There was a lot of fuss last year around this time as FFG increased the distributor price for X-Wing. We no longer see a standard price of 33% off at some internet shops with the discounts up to 50%. Now the standard is 15% off.

People said they'd quit X-Wing. Too expensive.

So maybe this isn't the best place to ask (because the people who left won't see this), but what are the long-term repercussions of this price increase? Has it affected your spending?

I buy all my ships from the FLGS so it has not affected me at all. Got to keep the place to play open and profitable. Our previous game store closed party because everyone bought online.

I only started playing last year. I've seen a small increase in prices since September, though. Possibly once existing stock was replaced?

It hasn't affected me, so far.

Incredibly affected: I only buy for 1.2 factions now. Imperial get only what they need: 1 Striker, 1 TieSF (though I splurged on 2 Batwing shuttles. That was a poor buy, I'm selling my 2nd). And Rebels and Scum only if its a small ship that REALLY cool (so far nothing at all from wave10,11)

So no Rebel Tie no Uwing, no scum larges, no tugboat. Won't be buying anything from Wave11 except 2 Tie Aggressors. Mostly for TLT boats and the LwFrame and Unguided rockets.

It hasn't affected my spending except that I haven't been spending anything on X-Wing. Right now I'm just waiting for a good sale to come along and then maybe I'll catch up on the waves I'm missing but I believe in patience so I can wait for the price I'm willing to pay. If it never comes then I guess FFG has gotten all of the $$ out of me they will.

Used to buy one of each wave when they came out and the odd stuff dependent on when it was convenient. Think my last purchase was Imperial Veterans era.

CAD got a little stronger. Prices for me consequently went down, not up.

No difference. As a whole I've been spending less on X-wing, but the pricing hasn't changed my spending one bit.

It just took me a while to realize I don't need enough of each ship to field just them to 100 points (8 Zs, 5 Kihraxz, etc.).

No difference at all and it was unlikely to affect me given I purchase all my ships from my FLGS. Can't game in Amazon's warehouse!

I don't think the distributor price was raised. I think it was just that stores were limited as to how much they could discount the product. If anything, it was meant to help your FLGS be a little bit more competitive with online stores.

Had done online only until a FLGS openend nearby. The current prices cause me to be judicious in choising what to buy. Cheaper stuff would probably mean I would by everything over being picky.

FLGS price hike would curtail this even more.

Mini games are fickle and have short attn spans. FFG just needs to keep doing releases with neat toys to keep folks in.

Epic ships are out of hand though. Not worth the $ if paying MSRP.

2 hours ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

I buy all my ships from the FLGS so it has not affected me at all. Got to keep the place to play open and profitable. Our previous game store closed party because everyone bought online.

Here here!

I only Buy Where I Fly. Support local game stores!

3 minutes ago, KommanderKeldoth said:

Here here!

I only Buy Where I Fly. Support local game stores!

Since I was without a store for 6+ months I am much more mindful of where my hobby money goes. I even try to buy something every time I go even if it is small like a pack of sleeves.

Yes, I used to buy enough ships to field an all generics squad but I've stopped doing that. Part of it has to do with the fact that generics are far less compelling but also because it will cost significantly more to do so.

While I do some shopping at my LGS, it's more out of guilt and a requirement to keep them afloat. If I ever lose interest in playing there, I will probably just stop shopping there entirely.

I got into the game right about as scum and villainy hit the shelves, and as a completionist (aka buying multiples of EVERYTHING) I've spent considerably less in the past 6-8 months. Before the ghost wave, I was buying at least 2 of each ship, now it's just 1, with the exception being the u wing and striker..I bought 2.

if this next wave is just 3 ships, which it has the potential to add a few more this weekend, I'll continue the trend of buying just 1...quad TLT imps would be fun to try, but it's easilly proxied

I buy from FLGS so no change for price, but as more ships come out my space to put everything is diminishing so that has made me think about dropping imperials.

Didn't change a single thing for me. I did finally find a FLGS that I like and now buy all new waves and a bunch of models there (so my spending has gone up) but still buy in bulk from CSI or MM if they are having a sale (which seems increasingly infrequent) to round out squads or buy for painting/modeling.

Once all the fuss had died down here, I actually didn't give it another thought and it didn't affect anything for me personally.

2 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

CAD got a little stronger. Prices for me consequently went down, not up.

Yup, currency changes matter a lot more up here.

(Don't buy in game stores, don't play in game stores. If they cut off online sales I'd find something else to do.)

I am addicted to this particular form of plastic - prices do not concern me ??

I, like others, only buy at the flgs I play at so I've been entirely unaffected.

I buy only at my game store... I consider the price increase over online shopping to be my "rent" for time I spend playing in their store, even though I play about 80% of my X-Wing games at home. As a small business owner myself, I appreciate the importance of supporting local shops, and I approve of any and all measures that FFG and distributors take to ensure that brick-and-mortar game stores can be at least somewhat competitive with online shops. A person who won't support a local game store because they can buy their hobby product for a few bucks cheaper online doesn't deserve to have a public space to play with other folks, in my opinion. Besides, X-Wing miniatures are awesome and totally worth it. I still can't believe I can get such a cool, detailed model, painted that well, for such a low price. The only price difference that make me balk a little are the Epic ships. It doesn't bother me as much to buy smaller expansions at a higher price to support the game store when the difference is a few bucks at a time, but spending 30 or 40 extra bucks in one go for a huge ship does sting a little. It's just psychological though. I shall persevere!

