for the actions of a few.

(2) I don't know who moderates, but there is some moderation of the boards going on (stuff does disappear from time to time). There is a way to report posts at the bottom of each if you find something offensive; use it if you need. Otherwise, try to set a good example with your own posting.

(3) I've found the community at large to be pretty newcomer friendly ... the internet tends to skew perceptions though.

Welcome to the game, and Fly Casual ... you've taken you first steps into a larger world!

Every community will have it's bad eggs sadly, and X-Wing is no different. You quickly come to learn which posters you should just ignore, and the majority of the community feels the same way about them as you do. By and large though, this is definitely one of the more civil, friendly gaming communities I've seen. I frequent forums for a few other games (admittedly those are video games, not miniatures games) and there really is no comparison. The amount of toxicity on some of those forums is staggering, and just highlights how much worse the X-Wing community could be.

Yes, I can appreciate that. I used to be a moderator for DOTA2, which many would say is the most toxic gaming community that there is.

This is clearly a different world from that.

3) Again, unfortunately this is the Internet. There are people who like to behave like asses just because they're behind a screen. However, there are fewer of them than there are the nice, helpful folks. You'll find out who's who soon enough, and you can use an ignore feature to block out the idiots who aren't improving your time here. Additionally, I'd suggest using the subforums (Squad Lists, Rules Questions, etc.) at the top when applicable. Those tend to be far more friendly, as they're more focused, and the trolls seem to be much more active out here on the general forum.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

GIven the vocal majority its sometimes hard to see things through the noise. Others have pointed out many responses, I just wanted to add this:

Listen to some podcasts. Those are far better on community than the boards, with good commentary on all aspects of this game. There's math ones, casual ones, uber tourney ones, etc. If anything has shown me that this community is amazing its the April 1st joke that almost all the podcasts took part in. Look to the guys that are commenting on all this stuff, they're pretty on top of all the topics that hit this forum. I can't wait for the next ones that hit after the Hoth Open!

And like others have said: Welcome to an awesome game and fly casual

Every community will have it's bad eggs sadly, and X-Wing is no different. You quickly come to learn which posters you should just ignore, and the majority of the community feels the same way about them as you do. By and large though, this is definitely one of the more civil, friendly gaming communities I've seen. I frequent forums for a few other games (admittedly those are video games, not miniatures games) and there really is no comparison. The amount of toxicity on some of those forums is staggering, and just highlights how much worse the X-Wing community could be.

Yes, I can appreciate that. I used to be a moderator for DOTA2, which many would say is the most toxic gaming community that there is.

This is clearly a different world from that.

well ****

if that's your background, then you're never going to find anything to make you leave here

GIven the vocal majority its sometimes hard to see things through the noise. Others have pointed out many responses, I just wanted to add this:

Listen to some podcasts. Those are far better on community than the boards, with good commentary on all aspects of this game. There's math ones, casual ones, uber tourney ones, etc. If anything has shown me that this community is amazing its the April 1st joke that almost all the podcasts took part in. Look to the guys that are commenting on all this stuff, they're pretty on top of all the topics that hit this forum. I can't wait for the next ones that hit after the Hoth Open!

And like others have said: Welcome to an awesome game and fly casual

I've not listened to any of these yet. Which ones would you recommend for beginners?

3) Again, unfortunately this is the Internet. There are people who like to behave like asses just because they're behind a screen. However, there are fewer of them than there are the nice, helpful folks. You'll find out who's who soon enough, and you can use an ignore feature to block out the idiots who aren't improving your time here. Additionally, I'd suggest using the subforums (Squad Lists, Rules Questions, etc.) at the top when applicable. Those tend to be far more friendly, as they're more focused, and the trolls seem to be much more active out here on the general forum.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

What was it if you don't mind me asking?

1) it's the weekend. The FFG guys work office hours. I'd be amazed if we don't hear something tomorrow.

Apart from that, welcome! It's a great little game

GIven the vocal majority its sometimes hard to see things through the noise. Others have pointed out many responses, I just wanted to add this:

Listen to some podcasts. Those are far better on community than the boards, with good commentary on all aspects of this game. There's math ones, casual ones, uber tourney ones, etc. If anything has shown me that this community is amazing its the April 1st joke that almost all the podcasts took part in. Look to the guys that are commenting on all this stuff, they're pretty on top of all the topics that hit this forum. I can't wait for the next ones that hit after the Hoth Open!

