11 hours ago, Abak said:

Can I ask why a lot of people on this forum seem...kind of obsessed with Zuckuss and 4-LOM? Is it just because everyone views them as an inevitability after Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88?

Don't get me wrong, I think those latter three set a good precedent, and I wouldn't be surprised if Z&4 did show up. They just seem to get a lot of heat from IA's fan base for being such minor (and forgettable) characters, especially when villains from, say, Rogue One strike me as a more obvious choice for a blister. People seem...really excited for 4-LOM, and I'm not quite sure why.

Zuckuss and 4-LOM have a lot of history in the comics. I'm a big fan of Zuckuss because he would be a Mercenary Force user. I think 4-LOM would have been a much better choice than 0-0-0. It is partly to fill out the Bounty Hunter set, however. If you haven't been a long time Star Wars fan, then I can see not caring about them, even though they have equal time with Bossk and IG-88 who are staples of Star Wars games. I mean, for goodness sake, there is a Dengar, and no Zuckuss. That's scandalous.

12 hours ago, Abak said:

Can I ask why a lot of people on this forum seem...kind of obsessed with Zuckuss and 4-LOM? Is it just because everyone views them as an inevitability after Bossk, Dengar, and IG-88?

Don't get me wrong, I think those latter three set a good precedent, and I wouldn't be surprised if Z&4 did show up. They just seem to get a lot of heat from IA's fan base for being such minor (and forgettable) characters, especially when villains from, say, Rogue One strike me as a more obvious choice for a blister. People seem...really excited for 4-LOM, and I'm not quite sure why.

It seems to me that people usually bring up Zuckuss or 4-LOM whenever anything non-original trilogy is announced or mentioned. Because clearly, whatever it is that person doesn't like is stopping them from being made. It's not like FFG have followed an obvious path of 'ESB Bounty Hunter is the Scum villain in the campaign' or anything (Yes, Jabba's Ream is an exception, I hope the reason why is obvious).

But ultimately, yeah, I think the majority of people want them just to fill out the bounty hunter roster. After they get released (almost certainly with the next box, unless there's a course change and it's Rebels or something), it'll probably be someone else (I'm guessing Kyle/Dash/Mara).

4-LOM and/or Zuckuss would have been preferable to dipping into Rebels, or for that matter, to Greedo, in my opinion as a model collector. I'm not in a huge hurry for everything to come out at once though so they can wait.

My TRUE hope for an Endor box is this, though I know it won't happen:

Big box. 6 ewoks, 4 mon calamari, 2 vehicles, 1 weird Endor carnivore. Or 1 vehicle and 2 carnivores, whatever.

3 Imperial heroes who are desperately trying to make it to an extraction point post-battle of Endor.

We had fringe heroes, why not Imperial? And why not a big box full of rebel plastic to draft from? We've had a small and large box full of neutral squads with a dash of Imperial figures, a small and large box full of Imperial squads with a dash of neutral forces. How bout a big box of rebel plastic with a dash of others, and the option to run the Imperials as the PC's. I'd also be quite pleased with a small box of similar layout. 4 ewoks, 4 mon cals, and 2 Imperial heroes, with the option for them to draft the 3 neutral heroes from JR to bump up the party to a playable size.

15 hours ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

Something just feels absurd about having Jedi Knight Anakin facing off against Kylo Ren.

In Campaign, I can understand that. But in Skirmish, this would inspire me to make all the jokes.

"Mom is such a goody two-shoes."

"You're telling me, boy."

/Anakin Force Pushes a Werthers' Original to Ben.

I'll admit that I didn't read EVERY post line for line (there are THREE PAGES of "wouldn't it be cool if?" comments after all, it's like a very long very bad Chris Farley sketch.)

