On the Ghost and the named pilots, obviously I can only speak for myself and not the rest of the cast but I have found it extremely difficult to build a list with a Ghost that I was happy with where the ghost was anything other than a Lothral Rebel.

Chopper has been pushed aside as I was always a point or two over when I was making my list and he did not work well with the TLT, had I been wanting to run a Dorsal Turret or Autoblaster Turret then I expect I could have moved stuff around, but I would have still not had the points for Engine so would likely have gone back down to the Rebel and taken EU instead.

Kanan I found too much of a gimmick when you build him to do his one thing with Biggs. First time I saw it on the table it gave me some problems and I think I lost (this was the game I may have touched on where I saw Hera shuttle docked to the ghost) as it was Latts vs Hera in the endgame an Hera had suffered the Ghost explosion damage. Had 3 good shots at her that only got Her to 1 hull remaining but then she got behind the YV. So I put that more on the attack shuttle than Kanan/Biggs.

When I flew against it in an event I just controlled my approach better so that I could take my shots at Biggs and be outside of range 1-2 of Kanan and not obstructed. Once Biggs is gone auto hits still take down Kanan he just gets maybe an extra turn.

For Hera I still stand by the fact that her biggest weakness is that she can't take Hera Crew, and that is why I currently don't like her as outside of Wingman shenanigans I lose to much of the dial.

Kris

Although I will say that I think the Lothal Rebel is the winner of this set of pilots, I believe there are some highly creative people out there hiding in their man-caves and laughing to themselves about the evil lists they plan on surprising people with at regionals.

I was browsing Team Covenant blog the other day and this Ghost build caught my eye by Red42, who said he was inspired by Brad Miller posting it somewhere. (You can read the whole tournament write up HERE.)

Chopper (51)
Fire Control System + Autoblaster Turret + Proton Torpedo + Extra Munitions + Hera Syndulla + Ezra Bridger + Guidance Chips

Miranda Doni (49)
Twin Laser Turret + Sabine Wren + Proximity Mines + Proton Bombs + Extra Munitions + Advanced Slam

When talking about him about the list, he made a comment that I think is crucial. While the aces run around drastically trying to avoid range 1 of Chopper (both for ABT and the threat of bumping), Miranda sneaks in and drops a Sabine-boosted bomb that kills or almost kills an ace. So in this list, the Ghost plays the role of GIANT DISTRACTION.

I'm not saying this will win Worlds, but I think it's a good taste of what is still being created out there. Although we can't expect every pilot to get some special attention from Aaron Bonar (which of course we would all secretly love ), I do think his use of Tactician + TLT on the Warden Squadron Pilot should give us the inspiration we need to keep looking.

I appreciate the show, and always listen to it, but I'd like to give some hopefully constructive criticism. Because I do like the show and would like it to get even better.

If it weren't for the show notes, I probably wouldn't listen to the podcast. Those time stamps allow me to jump passed all the stuff I don't care about and listen to the stuff I do. The episodes (not just this one) are just too long for me to listen to everything, but I do listen to part of every single episode. I more often than not skip the flight deck, and I generally skip the news about community events (I track that other ways). I like the individual ship/upgrade discussions and never skip those.

The time between episodes is pretty long and the episodes themselves are lengthy. I think it's worth exploring more frequent episodes that are more topic focused. Trying to cover _everything_ X-Wing in each episode is too much, in my opinion. A couple gaming podcasts that do topic-focused episodes that I really enjoy are Limited Resources (Magic) and Terminal 7 (Netrunner).

Also I know Paul is obviously a great X-Wing player, but I was a big disappointed how unwilling the cast was to give critical commentary when he was asking for feedback. All of that potential discussion was basically met with "gee, shucks, you probably know best Paul". No one was willing to talk through imperial or scum lists with him? Maybe everyone was just tired at that point (shorter episodes have advantages!) but it seemed like there was a missed opportunity for good discussion.

In my opinion the show is at its weakest when someone is monologuing. Ed does a good idea of trying to interject here and there, but you wouldn't think there was a large cast of other co-hosts by the way some of these go. I actually think having so many people on the line may be making it worse here. Maybe they're worried about talking over each other, maybe they're checked out and reading facebook while they wait for the next topic. I don't know. But if any one person is talking for more than a minute without another human interacting with them it's probably not coming off as conversational for us listeners. And if some of the hosts aren't really finding the need to interject maybe they should drop from the show (sorry). I always find it more interesting to listen to fewer but more engaged voices.

This is part of why I like the ship/upgrade analysis. Everyone weighs in, the discussion bounces a lot between different people, and that all keeps things interesting.

As I said above, I do like the show. I know putting on these things is a lot of work. Thank you for doing it. There are some aspects about the show that at times frustrate me and I figure you'd rather hear about them than not. Keep up the good work!