And like others have said: Welcome to an awesome game and fly casual

I've not listened to any of these yet. Which ones would you recommend for beginners?

Kessel Run is pretty good and more on the casual side.

NOVA Squadron Radio isn't bad, but tends to get heavily competitive.

Scum and Villainy is great, very fun.

Stay on Target is local to me, so I like that one.

There's also Back to Dials and I'm sure many others that I'm forgetting.

A number of podcasts also have special guests and even regulars in the form of some of the top tournament players in the world, which is always awesome to hear.

Welcome to the game! I can't really chime in and say anything that hasn't been expressed above; aside from the random churl or bad behavior, overall I think these forums do fairly well. They're no where near the nightmare that some others have been (casts fearful glance back at the Blizzard Hearthstone forums Thunderdome).

Again, welcome to the game (it's great), and the forums; have you had a chance to play locally with others in your community? Therein lies the charm, playing in person with great people, having fun, laughing and shaking hands at the end of a game whether you got trounced or not.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

I wouldn't take it personal nor get discouraged. Sometimes your thread just gets buried from the first page or missed. Or members may not have an answer or opinion (though it's rare someone on here doesn't have an opinion ) Happens to every member at one time or another. Here's a couple tips for getting help in the squad subforum:

1) Use a good title for your post. Something like "My Dash list" or "How is this list?" isn't going to get members attention. Remember that you are fighting for attention against the hundreds of other daily posts in there.

2) Make sure you ask specific questions concerning your list that members can answer. "Is this a good list?" is vague and will not result in the help you're looking for. Try to ask more direct questions like "Can this list handle the new Palp aces?" or "Can this list survive the U-boat alpha strike?".

GIven the vocal majority its sometimes hard to see things through the noise. Others have pointed out many responses, I just wanted to add this:

Listen to some podcasts. Those are far better on community than the boards, with good commentary on all aspects of this game. There's math ones, casual ones, uber tourney ones, etc. If anything has shown me that this community is amazing its the April 1st joke that almost all the podcasts took part in. Look to the guys that are commenting on all this stuff, they're pretty on top of all the topics that hit this forum. I can't wait for the next ones that hit after the Hoth Open!

And like others have said: Welcome to an awesome game and fly casual

I've not listened to any of these yet. Which ones would you recommend for beginners?

I'm a big fan of Back to Dials, hometown and all, and they usually have a mix of tournament and beginner items. This one has a segment you may like (Christine's Corner):

http://www.backtodials.com/episode-7-let-the-games-begin/

There's also lots of good stuff outlined in this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/216227-x-wing-university/?hl=%2Bpodcast+%2Buniversity

And naturally, be sure to check out the pinned post:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/126226-index-of-useful-links/

GIven the vocal majority its sometimes hard to see things through the noise. Others have pointed out many responses, I just wanted to add this:

Listen to some podcasts. Those are far better on community than the boards, with good commentary on all aspects of this game. There's math ones, casual ones, uber tourney ones, etc. If anything has shown me that this community is amazing its the April 1st joke that almost all the podcasts took part in. Look to the guys that are commenting on all this stuff, they're pretty on top of all the topics that hit this forum. I can't wait for the next ones that hit after the Hoth Open!

And like others have said: Welcome to an awesome game and fly casual

I've not listened to any of these yet. Which ones would you recommend for beginners?

Kessel Run is pretty good and more on the casual side.

NOVA Squadron Radio isn't bad, but tends to get heavily competitive.

Scum and Villainy is great, very fun.

Stay on Target is local to me, so I like that one.

There's also Back to Dials and I'm sure many others that I'm forgetting.

A number of podcasts also have special guests and even regulars in the form of some of the top tournament players in the world, which is always awesome to hear.

In addition to all of those I've been enjoying Mynock Squadon, Brews with Brews and Hella Squadron aka Drunk Dials.