That said, I did skim a lot of it, and it seems that for all the drooling and hypothesizing going on here, there's a lot of reality people haven't given any thought to. I hate to step on people's dreams -wait, that's a lie. It's kind of fun to point out this sort of thing. So here we go:

The idea of an Endor box is being largely floated on the idea that FFG has already given us rebel rangers were intended as a precursor to that of sorts... But when has that EVER been their way of doing things? That's right, never. FFG does a box followed by supporting/associated packs. Always. Honestly, if anything the release of rebel rangers who look very much like something from the scenes on Endor in RotJ are logically indicative that FFG probably considered and developed some of an Endor expansion... And then scrapped it. The rebel rangers, while strongly heralding RotJ can be used in just about any other locale just as effectively for purposes of the game world (unpainted miniatures even lend themselves to a looser concept of their clothing, the idea that perhaps those garments are much thicker different material if you're deploying them somewhere like Hoth). The same can be said with Rebels, since we've gotten a number of blister pack characters already it would seem to indicate that FFG might have been working on something there, but subsequently scrapped it and released some of the figures independently to recoup development costs.

I personally saw Rogue One as a huge wasted opportunity for FFG. The film is more deeply engrained in the ground level action of Imperial Assault than any other Star Wars film I can think of. It really would be a perfect campaign setup. Judging by the turnaround times for things to be manufactured and shipped here, I'm starting to suspect that FFG might not have the manufacturing capabilities to get something produced and shipped stateside in less than 18-24 months... Which might also explain why it took SO LONG for us to get most of the Force Awakens related X-wing content that was released long after the film. Timeliness is not their strength, it's a big detriment for them.

The whole "app" thing is a bit of a quagmire. They've said through official channels that an Imperial Assault app, something akin to the Road to Legend app, was in the works. But that's a vague statement. There's also the issue of legality. FFG has had to work around and even with Hasbro on a few occasions to get things released. Imperial Assault is a "miniatures game" for example, not a "board game". Never mind the fact that that the core box is a self contained campaign with everything you technically need, like many other board games, lol. The dice app was launched with legal info that included Hasbro and EA logos, perhaps that has changed now, I haven't looked at their dice app in a while. The point is that there's a lot of licensing interaction in the form of Hasbro and Electronic Arts wanting to be paid because they own the license for Star Wars boardgames and for Star Wars video games (avalanche produced Star Wars content for Disney Infinity as a directly owned subsidiary of Disney, which would explain why they didn't have to worry about the license issue.)

If FFG releases a companion app, they'll have to pay a licensing fee to at least one of these two companies. We know that it's a pretty serious deal because it's had something to do with why FFG can't sell their current Star Wars role playing books as PDFs. This would indicate that either the amount of money EA wants for the 'electronic entertainment' portion of the Star Wars license is so big that it isn't worth doing for FFG, or that EA simply isn't willing to negotiate on this at all for some reason. Either way, it puts a pretty big damper on the hopes of an Imperial Assault app we've all been hoping to see for a while now.

But, I think it's possible FFG may learn something else from Descent's later successes: consumers are perfectly happy buying campaign-content-only expansions. Smaller, cheaper expansions that can be run as print on demand like the three co-op campaigns, or the hardcover "Heirs of Blood" campaign book. FFG clearly didn't expect these products to sell as well as they did, but customers are clearly hungry for more adventures with these products. If the company can produce this sort of thing at a lower risk/cost that way... Why wouldn't they? I recall an interview, I want to say about a year ago, where an FFG representative was asked if they had any such plans for Imperial Assault, and he confirmed that products were indeed in the works, but he couldn't give more detailed specifics at that stage. I think that with the tense legal lines they have to tread for this license, campaign books and print on demand card-based content may be the way to go for FFG, in order to keep fans interested between clearly slowed development cycles (a statement that appears to be true of similar product lines like Descent and Mansions of Madness, which are clearly not putting out content at a rate like they used to, despite then still selling quite well at retailers).

So... Maybe a book soon? I'd love to see a campaign/scenario book that used the core box, and maybe additional campaign books that use the core box and a particular expansion throughout each book. I'd love a campaign that used tiles and such from multiple expansions, but it would preclude customers who didn't have all that content, so it might be a less enticing concept for FFG to produce.

On 4/15/2017 at 10:13 AM, TehHandsomeDan said:

I'll admit that I didn't read EVERY post line for line (there are THREE PAGES of "wouldn't it be cool if?" comments after all, it's like a very long very bad Chris Farley sketch.)