I had a similar situation in my business, a violin shop. I rarely sold any strings whatsoever, because one big online outfit would get their strings in bulk and sell it for only pennies more than I could buy them wholesale. Hell, sometimes their prices were CHEAPER than I could get! The biggest manufacturers of professional strings got tired of seeing the small guys get cut out, and decided to sell their strings exclusively to one distributor in the States. Anybody buying from that distributor has to respect MAP pricing guidelines (minimum advertised price... what price you are allowed to post anywhere) or risk getting cut off. All of a sudden, I could actually compete with the big online places. Now I actually get to sell that particular type of product once in a while. The big online outfits still make tons of money, but I get a small piece of the pie now too. I just go to their site and match whatever price they're selling their strings for, and know that I won't lose money from the sale. Meanwhile, my musician customers can support their local luthier (and get a replacement string the moment one breaks) without having to pay higher prices just so I can afford to offer strings for sale.

too expensive my ass...

Even only buying at full price this game is laughably cheap compared to basically any miniatures game AND its prepainted, while others you have to paint and base yourself.

Aside from silly spam numbers i have everything xwing related thats currently available and i still havnt spent even half what ONE of my 2 40k armies are worth lol

That generic ships are so disfavored in the meta has probably changed what I buy more than anything. I used to buy enough to run a full squad of generics, but now I just buy one of each in most cases. My X-Wing spending has probably dropped by about 75%.

6 hours ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

I buy all my ships from the FLGS so it has not affected me at all. Got to keep the place to play open and profitable. Our previous game store closed party because everyone bought online.

Yeah. I heard Louis C.K. on the Opie & Anthony Show complain about how Americans would rather support a place like Walmart than pay a few extra cents/dollars to support a local business. I'd link to it here, but it's probably very profane (justifiably so) so if you want to hear it, I'll PM it to you.

If people continue to stop supporting their FLGS', we'll be left with nothing. In 5 years, do you want your FLGS to be another CVS, or do you want it to be a place to hang out with like minded people and game?

28 minutes ago, Turbo Toker said:

Yeah. I heard Louis C.K. on the Opie & Anthony Show complain about how Americans would rather support a place like Walmart than pay a few extra cents/dollars to support a local business. I'd link to it here, but it's probably very profane (justifiably so) so if you want to hear it, I'll PM it to you.

If people continue to stop supporting their FLGS', we'll be left with nothing. In 5 years, do you want your FLGS to be another CVS, or do you want it to be a place to hang out with like minded people and game?

I wish I could like this comment a hundred more times. Once the first FLGS here closed I went from playing a couple nights a week to once a month. I know I would MUCH rather pay a little more to play a LOT more.

4 hours ago, mightyspacepope said:

I don't think the distributor price was raised. I think it was just that stores were limited as to how much they could discount the product. If anything, it was meant to help your FLGS be a little bit more competitive with online stores.

FFG's prices to distributors did indeed increase across the board even for the brick and mortar channels , although not to the extent that internet-only stores pay. Internet only stores now pay more for the same product than brick and mortar stores pay, and FFG pockets the difference. Your LGS is now making less profit now than before the change about a year ago (likely around 5% of MRSP). This is not unique to X-wing, it is the entire Asmodee product line. Asmodee went on a spending spree to buy a bunch of other games and companies (seriously, look it up, they're huge now), and they have leveraged their size / monopoly by squeezing more profit out of the LGS and internet stores. This information has been readily available for a year now, it just requires some googling and research on the subject.

For me, personally, I used to buy a ton of ships via MM / CSI before I started playing competitively. I was one of those people that played at home on the kitchen table with friends, and had never stepped foot into a LGS in my life. In 2015 I started playing competitively, at which point the entirety of my new purchases came from tournament winnings. So I haven't bought anything from either online or the LGS for a couple years now, aside from my tournament entry fees, and this started slightly before Asmodee's new pricing scheme was implemented.

Also, for reference, all of the LGS in the Boston area that I have visited sell at 100% of MSRP. So nothing has changed in regards to the LGS pricing, except that the stores are making slightly less money now.

P.S.

1 hour ago, kraedin said:

That generic ships are so disfavored in the meta has probably changed what I buy more than anything. I used to buy enough to run a full squad of generics, but now I just buy one of each in most cases. My X-Wing spending has probably dropped by about 75%.

This also describes me. (For example I have 12 A-wings, 12 B-wings, 12+ T-65's, and 18 TIE Fighters... don't ask). My tournament winnings cover enough to get 1 or 2 of each ship now going forward, and that's fine for me, partially because I don't feel as justified in getting excess quantities of non "original canon" ships, and also because it would cost way more $$ now anyway.