• Game balance is good.
• Official forum is, as for most games, very chicken little so take everything you read on here with a pinch of salt, and remember it's not necessarily representative of your local area.
• Designers aren't allowed to post on game forums for their games is a company-wide policy to protect their staff so you only hear from them in official materials and podcast interviews (but they're very willing to appear on those). They do read them though.
• FFG's design approach is to avoid errata wherever possible, so they usually fix imbalances and any older ships that are falling behind with upgrade cards in new releases.

Welcome to the game! I can't really chime in and say anything that hasn't been expressed above; aside from the random churl or bad behavior, overall I think these forums do fairly well. They're no where near the nightmare that some others have been (casts fearful glance back at the Blizzard Hearthstone forums Thunderdome).

Again, welcome to the game (it's great), and the forums; have you had a chance to play locally with others in your community? Therein lies the charm, playing in person with great people, having fun, laughing and shaking hands at the end of a game whether you got trounced or not.

So far I've only played a few games with my kids, the oldest of which is 12, so don't think I've had the full experience yet. It's been more about me teaching them and reinforcing my understanding of the game. However, about 30 min away from me, they play every Tuesday night though and closer to me they play monthly, so I will get that chance soon. I played MTG a lot in person and I love that aspect of it. I can't even play games like Hearthstone because games like that need to be face to face for me.

3) Again, unfortunately this is the Internet. There are people who like to behave like asses just because they're behind a screen. However, there are fewer of them than there are the nice, helpful folks. You'll find out who's who soon enough, and you can use an ignore feature to block out the idiots who aren't improving your time here. Additionally, I'd suggest using the subforums (Squad Lists, Rules Questions, etc.) at the top when applicable. Those tend to be far more friendly, as they're more focused, and the trolls seem to be much more active out here on the general forum.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

What was it if you don't mind me asking?

It's here. Maybe it's because it's a more involved post (time wise). Perhaps I should have listed all of the components of what I have, but my assumption was that most experienced players would have a good idea. One thing worth noting though is that this was my first thread and it took over 24hrs to get approved. Maybe it was too far down the page by then, but I'm not a fan of bumping threads.

• Game balance is good.
• Official forum is, as for most games, very chicken little so take everything you read on here with a pinch of salt, and remember it's not necessarily representative of your local area.
• Designers aren't allowed to post on game forums for their games is a company-wide policy to protect their staff so you only hear from them in official materials and podcast interviews (but they're very willing to appear on those). They do read them though.
• FFG's design approach is to avoid errata wherever possible, so they usually fix imbalances and any older ships that are falling behind with upgrade cards in new releases.

Interesting. I've not heard of staff not being able to post on their own forums. I appreciate you are saying it's for the designers of those games, but I'm assuming they don't post on each other's communities. Not sure what I think of that rule. I did notice the bit about upgrading older ships. I do wonder though if there will be a natural power creep to get people buying new expansions or if they are aiming for expansions that fit without anything being adjusted.

There comes a point in the lifetime of any online forum devoted to a game when it's best just to not go there at all if you're a new player. Too many entrenched ways of thinking, too many long-time personalities and rivalries, too many petty grudges. Instead of advice, you get recruiting speeches to one side of an argument or another. You're seen as the spark to fire up old debates. Or worse, a dumb noob who's taking time away from important things like drilling down into hypothetical minutiae that might happen once in a million games for something as silly as wanting a rule clarified. WoW reach that point pretty quickly, and while I don't think this forum is there yet, it's only a matter of time.

I think it's slightly absurd to judge a whole community based upon a few posts on an internet forum and three weeks experience. It's actually a little insulting.

My recommendation is to not obsess about the state of the community and to simply be the kind of player that you'd want to play with. Contribute in the way that you like to see contributions. The rest will work itself out.

I think it's slightly absurd to judge a whole community based upon a few posts on an internet forum and three weeks experience. It's actually a little insulting.

My recommendation is to not obsess about the state of the community and to simply be the kind of player that you'd want to play with. Contribute in the way that you like to see contributions. The rest will work itself out.

Why is it insulting? I think there is value in knowing a newcomers view of the forum. If the forum is discouraging to new players then they may not hang around long enough to get a different perspective that you insinuate they will have. The longer that I'm in this community, the more skewed my view would be, one way or another, so that's why I got my early view out there.

