Game after game, I watch as 3, 4, and 5 focus get turned to hits, backed up by revenge-shots, Dengar, target locks...
In one game, during 5 turns, what the ever-living snot are you supposed to do to mitigate 2-3 ships pumping out this kind of damage? I'm being serious, here; Expertise is under-costed at 4 points.
Give them stress?
Stress them. Stress is all over the place nowadays, and turns expertise into a useless four points.
Asajj says hi. Stressbot says what's up? VI Wes w/ R3A2 hollas at ya!
And why are you shooting at Dengar in arc?
Edit: Oh, and Omega Leader laughs as he kills off your 50+pt ship.
Don't joust Dengar...
Stress it.
Basically.
Expertise on its own is not an issue. Expertise backed up with free rerolls and outstanding dials, that's where it's strong.
Whether it's too strong for its points... I'd definitely question. Four points is a HUGE cost. I'd personally say it's pretty balanced where it is. It's great on high cost fat ships, OK on small cheap ships with good dials that don't mind not turning round, but importantly, it doesn't do much to improve defence other than meaning you don't spend focus on the attack.
I use expertise Rey and Norra, stress is the key to stopping it, but then those two ships are at best only adding one extra hit each from their own ability not like dengar plasma torps with guidance chips. **** him
Yeah, the Achilles Heel of Expertise is stress. With how many things get shut down by stress nowadays, I'm surprised stress mechanics aren't used more.
I think Expertise is actually a pretty amazingly balanced upgrade. It costs 1 more than the two primary upgrades it 'replaces' (ptl and predator) and is very clearly actually a choice to make. You now have 3 distinct options around that point cost which are valid under various concerns.
Predator is still just the best by itself, it's cheap, always works, and is all around solid. Push the limit is good when you have both boost and barrel roll or if you gain benefit from being stressed. Expertise is best when you have innate rerolls or usually take push the limit and find yourself using the second action for focus consistently which is most ships without boost + barrel roll.
The three overlap in that predator and expertise both modify offensively without actions, ptl and expertise both bump your action economy but are weak to stress, and expertise does some of both but costs an extra point and has weakness to stress.
It's a pretty great design and 4 points is exactly right in my mind.
^ listen to this guy
1 hour ago, nigeltastic said:I think Expertise is actually a pretty amazingly balanced upgrade. It costs 1 more than the two primary upgrades it 'replaces' (ptl and predator) and is very clearly actually a choice to make. You now have 3 distinct options around that point cost which are valid under various concerns.
Predator is still just the best by itself, it's cheap, always works, and is all around solid. Push the limit is good when you have both boost and barrel roll or if you gain benefit from being stressed. Expertise is best when you have innate rerolls or usually take push the limit and find yourself using the second action for focus consistently which is most ships without boost + barrel roll.
The three overlap in that predator and expertise both modify offensively without actions, ptl and expertise both bump your action economy but are weak to stress, and expertise does some of both but costs an extra point and has weakness to stress.
It's a pretty great design and 4 points is exactly right in my mind.
It's also really nice on old style jousters with low action economy since it lets them use things like barrel roll or have a double modded shot, which was actually hard for them to get.
1 minute ago, BlueMusketeer28 said:It's also really nice on old style jousters with low action economy since it lets them use things like barrel roll or have a double modded shot, which was actually hard for them to get.
Or even be able to keep a focus token for defense.
All of this and more: Expertise doesn't cover your defense. Actually, it push yourself to don't get any focus...which means no green dice modify.
3 hours ago, Alekzanter said:Game after game, I watch as 3, 4, and 5 focus get turned to hits, backed up by revenge-shots, Dengar, target locks...
In one game, during 5 turns, what the ever-living snot are you supposed to do to mitigate 2-3 ships pumping out this kind of damage? I'm being serious, here; Expertise is under-costed at 4 points.
Stress them?
I am serious with the amount of stress running around expertise is basically useless, especially when Dengar could instead use Zuckuss to nullify your green dice as well instead. ;-)
I think it's fairly priced. It's similar to predator for a point more. If you're ONLY using the ept to modify your attack dice expertise is superior which explains the 1pt increase.
