Wouldn't this help with balancing? Wouldn't this keep the meta fresh? Wouldn't this entice people to buy ships they don't have yet? Wouldn't this fund FFG and keep this game going?

Yes, some people may say they don't like having cards for ships they don't have. I don't buy into that. If you don't want something in the pack, don't buy it. How many people use every pilot card they get? Every upgrade card? How often have you bought an expansion for an upgrade card when you have no interest in the ships? You don't have to have use for everything you get in a card pack and when you do decide to buy those ships you'll already have some cards for them.

Please FFG. Don't restrict yourselves to ship expansions that only have cards use-able on those ships. Make the move to releasing periodic card-only expansions!

EDIT: I'm NOT suggesting card reprints, like getting Palpatine without buying the Raider. I'm talking about mainly new titles/pilots to balance the game.

there are enough card games out there.....

I imagine it'll happen when they run out of ships, so... a year after episode 9?

MEH...

I imagine it'll happen when they run out of ships, so... a year after episode 9?

Naaaa there are already enough ships in the new EU e.g X-Wing T85 or lots of ships in Rebels and lots more will come

Ever heared of Most Wanted? A Expansion where you need to buy a Slave and a H(a)wk? There youe have "cards"

IIRC FFG said it will never happen. Word on the street is that card only expansions would fall under a different kind of license.

Ever heared of Most Wanted? A Expansion where you need to buy a Slave and a H(a)wk? There youe have "cards"

What didnt you have them already?

I imagine it'll happen when they run out of ships, so... a year after episode 9?

Haha, right. They'll run out of ships when Disney stops making money from Star Wars. Expect Episode 10 to be announced the year before Ep. 9 is even out...

FFG's business model is to sell ships not cards. The price can be set higher, and no one complains that they have cards without ships. Besides, if they offer card only packs, how would they sell repaints? Also, Alex Davy flat said they won't do it.

I am both stunned and amazed that this topic hasn't come up before.

I am both stunned and amazed that this topic hasn't come up before.

^--- This made my morning. Had a very nice chortle.

Wouldn't this help with balancing? Wouldn't this keep the meta fresh? Wouldn't this entice people to buy ships they don't have yet? Wouldn't this fund FFG and keep this game going?

It'd be more expensive to release card only expansions. The main development cost in X-Wing is design.

The LCGs release a pack with twenty new cards every month: that's 240 cards a year not including the larger expansions. Does X-Wing even have that many unique upgrade cards right now?

Contrast that to how many cards X-Wing releases a year. Given X-Wing's nature as a miniatures game the design work is that much more demanding than for an LCG, hence they put more time into fewer new elements. To make more, they either have to spend less time and drop the quality or hire more designers and drop the profit margin. Either way, it's not a finanically sensible move and the best evidence for that is that they're not doing it.

How about a card only pack that contains all the non epic cards which come with epic ships.

The License is for a miniatures game. They are not really able to print cards as a standalone product.

Beyond financial reasons, this game avoids the "bad Christmas present" scenario where you receive a toy you can't play with because it was an expansion. At most you'd need to buy the core set.

I understand that FFG have said they won't do card only expansions, however what I would love to see is a release that simply corrects "errors" in the costs/elite slots of some of the early unique pilots. Future releases could have the amended versions in, so only existing players would need to purchase the new versions. They could additionally release those pilots as alt arts in tournament kits to further try to silence those who would inevitably complain about having to spend a couple of measly £s to bring their cards up to date through a once-only-ever-one-off expenditure.

I'm talking about pilots like:

Horton Salm - Give Elite slot

Ten Numb/Ibtisam/Tycho - Reduce cost 1 point so in line with Rebel Aces pricing

Arvel Crynyd - Give elite slot

Jan Ors - Reduce cost 2 points

Major Rhymer - Reduce cost 3 points

Kir Kanos - Give elite slot

If they did card only packs, what would they do with all the leftover Khiraxz and Starvipers?

by mingling the cards into ship packs they guarantee their ships sell, both because people want the ship and because people want the cards.

This has come up before and i will make the same analogy: Magic. Magic makes money by blindly selling you cards, you have no idea whats in the boosters or even CAPABLE of being in there without buying it first and in droves. We know exactly what were getting, so paying a bit extra for the cards and a ship we probably dont want anymore for more cards we know are in there is very well worth it.

i know some magic people that dump 90% of their spending money into boosters and they rarely get cards they like. I spend 15-30 bucks on an expansion and always go "ooo more of these..."

The License is for a miniatures game. They are not really able to print cards as a standalone product.

Considering that the dice app applies to all their Star Wars games, I think they have some room to mix their licenses up a bit. This is pretty much a business decision.

I am both stunned and amazed that this topic hasn't come up before.

I... never even heard of it!

I think they are here to sell product. I’m relatively happy with the expansion. I do hope the Rebel Vet’s comes with Ywing and a Z95 though. Certainly some area in that spot for expansion.

The License is for a miniatures game. They are not really able to print cards as a standalone product.

Considering that the dice app applies to all their Star Wars games, I think they have some room to mix their licenses up a bit. This is pretty much a business decision.

Ever decision a business makes is a business decision. The reason for the decision is the licensing would make it hard to support long term if they lost one of the licenses they had and in fact they may not even have a lisc that allows this now. Even if they had the lisc I would agree that this is just a bad decision because it would make the product more complicated than it already is for almost no gain.

Come on, you can ask the question, but everyone should know the answer. Why would they sell you a $5 set of cards when they can sell you a $15-99 box of ships that comes with cards. I mean how many people who play competitively bought this just for the freaking TIE/x1 card plus some more pilots? http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-X-Wing-Imperial-Expansion/dp/1616619678 That's exactly why I just play this game among friends and we all proxy.

tl;dr

The License is for a miniatures game. They are not really able to print cards as a standalone product.

Considering that the dice app applies to all their Star Wars games, I think they have some room to mix their licenses up a bit. This is pretty much a business decision.

If they wanted to print more money for the house of mouse, they would do it... they don't seem interested in making money this way for whatever reason. I really doubt licensing is the issue.