That said, I did skim a lot of it, and it seems that for all the drooling and hypothesizing going on here, there's a lot of reality people haven't given any thought to. I hate to step on people's dreams -wait, that's a lie. It's kind of fun to point out this sort of thing. So here we go:

The idea of an Endor box is being largely floated on the idea that FFG has already given us rebel rangers were intended as a precursor to that of sorts... But when has that EVER been their way of doing things? That's right, never. FFG does a box followed by supporting/associated packs. Always. Honestly, if anything the release of rebel rangers who look very much like something from the scenes on Endor in RotJ are logically indicative that FFG probably considered and developed some of an Endor expansion... And then scrapped it. The rebel rangers, while strongly heralding RotJ can be used in just about any other locale just as effectively for purposes of the game world (unpainted miniatures even lend themselves to a looser concept of their clothing, the idea that perhaps those garments are much thicker different material if you're deploying them somewhere like Hoth). The same can be said with Rebels, since we've gotten a number of blister pack characters already it would seem to indicate that FFG might have been working on something there, but subsequently scrapped it and released some of the figures independently to recoup development costs.

I personally saw Rogue One as a huge wasted opportunity for FFG. The film is more deeply engrained in the ground level action of Imperial Assault than any other Star Wars film I can think of. It really would be a perfect campaign setup. Judging by the turnaround times for things to be manufactured and shipped here, I'm starting to suspect that FFG might not have the manufacturing capabilities to get something produced and shipped stateside in less than 18-24 months... Which might also explain why it took SO LONG for us to get most of the Force Awakens related X-wing content that was released long after the film. Timeliness is not their strength, it's a big detriment for them.

The whole "app" thing is a bit of a quagmire. They've said through official channels that an Imperial Assault app, something akin to the Road to Legend app, was in the works. But that's a vague statement. There's also the issue of legality. FFG has had to work around and even with Hasbro on a few occasions to get things released. Imperial Assault is a "miniatures game" for example, not a "board game". Never mind the fact that that the core box is a self contained campaign with everything you technically need, like many other board games, lol. The dice app was launched with legal info that included Hasbro and EA logos, perhaps that has changed now, I haven't looked at their dice app in a while. The point is that there's a lot of licensing interaction in the form of Hasbro and Electronic Arts wanting to be paid because they own the license for Star Wars boardgames and for Star Wars video games (avalanche produced Star Wars content for Disney Infinity as a directly owned subsidiary of Disney, which would explain why they didn't have to worry about the license issue.)

If FFG releases a companion app, they'll have to pay a licensing fee to at least one of these two companies. We know that it's a pretty serious deal because it's had something to do with why FFG can't sell their current Star Wars role playing books as PDFs. This would indicate that either the amount of money EA wants for the 'electronic entertainment' portion of the Star Wars license is so big that it isn't worth doing for FFG, or that EA simply isn't willing to negotiate on this at all for some reason. Either way, it puts a pretty big damper on the hopes of an Imperial Assault app we've all been hoping to see for a while now.

But, I think it's possible FFG may learn something else from Descent's later successes: consumers are perfectly happy buying campaign-content-only expansions. Smaller, cheaper expansions that can be run as print on demand like the three co-op campaigns, or the hardcover "Heirs of Blood" campaign book. FFG clearly didn't expect these products to sell as well as they did, but customers are clearly hungry for more adventures with these products. If the company can produce this sort of thing at a lower risk/cost that way... Why wouldn't they? I recall an interview, I want to say about a year ago, where an FFG representative was asked if they had any such plans for Imperial Assault, and he confirmed that products were indeed in the works, but he couldn't give more detailed specifics at that stage. I think that with the tense legal lines they have to tread for this license, campaign books and print on demand card-based content may be the way to go for FFG, in order to keep fans interested between clearly slowed development cycles (a statement that appears to be true of similar product lines like Descent and Mansions of Madness, which are clearly not putting out content at a rate like they used to, despite then still selling quite well at retailers).

