Here here. As a UK ametuer i found it great! REally eye opening. I feel as long as it is based in the US it will never be a truly 'World Championship' The costs to fly to the US and stay are pretty hefty and im sure many hundred more would enter if they had the capital to do so. Why not rotate the location year on year? Give more people a shot?

Surely though this year provided such varied lists and nationalitites, it makes it good for a game that has such a rich community. Ive been hearing so many petty rumblings that really lower the tone which is not what i want to see. Well done everyone and fly casual!

Here here. As a UK ametuer i found it great! REally eye opening. I feel as long as it is based in the US it will never be a truly 'World Championship' The costs to fly to the US and stay are pretty hefty and im sure many hundred more would enter if they had the capital to do so. Why not rotate the location year on year? Give more people a shot?

Surely though this year provided such varied lists and nationalitites, it makes it good for a game that has such a rich community. Ive been hearing so many petty rumblings that really lower the tone which is not what i want to see. Well done everyone and fly casual!

There is no place where the travel costs won't be hefty.

Does anybody have a link to the system open finals

It wasn't recorded due to issues with the venue. Nor was there much fanfare, despite the hype around the event. Did you just want the results?

I thought the issue was with Disney for some reason? Anyway, I'd love to watch them too. As for fanfare, that was a glaring flaw within the SoS concept from the very beginning. We basically had a second (or technically the first) round of Nationals that were massive events attracting crowds of players. And then we had a closed tournament for 8 guys. And we couldn't even watch it live. How come anyone ever thought that was a good idea?

I don't think World's will every be hosted anywhere other than Minnesota, as long as it is still FFG's headquarters location. That is kinda the whole point of the tournament I think. It is FFG World's, not just X Wing Worlds.

Does anybody have a link to the system open finals

It wasn't recorded due to issues with the venue. Nor was there much fanfare, despite the hype around the event. Did you just want the results?

I thought the issue was with Disney for some reason? Anyway, I'd love to watch them too. As for fanfare, that was a glaring flaw within the SoS concept from the very beginning. We basically had a second (or technically the first) round of Nationals that were massive events attracting crowds of players. And then we had a closed tournament for 8 guys. And we couldn't even watch it live. How come anyone ever thought that was a good idea?

On the plus side, the System Opens themselves were massively successful. All of them drew big crowds, with loads of people traveling all over Europe to play, so they achieved that goal. It really was a shame more wasn't made of the final, as it would have been a unique chance to showcase great players from all over the place. all 8 of us who went had such a great time, and we were pretty upset that there was so little official support or recognition. i do believe lessons were learned though.

There is no place where the travel costs won't be hefty.

It's less of a burden on citizens of richer nations: jet fuel is the main cost. Accommodation can be arranged via alternative means if you have to. In addition you can rotate the hosting country to balance it all out. A lot of international gaming events (like WTC for Warmachine) have the same problem to the extent that the US teams had to crowd-source their travel costs. If US citizens are having trouble, you can can bet SE Asia and South America are having it worse.

Hard to complain that Africa and Asia were not there if X-wing (or perhaps tabletop games in general) is not popular there. No disrespect to players from those regions of course.

Currency and travel time does make it hard to attend an event like this. But as the OP mentioned the coverage was great. Following the posts, analysing lists and joining in the conversations was a great experience even if it did keep me up way too late and make work hard to pay attention to.

Here here. As a UK ametuer i found it great! REally eye opening. I feel as long as it is based in the US it will never be a truly 'World Championship' The costs to fly to the US and stay are pretty hefty and im sure many hundred more would enter if they had the capital to do so. Why not rotate the location year on year? Give more people a shot?

Surely though this year provided such varied lists and nationalitites, it makes it good for a game that has such a rich community. Ive been hearing so many petty rumblings that really lower the tone which is not what i want to see. Well done everyone and fly casual!

There is no place where the travel costs won't be hefty.

Agreed, but would spread it about so more people could travel year on year. If it was in the UK persay the lack of atlantic participants lets say could be made up from Europe? International flights are expensive, but generally within europe there are many budget airlines. just a thought.

I'm not denigrating it. I'm asking for accuracy in posting. A top 16 made up of people from either the United States or Western Europe is not - repeat - not "the World".

Well, it is to be expected to some point. Cricket, for example, is mostly played in former UK colonies. I have yet to hear of meaningful baseball outside the US.

It's massive in Japan.

And a lot of the Caribbean.

And South Korea.

However, one needs only to look at the little league World Series to know that baseball is definitely a worldwide affair.

