What would be nice is if FFG would collaborate with some podcasts / groups that would be willing to come in with the sole purpose of covering the event. They could give these groups free entry to the event and give them all access to players / designers for interviews in between rounds, etc.. Then have an event page for each game that would have links to each website / live stream that is covering the event so people don't need to search for it.

FFG is improving but they still have a ways to go.

FFG has to negotiate that with LFL and Disney.

Its way more complicated than everyone seems to think.

I am somewhat familiar with the process. They have to get approval for stuff in print if they are doing it but they should be able to provide links to 3rd party websites covering the event.

Also, its not like they don't have 6 months to work it out with LFL for worlds in May.

Sure there's 6 months, but that's if they are willing to go for it (Dis/LFL)

Everything involved is potentially at risk. FFG is more than likely fine doing it all themself. They have a very exclusive and lucrative license. Why risk it? They literally have nothing to lose staying the corse and everything to lose opening live broadcasts to 3rd parties.

That is definitely true, LFL and Disney would have to be contacted and approve etc. But there is also the idea that FFG could just make multiple Twitches and stream multiple games. One employee, one guest announcer from the podcast community. doesn't quite solve the space problem of course but its an idea. That should allow two/3 streams which is how many events they have going on in any given day. Twitter is great for updating people on the games in progress, but not everyone has it or knows they are doing it. Next year they should make an article that just lets people know where they can follow the events.

Just wait 'til May... when FFG can give X-wing more time and fanfare it deserves at Worlds.

They have so much on their plate this year- very hard to spotlight ANY one game.

My issue with the coverage is mainly with the overlays, honestly. Not having the full upgrade list is one thing - and somewhat understandable in terms of preserving screen space - but not having the shield/hull totals is kind of like watching an NFL game without a scoreboard and guessing the score based on the mood of the players. I really don't understand why that decision was made. It made the viewing very difficult to follow if you weren't just sitting glued to the screen for the entire game.

It seems like they used the same overlays for all games, and merely swapped the logo between them. It honestly made the various YouTube X-wing channels look like ESPN by comparison. I'd have settled for a simple X/X total beside the name of the ship, if they really couldn't dedicate any space/resources to an overlay, but really that should have been the absolute low limit of what they were doing.

Seriously; the overlays made it really hard to actually understand what was going on in many matches, especially when there are multiple copies of the same ship on the board.

Thinking back to some streams I've seen for instance, the best ones have hull/shields, upgrades, and ship numbers that the stream operators move around to track which ships are which.

I was pretty disappointed with FFG's overlays, they were just not up to snuff.

I can understand there possibly being a logistics issue (I wasn't there, but I assume the stream operator's desk wasn't exactly directly beside either the game table or the announcer desk), but it shouldn't be that hard to keep enough of a track on the game state to be able to update it on the screen. At least to check the table state during planning phases and update then, if not real time.

I can somewhat forgive them not putting up all of the upgrades, but the shields/hull is tantamount to the score. I tuned in late to the Top 8 games, seeing two Protectorates closing in on Miranda. I thought "this is bad news for Miranda, for sure, but I wonder why he didn't boost in Fenn". I knew nothing of both of them being on 1 hull, and Fenn at PS0. Without that information, the game is incomplete from a viewer's perspective.

The biggest issue is saw was the overlays I would of loved to see the upgrages shield hull ect. On the screen also some kind of marker for themes there are multiple of the same ship on the table to make the game easier to follow

I am also not really satisfied with this.

The quality could have been better with lists displayed and ideally shield and Hull markers. The few overlays they had were also faulty at times (Especially Canan Jarrus in his UCX-100 was a bit hilarious)

The casters sometimes were not at the height of the game, got rules wrong and didn't do enough to keep viewers informed.

The quantity was lacking. More streams, more tables simultaneously. At least one stream for X-Wing and one for other games would have been a must. It's the main event and should be treated as such! Nothing against other games...

Personally, I loved the stream. I listened to it while I was working outside the last two days.

It was disappointing that there was no official FFG place to see the current running standings. I hope in the future they change that.

Personally, I loved the stream. I listened to it while I was working outside the last two days.

It was disappointing that there was no official FFG place to see the current running standings. I hope in the future they change that.

Simple...hire out the Team Covenant guys who aren't playing that weekend, their videos are always top notch. And replace Chris. I like the guy, he's enthusiastic, but his knowledge is sub par at best.

The Team Covenant videos typically take weeks and even months to get out, don't they?

I realize that there are podcasters that love this game and do a great job running live streams, but you guys have some very high standards for a company that is really just getting free advertisement from you watching and nothing else. They don't have a full time film crew or anything and this is really the one time a year they actually do streaming. I'm not saying it couldn't be improved but I think a lot of people think FFG is much bigger than it really is.

The Team Covenant videos typically take weeks and even months to get out, don't they?