I prefer predator myself so you don't have to worry about stress.
Rebel Captive!
My friend runs expertise Rey all the time, and I laugh maniacally each time the rebel captive ship is his only shot.
Combining Roark Garnet and a Stresshog is pretty popular around here.
Rebel Captive. It's the most valuable upgrade for the Empire right now.
5 hours ago, Khyros said:Asajj says hi. Stressbot says what's up? VI Wes w/ R3A2 hollas at ya!
And why are you shooting at Dengar in arc?
Edit: Oh, and Omega Leader laughs as he kills off your 50+pt ship.
I hear ya, and I respect your opinion, but Dengar in the hands of a competent pilot makes that really hard. The dial is really good at helping him keep you in arc.
19 minutes ago, Scopes said:I hear ya, and I respect your opinion, but Dengar in the hands of a competent pilot makes that really hard. The dial is really good at helping him keep you in arc.
I suppose it's matchup dependent, but as soon as you deny that 2 SLoop it becomes really easy to telegraph. Simple blocks drastically reduce the effectiveness of Dengar since he is so arc dependent (and there's nothing better than having him blow his GS when he doesn't have a revenge shot. And yes, I realize an Expertise Dengar won't have GS, but that doesn't mean he's always built with Expertise now).
Edited by Khyros22 minutes ago, Khyros said:I suppose it's matchup dependent, but as soon as you deny that 2 SLoop it becomes really easy to telegraph. Simple blocks drastically reduce the effectiveness of Dengar since he is so arc dependent (and there's nothing better than having him blow his GS when he doesn't have a revenge shot. And yes, I realize an Expertise Dengar won't have GS, but that doesn't mean he's always built with Expertise now).
Right. So I will try to figure out how to do that with my current list (Expertise Han/Expertise Luke). Thanks for the suggestion.
Perhaps a Boba/Crackswarm...but I really want to fly my list! Thematic as all get out and it's Luke! Ah, I'm such a sentimental fool.
Just now, Scopes said:Right. So I will try to figure out how to do that with my current list (Expertise Han/Expertise Luke). Thanks for the suggestion.
Perhaps a Boba/Crackswarm...but I really want to fly my list! Thematic as all get out and it's Luke! Ah, I'm such a sentimental fool.
Well, I can't really offer suggestions on a list that is just so subpar right now, but presuming that you have VT on Luke, use him to block Dengar, and use Han to setup a punish R1 attack out of arc. You'll end up doing 2 damage to him, and taking 3 damage back in all likelyhood but that's the way it goes. Or even easier, put R3-A2 and VI on Luke. Problem solved!
4 minutes ago, Scopes said:Right. So I will try to figure out how to do that with my current list (Expertise Han/Expertise Luke). Thanks for the suggestion.
Perhaps a Boba/Crackswarm...but I really want to fly my list! Thematic as all get out and it's Luke! Ah, I'm such a sentimental fool.
What is the expertise Luke/ Han list? I may be running a similar thing
@Kyros Maybe Stress Wes? Hmm...food for thought!
But yes, definitely running VT on Luke.
Maybe rethinking how I fly the list, now that you've given some thoughts. I was using Luke as a flanker (originally had LW) but maybe he's a better blocker for Han?
Must look at that!
@DeathstarII Luke/Expertise/R2D2/VT; Han/Expertise/C3P0/Evade Title/TJ/HotCop. Been flying it for a month or so. Super fun, unless I run up against Atanni lists or Dengar lists. Then...it's still fun to fly, just very close to an auto-loss for me. Same with Murder Bossk lists.
Edited by Scopes
I like expertise Rey, and stressing her is a nightmare for me! She is still good since she only needs to use her focus for offense now instead of defense, but it really hampers her out of arc utility and it just makes that 4 points feel wasted! Still a great card though, and I can see how it would be frustrating for someone who didn't bring something that gives out stress.