I think we had as close to a true world championship as you can have for a board game. South America was indeed represented, Andre Ripoll aka Ripamaster, from Brazil, qualified for the second day with his Kenkirk Soontir build. Also, FFG livestreamed a game between Dawei Chua, of Singapore, and "the Kid". I think there was a player from Kuwait as well, flying a 7 TIE Swarm.

I am currently living in China, and I must say that Asia has very few organized play opportunities. Plus, it is a super expensive (and exhausting) trip from China to Minnesota. I think with all of those things considered, it is pretty safe to say that this was, indeed, a true world championship.

Was very happy to see Dawei Chua being screened twice! Dawei is the first runner up in Malaysian Nationals 2016. The Malaysian champion couldn't even get a ticket or a spot in Worlds, as there is no official FFG support in this part of the world.

If there were more FFG support in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries, you'll see more players from this side of the world.

I'm not denigrating it. I'm asking for accuracy in posting. A top 16 made up of people from either the United States or Western Europe is not - repeat - not "the World".

Well, it is to be expected to some point. Cricket, for example, is mostly played in former UK colonies. I have yet to hear of meaningful baseball outside the US.

It's massive in Japan.

And a lot of the Caribbean.

And South Korea.

However, one needs only to look at the little league World Series to know that baseball is definitely a worldwide affair.

Well, I have to concede that as a European I wouldn't have made any effort to hear about baseball Nice to hear that i is not just a US-only affair, though.

I'm not denigrating it. I'm asking for accuracy in posting. A top 16 made up of people from either the United States or Western Europe is not - repeat - not "the World".

Well, it is to be expected to some point. Cricket, for example, is mostly played in former UK colonies. I have yet to hear of meaningful baseball outside the US.

It's massive in Japan.

And a lot of the Caribbean.

And South Korea.

However, one needs only to look at the little league World Series to know that baseball is definitely a worldwide affair.

Well, I have to concede that as a European I wouldn't have made any effort to hear about baseball Nice to hear that i is not just a US-only affair, though.

Play more Japanese video games to up your exposure to baseball :-) No rule says a European must only know about certain things.

I'd say traveling on a whole is the largest issue with getting more nationalities represented. Getting to America from Europe is already exhausting and not cheap, it only gets worse for countries with less infrastructure or those who have to travel across half the world.

Does FFG pay for national winners to travel to worlds?

No

I'm the Belgian National organizer and we organized it on your own money (It cost about 1000€ from my shop partner)

The National Kit from FFG is expansive and there is missing pieces

Only countries with an editor/translater pay the ticket to the world (In Europe: France, Spain, Germany, I think)

I'm not denigrating it. I'm asking for accuracy in posting. A top 16 made up of people from either the United States or Western Europe is not - repeat - not "the World".

Well, it is to be expected to some point. Cricket, for example, is mostly played in former UK colonies. I have yet to hear of meaningful baseball outside the US.

It's massive in Japan.

And a lot of the Caribbean.

And South Korea.

However, one needs only to look at the little league World Series to know that baseball is definitely a worldwide affair.

Well, I have to concede that as a European I wouldn't have made any effort to hear about baseball Nice to hear that i is not just a US-only affair, though.

Play more Japanese video games to up your exposure to baseball :-) No rule says a European must only know about certain things.

Okay, Wii Sports did have baseball, true...I thought that was done mostly to appeal to the US-audience, interesting information!

I don't care about sports in general, I just know whats being shoved in my face (so football, basicaly).

I'd say traveling on a whole is the largest issue with getting more nationalities represented. Getting to America from Europe is already exhausting and not cheap, it only gets worse for countries with less infrastructure or those who have to travel across half the world.

Does FFG pay for national winners to travel to worlds?

No

I'm the Belgian National organizer and we organized it on your own money (It cost about 1000€ from my shop partner)

The National Kit from FFG is expansive and there is missing pieces

Only countries with an editor/translater pay the ticket to the world (In Europe: France, Spain, Germany, I think)

Also, unlike German Championships, Polish Championships are in Open formula, so please feel free to join us next year during the tournament. You are welcomed. Especially that fly ticket to Poland is 50-100 EUR form almost every corner of Europe.

I'm not denigrating it. I'm asking for accuracy in posting. A top 16 made up of people from either the United States or Western Europe is not - repeat - not "the World".

Well, it is to be expected to some point. Cricket, for example, is mostly played in former UK colonies. I have yet to hear of meaningful baseball outside the US.

It's massive in Japan.

And a lot of the Caribbean.

Huge in Korea.