I realize that there are podcasters that love this game and do a great job running live streams, but you guys have some very high standards for a company that is really just getting free advertisement from you watching and nothing else. They don't have a full time film crew or anything and this is really the one time a year they actually do streaming. I'm not saying it couldn't be improved but I think a lot of people think FFG is much bigger than it really is.

I don't think Team Covenant-level is required though. For example, FirstEarth did the Yavin Open stream for the UK - completely voluntary, etc: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCndKEKhQjn88LapD1BRhdAg

Compared to FFG, this looks professional. There are lots of other X wing streams that are US-based and I'm sure they'd be happy as anything to help with the X wing streams, with overlays etc. Even if we don't get any more coverage, we can at least get good coverage for what we do see.

I don't think its too much to ask that X wing (I think its one of the biggest if not the biggest miniatures game in the world) has good coverage when there are sooo many people who would be happy to help for free.

Yeah...

I don't know. Considering X-Wing is one of their best-selling products, if not the best-seller, I find they could have done a bit more. And for sure they could have supported the podcasters more. Which leaves me to question: are the FFG-employees a bit sick of X-Wing? Or what is the deal here? Why is there not the usual excellent coverage/enthusiasm?

Or, perhaps, did I miss a stream link?

EDIT: stupid title-typo. Pls disregard that.

Btw: I'm REALLY not trying to be disrespectful. FFG are awesome, and all that. I'm just trying to point out something I find lacking.

I am not sure what standards you are referring too? I thought coverage was excellent and at least on par with everything else they have done.

Yeah...

I don't know. Considering X-Wing is one of their best-selling products, if not the best-seller, I find they could have done a bit more. And for sure they could have supported the podcasters more. Which leaves me to question: are the FFG-employees a bit sick of X-Wing? Or what is the deal here? Why is there not the usual excellent coverage/enthusiasm?

Or, perhaps, did I miss a stream link?

EDIT: stupid title-typo. Pls disregard that.

Btw: I'm REALLY not trying to be disrespectful. FFG are awesome, and all that. I'm just trying to point out something I find lacking.

I am not sure what standards you are referring too? I thought coverage was excellent and at least on par with everything else they have done.

I would suggest you look at some of the streamers like Sentrybox, Stele enterprises or the ones out of europe (there is a really good british guy who lives in spain and I am blanking). They have the list, shields remaining, hull remaining, and expert commentary I think one or two may even be able to put tokens up for use as well. There is a ton you can do with overlays nowadays.

Examples

Stele with whole list

Sentry Box with full list and remaining hull/ shields

(also, silly Canadians celebrating thanksgiving all wrong and stuff)

Yeah...

I don't know. Considering X-Wing is one of their best-selling products, if not the best-seller, I find they could have done a bit more. And for sure they could have supported the podcasters more. Which leaves me to question: are the FFG-employees a bit sick of X-Wing? Or what is the deal here? Why is there not the usual excellent coverage/enthusiasm?

Or, perhaps, did I miss a stream link?

EDIT: stupid title-typo. Pls disregard that.

Btw: I'm REALLY not trying to be disrespectful. FFG are awesome, and all that. I'm just trying to point out something I find lacking.

I am not sure what standards you are referring too? I thought coverage was excellent and at least on par with everything else they have done.

I would suggest you look at some of the streamers like Sentrybox, Stele enterprises or the ones out of europe (there is a really good british guy who lives in spain and I am blanking). They have the list, shields remaining, hull remaining, and expert commentary I think one or two may even be able to put tokens up for use as well. There is a ton you can do with overlays nowadays.

Examples

Stele with whole list

Sentry Box with full list and remaining hull/ shields

(also, silly Canadians celebrating thanksgiving all wrong and stuff)

I am well aware of the other channels overlays, but the complaint of the title post says usual 'FFG standard'. I dont remember FFG ever streaming any fancy overlays so I more confused about the OP statement. The NOVA open for example is not FFG run.

It doesn't take a whole to to set this up, either. I can (and have) done it with Xsplit streamed live from events. I've even done it with a roller derby event, so it's not like it's even an issue with multiple cameras.

I think the argument is more that FFG have built up a reputation for being very slick in their production of big events, promotion materials, marketing, advertising, and products, where the stream felt somewhat tacked on. An afterthought rather than a planned component of the event. It may not have been that way, but it did feel that way.

However, I have to give some serious respect to Alex Davy. Being on the mic for as long as he was is hard work (I assure you, I know only too well...), and he kept it entertaining and professional throughout, even across multiple rounds of multiple games. From the start of the Armada stream until the end of the X-wing coverage, he was ever present.