So... Maybe a book soon? I'd love to see a campaign/scenario book that used the core box, and maybe additional campaign books that use the core box and a particular expansion throughout each book. I'd love a campaign that used tiles and such from multiple expansions, but it would preclude customers who didn't have all that content, so it might be a less enticing concept for FFG to produce.

At GAMA there was a question for FFG if the app for IA is coming. The answer was yes. So not sure why i wouldn't believe them :)?

3 hours ago, AleksDj said:

At GAMA there was a question for FFG if the app for IA is coming. The answer was yes. So not sure why i wouldn't believe them :)?

Great question, with a very simple answer: That was shortly after "Road to Legend" came out, and it is unlikely that they were very far into actual development if it had even begun at all yet. With licensed software it's common practice to develop a basic prototype, so that you can review it with the appropriate licensors and legal teams -its difficult to get a proper definitive "yes" or "no" to move forward without showing exactly what you intend to produce.

At the time this question was answered, it's entirely likely that consumer interest in RtL sparked research and early development of a similar app for IA. But given that the statement was made all the way back in August, and given that FFG has been entirely silent on the matter -not so much as a hint since then, the most likely conclusion is that they had to can the idea over legal/licensing issues. The nature of this app is actually not immensely complex as programming and design goes. Add to that the fact that mechanically a lot of the groundwork has already been ironed out by creating the RtL app. From there, you just need to convert existing digital content and do some basic testing. If you have a team of devs working on this (and if you look at the credits for RtL and MoM, you can confirm that these aren't being done in a garage by one or two people), there's really no reason they wouldn't have something at least nearly complete by now -with more than ample content to show off to their customers.

Nothing is ever definitive, but the strongest likelihood points toward "not happening". I'd love to be wrong about this one, because I enjoy RtL, and Imperial Assault is my preferred game over Descent. But as much as I want to be wrong, it's hard to ignore the data here.

6 minutes ago, TehHandsomeDan said:

But given that the statement was made all the way back in August, and given that FFG has been entirely silent on the matter -not so much as a hint since then,

We had confirmation just a few months ago that the app is still coming. #checkyourfacts

12 minutes ago, TehHandsomeDan said:

Great question, with a very simple answer: That was shortly after "Road to Legend" came out, and it is unlikely that they were very far into actual development if it had even begun at all yet. With licensed software it's common practice to develop a basic prototype, so that you can review it with the appropriate licensors and legal teams -its difficult to get a proper definitive "yes" or "no" to move forward without showing exactly what you intend to produce.

At the time this question was answered, it's entirely likely that consumer interest in RtL sparked research and early development of a similar app for IA. But given that the statement was made all the way back in August, and given that FFG has been entirely silent on the matter -not so much as a hint since then, the most likely conclusion is that they had to can the idea over legal/licensing issues. The nature of this app is actually not immensely complex as programming and design goes. Add to that the fact that mechanically a lot of the groundwork has already been ironed out by creating the RtL app. From there, you just need to convert existing digital content and do some basic testing. If you have a team of devs working on this (and if you look at the credits for RtL and MoM, you can confirm that these aren't being done in a garage by one or two people), there's really no reason they wouldn't have something at least nearly complete by now -with more than ample content to show off to their customers.

Nothing is ever definitive, but the strongest likelihood points toward "not happening". I'd love to be wrong about this one, because I enjoy RtL, and Imperial Assault is my preferred game over Descent. But as much as I want to be wrong, it's hard to ignore the data here.

Let me clarify - I asked the question on GAMA trade show a month ago when they were interviewed by the Dice tower crew - and the answer was yes, we are working on the app.

Yeah, I get that the time it's taking for the app and new spoiler articles is frustrating, but this is a bit overreacting. The idea that they would do the original trilogy and then stop short just before finishing with Endor seems...well, ludicrous to me.

More content is coming. Deep breaths everyone. :-)

-ryanjamal

I've spent some time today looking around at the other games and it makes sense, the card games are their own category and don't compete with IA so they can announce freely, but IA directly competes with a miniatures game in RuneWars and a Star Wars game in Destiny. All is quiet on the Star Wars front while they promote the crap out of SoR, so that probably means until it is released on May 4th we don't see any big announcements (perhaps even on May 4th!) By then the RuneWars hype will have also died down a bit and then they can bring some other miniatures back out from the shadows.

