Hello everyone! First off, I've only recently started playing the game an I'm having a blast so far.

However, I was wondering what FFG's approach to balancing the game is. Since there is a lot of rules text on physical media we're getting with the products, how do they fix something that turns out to be way too strong? Has there ever been a case of numbers getting changed on the cards or maneuvers getting canceled retroactively for specific ships? I imagine it would be near impossible for FFG to send out replacement cards with updated rules for the whole userbase, so does everyone just make a note on their cards in these cases?

The obvious answer would be to always release increasingly stronger expansions, in order to negate imbalances of previous waves, but the resulting power creep would bring a whole lot of new issues to the table.

So how does FFG handle this?

It's called an extensive FAQ. If you haven't see it yet, here is a link:

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/2d/cd/2dcd4176-46df-434b-9361-7b490d89ada3/x-wing_faq_v423_high_res.pdf

To answer your specific examples, no. FFG has never altered a maneuver dial or the price of a pilot or upgrade. In general, FFG prefers to release upgrades to existing ships that underperformed in future expansions- It's important to point out the game had a lot of imbalances upon release- The Tie Fighter was notably better the X-wing, which was in turn much stronger than the Tie Advanced, while the Y-wing was severely limited in role due to the innefectiveness of torpedoes. So while there has been power creep, a lot of the fixes have been targeted at trying to bring old ships up to the level of the original Tie Fighter.

Hello everyone! First off, I've only recently started playing the game an I'm having a blast so far.

However, I was wondering what FFG's approach to balancing the game is. Since there is a lot of rules text on physical media we're getting with the products, how do they fix something that turns out to be way too strong? Has there ever been a case of numbers getting changed on the cards or maneuvers getting canceled retroactively for specific ships? I imagine it would be near impossible for FFG to send out replacement cards with updated rules for the whole userbase, so does everyone just make a note on their cards in these cases?

The obvious answer would be to always release increasingly stronger expansions, in order to negate imbalances of previous waves, but the resulting power creep would bring a whole lot of new issues to the table.

So how does FFG handle this?

Welcome to the game!

1. Their initial approach is to playtest each component. A lot. For instance, I just picked up a Protectorate Starfighter packet I had lying around and there are 23 playtesters. That's for 12 or so cards.

2. Errata (In the FAQ) is often the second resort if playtesting didn't reveal a weakness. Deadeye is the most notable of these, but the Heavy Scyk title was recently revamped quite effectively.

3. A subtle card include in another expansion (Integrated astromech being included in T-70 expansions, yet being more useful on T-65s) can fix most things that can't be errata-fixed. Notable examples include TIE/mkII (Defender), Integrated Astromech (T-65 X-wing), Twin Laser Turret (Y-wing), Autothrusters (TIE Interceptor) and Extra Munitions (TIE Bomber).

4. If none of the previous fixes worked, then an "aces" pack is released with, typically, a title card that significantly changes the focus of the recipient ship for a typically very low price. The most notable examples are TIE/X7 (Defender patch), TIE/X1 (Tie Advanced), Royal Guard TIE (TIE Interceptor) and the upcoming Light Scyk title (Scyk).

5. A ship has never reached the point where a Title card or errata nerf couldn't fix it. If a ship+card combination becomes truly broken, I suspect they'll ban it from tournament play and release an article strongly recommending that casual players avoid a particular card combination. A neat example of this would be if Corran Horn had the Reinforce action as well as evade - he would be untouchable.

As it happens, FFG is releasing stronger and stronger expansions (Compare the wave 2 Ion Cannon Turret with the Wave 7 TLT, for instance) as the waves go by. Power creep is a major problem in eveyr single game with consecutive expansions whch the producer expects to well at least as well. Its what the "Ace" acks balance for - they take the older ships that have fallen under the curve an boost them up to the current power level (or above it).

The biggest change FFG has made to the game is how decloaking works. Initially it happened at your pilot skill, now it happens at the start of activation. This change was made because Whisper could pretty much solo any list that wasn't a PWT or PS9+ by herself. And if you did bring a counter, the other 60ish points of your list could handle it while Whisper ran away and then closed the game out. Therefore, people were required to design a list to either include Whisper, or to hard counter Whisper, and the quantity of competitive lists severely diminished, leading to the rise of the worst meta full of arc dodging PWT, and the creation of the worst card in the game, AutoThrusters.

The deadeye "nerf" was unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. Triple JM15K was a very simple list, very powerful, but very limited. It had pretty much already moved out of the spot light by the time they errata'd deadeye. That being said, it did have a similar impact to the meta - apparently folks were afraid to bring rebel regen because they just crippled to JM15k. And here I thought folks weren't bringing rebel regen because they lack the offensive punch to handle x7 Defenders.

Thanks to all of you - now I have a much better picture of the situation!

To answer your specific examples, no. FFG has never altered a maneuver dial or the price of a pilot or upgrade. In general, FFG prefers to release upgrades to existing ships that underperformed in future expansions- It's important to point out the game had a lot of imbalances upon release- The Tie Fighter was notably better the X-wing, which was in turn much stronger than the Tie Advanced, while the Y-wing was severely limited in role due to the innefectiveness of torpedoes. So while there has been power creep, a lot of the fixes have been targeted at trying to bring old ships up to the level of the original Tie Fighter.

Although traditionally FFG releases new ships with upgrades that the old the old ships could benefit from. FFG has adopted a more aggressive policy on Errata and FAQ for balancing which was contrary to their earlier policy on FAQ and errata in the early days of the game.

It's called an extensive FAQ. If you haven't see it yet, here is a link:

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/2d/cd/2dcd4176-46df-434b-9361-7b490d89ada3/x-wing_faq_v423_high_res.pdf

This by far has been the most aggressive errata FFG has put out.