I've watched the live stream coverage from worlds the past 3 years and I would say it has become incrementally better over the years, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. I've worked in live television production for 14 years and could give you a hundred different reasons why it's difficult to put on a top notch production for this type of event. It's similar in a lot of ways to the Oylmpics but in microcosm, multiple events happening at the same time with multiple disciplines that require different commentators who are all experts in the particular event they are covering. So lets be understanding of the fact that FFG is not a live production company, and that replicating the kinds of overlays one competent editor can create for a post produced video on Youtube in real time is considerably more work and man power intensive. No slight to the FFG employees that put the stream together because I think they do a good job considering the circumstances, but they don't have the expertise for this type of production. The optimal way to do this would be to hire a production company to do the event, but that would be incredibly expensive and until Worlds garners enough viewership to pay for production costs I doubt FFG will invest in that. Not to say they couldn't open things up to the podcasters and other live streamers to increase the scope of coverage, which did happen to some degree this year. There are a number of other DIY steps they could take as well, maybe bring in an outside consultant to improve what they do with what they have.

I really don't think the Disney approval thing is that big a deal, if they really needed all that Youtubers and live streamers would be getting copyright take downs all the time. Plus they would not have let those other live streams pop up or promote the fact that unaffiliated 3rd party groups would be posting videos in the coming weeks like they did at the end of the stream last night. Frankly I think they encourage all the content created by the players and fans, it probably helps their case for keeping the license with Disney. It proves that they are making popular products that market directly to the core Star Wars fan base.

Anyways, my two cents.

I first want to give props to FFG. However I can see some additional actions that would help them increase fan based loyalty.

1) Recognize that sharing what us going on at a worlds tournament is not going to stop the desire to be there. We all can't come but we love to know what is going on. I think this would be even better fit the non-North American players.

2) There are options for labor, skilled labor. Volunteers. Podcast and TO crews. Even done would help just to be there but a unique alt cards would be nice.

3) Post tournament results and lists online. Nothing fancy but up to date statuses. Who is playing who, What are there lists, who won, and who makes cuts etc.

4) Increase streamed games and improve overlays. The Shields and Hull would be phenomenal.

I would have been mostly kept in the dark if not for Gold Squadron. Loved talking with them at GenCon and loved their live stream.

With the Podcast Alliance, there must be a low cost solution to improve the fan participation and quality for those who can not attend. It's Worlds after all.

Perhaps a petition would work?

I have many more ideas and comments but typing on a phone sucks.

Ffg supplied us a power cord and some duct tape.

The wifi password would have been nice as well

I was saying elsewhere, it's possible FFG might have been well-intentioned, but may have had security issues with allowing people onto their corporate network.

I greatly appreciate that FFG took the time to do a live stream for us viewers, and absolutely understand that they had multiple other games going on that required coverage. That being said...

The commentators weren't great. The non-Alex guy (was it Chris?) frequently displayed a lack of basic knowledge regarding X-wing, and I can't even count the number of face-palms I did while watching the stream due to his comments. There are a number of individuals in the X-wing community who have shown that they can do great commentaries for X-wing games, surely you could convince one of them to co-host the stream. The commentary on the FFG stream also seemed like it was oriented towards new players or convincing someone to pickup up the game. I would hazard to guess that the majority of people viewing the finals did not fit that profile.

Also, huge props to gold squadron for the awesome job covering the event. Their stream and commentary were spot on.

I was saying elsewhere, it's possible FFG might have been well-intentioned, but may have had security issues with allowing people onto their corporate network.

Small point, it was their corporate guest network, not corporate network. Usually corp guest networks are supposed to be able to handle random guest laptops and cell phones.

Also, huge props to gold squadron for the awesome job covering the event. Their stream and commentary were spot on.

Thanks! Ryan from the Mynock Squadron podcast -- who is a professional video guy -- was telling me after the event that, should FFG grant the podcast alliance a press pass or something similar for Worlds 2017, we could rig up something pretty awesome. Between Dion's audio skills, Ryan's video skills, and S&V's commentary skills, I'm pretty confident we could whip up something pretty awesome.

Not sure how they could be convinced to do that though :-(

Perhaps a petition would work?

A petition might do the trick!

It doesn't take a whole to to set this up, either. I can (and have) done it with Xsplit streamed live from events. I've even done it with a roller derby event, so it's not like it's even an issue with multiple cameras.

I think the argument is more that FFG have built up a reputation for being very slick in their production of big events, promotion materials, marketing, advertising, and products, where the stream felt somewhat tacked on. An afterthought rather than a planned component of the event. It may not have been that way, but it did feel that way.

However, I have to give some serious respect to Alex Davy. Being on the mic for as long as he was is hard work (I assure you, I know only too well...), and he kept it entertaining and professional throughout, even across multiple rounds of multiple games. From the start of the Armada stream until the end of the X-wing coverage, he was ever present.

He also did awesome for Netrunner on Friday. The man is passionate about gaming. I was kind of disappointed that Damon didn't team up with Alex again for X-wing. I would've loved to hear his thoughts. Plus, he has a very good broadcast voice. So smooth.

The final match of X-Wing Miniatures was very bad. Someone told me that this is what happens when the players gets exhausted after playing more than 10 hours. I think Fantasy Flight Games needs to change some stuff and not make those tourneys so much tiresome mentally and physically. Gotta have few matches per day and the finals should each be played in a different day. Then all players would be at their 100% and we would watch better quality matches.