Who says I'm obsessed with the state of the community? Not sure how you came to that conclusion.

All in all, this is a good community, at least compared to most videogame forums I used to be a part of. We had a pretty good discussion about sexism a while back, and sure, while there were a few assholes, it's hardly a majority as it might be elsewhere. Just block the twatbags and move on, and the community will be a much nicer place.

3) Again, unfortunately this is the Internet. There are people who like to behave like asses just because they're behind a screen. However, there are fewer of them than there are the nice, helpful folks. You'll find out who's who soon enough, and you can use an ignore feature to block out the idiots who aren't improving your time here. Additionally, I'd suggest using the subforums (Squad Lists, Rules Questions, etc.) at the top when applicable. Those tend to be far more friendly, as they're more focused, and the trolls seem to be much more active out here on the general forum.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

Did you title your thread in the Squad List forum descriptively?

Vague thread titles in the Squad List forum seem to be the main reason why every thread gets 3-4 or less posts and dies immediately there.

Yeah, I tried asking for help in the Squad Lists forum, but unfortunately no-one replied to me. Maybe I was just unlucky though.

That's not hostility, that's just people not going in the Squad Lists forum much. It's not the most interesting place in the world.

I do wonder though if there will be a natural power creep to get people buying new expansions or if they are aiming for expansions that fit without anything being adjusted.

The current designers (who first worked on Rebel Aces and Wave 4 and I believe took over fully on Wave 5) spoke about this in one of the interviews. Essentially, the game wasn't balanced in Wave 1. Of those, the TIE fighter was by far and away the best ship. It's become the design benchmark: the aim when designing a new ship is to make it as good as the TIE fighter but not better. This means a new expansion is much more likely to undershoot than overshoot: you can power something up with new content but not down. In the history of the game, only one release of the 37 (two cores and 35 expansions) has ever been broken enough to warrant errata, and that was for distorting the game¹, the dominant archetype was instead the Fat Han squad that countered it.

The model isn't to encourage new sales by rendering older ships obsolete: to this day the best selling X-Wing expansion is the Millenium Falcon, a Wave 2 ship (the most recent wave is 8) and the early ships are still huge parts of the game. You see a lot of the new stuff because it's new rather than because it's overly powerful. Any ship that falls behind due to being mathematically weak on release or countered too strongly by a dominant archetype receives new content to bring it up to that TIE fighter standard.

The nature of the upgrade card system means that any new upgrade card that shares an icon can be fitted to any ship with that icon. This means that every expansion is effectively an expansion for almost every ship: a new Elite Pilot Talent can be put on almost every ship in the game (only the VCX, TIE punisher, K-wing and Lambda shuttle have no EPT pilots). Were a new Modification upgrade to be released now you could put it on twenty nine different ships.

This is a double-edged sword though, and the most complained about thing in X-Wing. Take Luke Skywalker, a Core Set X-wing pilot. He's got the EPT, Torpedo, Modification and Astromech slots. He's got, as of now, six choices of Torpedo (not including leaving the slot empty), seven choices of Modification² fourteen choices of Astromech and a whopping twenty-nine choices of EPT. With every expansion released these options grow.

However, with just the set he comes with, you have two choices of EPT (Determination and Marksmanship) and one choice of Astromech (R2-D2).

With such a large range of upgrade options available, the chances of the ones you want (or the ones the most popular metagame build asks for) being in the same pack are fairly low. FFG doesn't deliberately spread out the cards like this (or if they do not egregiously enough to be obvious) but they can't add new cards to old expansions. If you're the type to play tournaments (which means no card proxying) and the type to get your squads off the internet then you'll have a large shopping list of ships you won't use but that have cards you want very quickly.

_{1: To clarify, the TIE phantom was too powerful against lower pilot skill and could get to pilot skill 9 thanks to the timing of its cloak mechanic. This forced every other squadron to bring a counter to it until it was errated to change Cloak's timing window.}

_{2: Not including Stygium Particle Accelerator, Targeting Computer or Advanced SLAM, which he can legally equip but which do nothing on the X-wing.}