Out of curiosity, is a TO actually allowed to allocate the Regional bye from winning a Store Championship the way that is described by Paul in this episode (the person who it would go to isn't able to make a Regional, so it went to Paul instead)?

If so, I totally should have had one too.

Out of curiosity, is a TO actually allowed to allocate the Regional bye from winning a Store Championship the way that is described by Paul in this episode (the person who it would go to isn't able to make a Regional, so it went to Paul instead)?

If so, I totally should have had one too.

My understanding is that the bye goes to the highest ranked player after all elimination rounds, who does not already have a bye.

In my opinion the show is at its weakest when someone is monologuing. Ed does a good idea of trying to interject here and there, but you wouldn't think there was a large cast of other co-hosts by the way some of these go. I actually think having so many people on the line may be making it worse here. Maybe they're worried about talking over each other, maybe they're checked out and reading facebook while they wait for the next topic. I don't know. But if any one person is talking for more than a minute without another human interacting with them it's probably not coming off as conversational for us listeners. And if some of the hosts aren't really finding the need to interject maybe they should drop from the show (sorry). I always find it more interesting to listen to fewer but more engaged voices.

I think Ed just needs to have the confidence to be more aggressive with the editing and hosting. Sometimes there will literally be half an hour of one person talking until they run out of steam, Ed will conclude with "Oh, yeah, that's a good point there", nobody else will make a sound, and then on to the next topic. It can feel a little disjointed when nobody gets involved, so perhaps those sections are worth snipping down a little.

I know I typed about this after the last show but it is worth saying again.

We are going through some changes in how we structure the show that we discussed behind the scenes, a lot of the issues that are being bought up are ones that we recognized ourselves and are (hopefully) already in the process of improving.

I would advise that people give us a couple of shows and then try listening with "new ears" and seeing if you like the changes.

Keep the feedback coming thought, as we do listen and as hopefully as is evident form the flight deck of this show, we are open to change,

Kris

I know I typed about this after the last show but it is worth saying again.

We are going through some changes in how we structure the show that we discussed behind the scenes, a lot of the issues that are being bought up are ones that we recognized ourselves and are (hopefully) already in the process of improving.

I would advise that people give us a couple of shows and then try listening with "new ears" and seeing if you like the changes.

Keep the feedback coming thought, as we do listen and as hopefully as is evident form the flight deck of this show, we are open to change,

Kris

Apparently some people like length. but a really large number of us hate length and learn visually or faster than the talk speed of a host. reducing time is very very useful.

Hell, if there was a transcription, I'd read that, but I rarely want to have the time to sit through a 2 hour talk.

Out of curiosity, is a TO actually allowed to allocate the Regional bye from winning a Store Championship the way that is described by Paul in this episode (the person who it would go to isn't able to make a Regional, so it went to Paul instead)?

If so, I totally should have had one too.

My understanding is that the bye goes to the highest ranked player after all elimination rounds, who does not already have a bye.

That's always been my understanding. The question being if the top player isn't going to go to a regional, can it be passed on to the next eligible person (as was the case here). Personally I don't really have a problem with it, but I'm not sure if it's something that's been directly addressed one way or the other.

Regarding the long shows: I actually like the times you guys can break down a match turn by turn and give your reasoning for what you did. Yes, it takes forever, but that's what fast-forward is for if you don't like it.

I will say, with respect, that Sean (Shawn? Shaun? your "resident TO") has a habit of repeating himself and kind of talking in circles.

[...]

I'd hit the 30 second skip button, and he's start saying the same exact thing he said before.

[...]

Man, I hope that doesn't come off as me being a jerk--I'm just trying to give a little constructive criticism here.

Yes, very much this. Sean (or alternate spelling as above ), we love you, man, but ****. In fact, many of the hosts are guilty of this from time to time. I've often thought that this show would be under 2 hours if ever a point could be made and then moved on from.

And I too very much hope I'm not coming across as a jerk. NOVA is by far one of the best-produced gaming podcasts around, and I super appreciate all of your guys' hard work. I think ya just need more direction/focus, or even editing.

Again, I hope that's taken constructively. Thanks for all you guys do!

Josh

I agree. I talk in circles. It is something I will work on. Call it age or fatigue. Thanks for the honest feedback.

By the way it is Sean

By the way it is Sean

I don't know if it was said in jest or not but I think kris said a "TO Corner" segment was on its way. If so then a focused 10 minutes (or however long)) on a given subject pertaining to the world of TO'ing would be great.

For those with an interest in the subject then a structured framework for presenting it might be useful for both the listener and you guys and equally for folks who couldn't care less then would be a fixed time to skip and make their lives easier.

On a related note have you Nova folks ever run a poll/market research on what us listeners like or dislike about the show?

Obviously you get a ton of feedback on this forum and probably on the Facebook grp, but some sort of poll might be illuminating.