I think everyone agrees Rogue One has plenty of IA potential, but with the 12+ month lead-in time for most FFG product, plus the insanely tight security Disney will have in place even for trusted merchandise partners, I don't think it's fair to say it's a missed opportunity.

I regularly bash FFG for poor supply management, but I don't think I ever expected IA models for Rogue One before Q1 next year.

1 hour ago, FrogTrigger said:

We had confirmation just a few months ago that the app is still coming. #checkyourfacts

And another confirmation of the app at SW Celebration on Friday.

I'm not too worried, overall. The last blister pack hasn't even hit the stores yet. I imagine they want to start moving those before they build too much hype around the next big thing. I don't work in marketing, but my guess is that there is a plan and it includes selling us more IA.

14 minutes ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

And another confirmation of the app at SW Celebration on Friday.

I'm not too worried, overall. The last blister pack hasn't even hit the stores yet. I imagine they want to start moving those before they build too much hype around the next big thing. I don't work in marketing, but my guess is that there is a plan and it includes selling us more IA.

What happened at Celebration? I thought we didn't get any news..

14 minutes ago, FrogTrigger said:

What happened at Celebration? I thought we didn't get any news..

Team Covenant tweeted that someone asked about the app and they said it was still in the works. That's about it.

-ryanjamal

Found it:

2 hours ago, FrogTrigger said:

We had confirmation just a few months ago that the app is still coming. #checkyourfacts

A person with a grand total of 2 posts, the first of which points out how much they like putting a downer on other people's "dreams", makes inflammatory comments. What a startlingly original move!

Now, can everyone please stop feeding the troll?

Thank you.

Now, Endor small box, here we come! And I for one am happy with waiting until the last thing announced is released before getting excited about the next thing. You can have too many spoilers, you know!

7 minutes ago, General Zodd said:

A person with a grand total of 2 posts, the first of which points out how much they like putting a downer on other people's "dreams", makes inflammatory comments. What a startlingly original move!

Now, can everyone please stop feeding the troll?

Thank you.

Now, Endor small box, here we come! And I for one am happy with waiting until the last thing announced is released before getting excited about the next thing. You can have too many spoilers, you know!

Condescending posts like this are just as bad as troll posts fyi.

Rendar and Leebo would be a nice pair for an expansion as well as Zuckuss and 4-Lom mentioned prior. Xizor would also be an interesting addition, plenty of henchmen types already he could have some synergy with.

14 minutes ago, FrogTrigger said:

Condescending posts like this are just as bad as troll posts fyi.

I'm sorry if I came across as condescending, that genuinely wasn't my intention. I was merely pointing out that this guy wants a reaction, and got one. There's enough negativity on here without encouraging new trolls. However, claiming I'm as bad as a troll for calling one out I think is a bit off.

I love this game, and want to get excited about the new stuff coming out, and people's hopes for what else follows. People like that other guy, no I'm not tagging them, don't want to participate in the conversation as I did, they want to get people angry and derail the discussion. Turning us against one another is what people like that want!

16 hours ago, General Zodd said:

I'm sorry if I came across as condescending, that genuinely wasn't my intention. I was merely pointing out that this guy wants a reaction, and got one. There's enough negativity on here without encouraging new trolls. However, claiming I'm as bad as a troll for calling one out I think is a bit off.

I love this game, and want to get excited about the new stuff coming out, and people's hopes for what else follows. People like that other guy, no I'm not tagging them, don't want to participate in the conversation as I did, they want to get people angry and derail the discussion. Turning us against one another is what people like that want!

I think we need to accept a reality about the depth of impact of this game. This isn't reddit. There are no trolls here. There's nobody out there saying "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna post some stuff and rile up those IA losers. That'll show them." The only people who post here are people who know enough about the game and care enough about the game to post. Some of us are more optimistic about the future of the game then others, but that doesn't mean we don't care and don't want to have fun and don't want to be excited.

I'd also caution against dropping the hammer on someone just because of their post count. I remember when I first started posting and I wasn't all happy and bubbly. I was one of the voices who wasn't saying the game will on on forever and it will always be amazing, and then Frog Trigger called me an 8 post troll and said my post a huge disaster. We've since had several interactions and I now feel that we respect each other's opinion's, but this was just when I was starting to get into the game. It would have been easy for me to swear off the boards at that point, which would have probably limited the amount of product I would have bought, which would be bad for the game.

In summary, be kind. Nothing turns off new players from a good game better than mean fans.

16 minutes ago, Pollux85 said:

I think we need to accept a reality about the depth of impact of this game. This isn't reddit. There are no trolls here. There's nobody out there saying "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna post some stuff and rile up those IA losers. That'll show them." The only people who post here are people who know enough about the game and care enough about the game to post. Some of us are more optimistic about the future of the game then others, but that doesn't mean we don't care and don't want to have fun and don't want to be excited.

I'd also caution against dropping the hammer on someone just because of their post count. I remember when I first started posting and I wasn't all happy and bubbly. I was one of the voices who wasn't saying the game will on on forever and it will always be amazing, and then Frog Trigger called me an 8 post troll and said my post a huge disaster. We've since had several interactions and I now feel that we respect each other's opinion's, but this was just when I was starting to get into the game. It would have been easy for me to swear off the boards at that point, which would have probably limited the amount of product I would have bought, which would be bad for the game.

In summary, be kind. Nothing turns off new players from a good game better than mean fans.

Kudos for this post. We should embrace newcomers , not scare them away

To be honest, Pollux, I don't really look at post counts that much, but I was floored when I saw you're only at 39- and I mean that in the best way possible, of course, in that you've truly made an impact on these forums with only a few dozen units of input.

But yeah, I think TheHandsomeDan makes some good points. We have been expecting an Endor smallbox for so long, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it so far. We have only a relatively vague promise of an app- and I have no doubt it'll eventually be released (or, that at least that's the intention right now) but I don't expect any news soon.

Hate to say it, but as a huge fan of the game myself, I don't think pessimism is trolling- it's just an expression of despair of the current drought of news.

8 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

To be honest, Pollux, I don't really look at post counts that much, but I was floored when I saw you're only at 39- and I mean that in the best way possible, of course, in that you've truly made an impact on these forums with only a few dozen units of input.

But yeah, I think TheHandsomeDan makes some good points. We have been expecting an Endor smallbox for so long, and we have absolutely nothing to show for it so far. We have only a relatively vague promise of an app- and I have no doubt it'll eventually be released (or, that at least that's the intention right now) but I don't expect any news soon.

Hate to say it, but as a huge fan of the game myself, I don't think pessimism is trolling- it's just an expression of despair of the current drought of news.

Yeah. He's right that all of our evidence is circumstantial. I think an app is coming. I think a small box is coming. I think both are coming this year, and I'm clinging to the gap in the product codes as the surest sign that the small box is going to be sooner rather than later (Hey, TS was released in August, which means there is still time for a May announcement!), but we could be in the middle of a drought that goes until the end of the year.

On 4/17/2017 at 3:36 PM, AleksDj said:

Let me clarify - I asked the question on GAMA trade show a month ago when they were interviewed by the Dice tower crew - and the answer was yes, we are working on the app.

Okay -that is more encouraging. I had Google for info on it, and could only find reference to last August. It's nice to hear something more recent. That makes me cautiously optimistic. I'm still curious as to how they intend to worm around the game software licensing issue, EA isn't going to care if they technically give the app away for free -as the license holders, they're still going to expect to get paid. That leaves FFG in a challenging position... If you have to pay licensing to release the app, can you really release it free and hope to make money back on dlc, or do you have to break down and charge for it up front? I know that a lot of people would scream bloody murder over that, but knowing how the licensing issue works, and how aggressive EA is about enforcing that license, I would personally be okay with purchasing the all if that meant I could play a RtL style experience with my Imperial Assault collection.