Carolina Krayts is the best X-Wing podcast

By SaltMaster 5000, in X-Wing

12 minutes ago, mdl0114 said:

I want to do an imperial campaign like HotAC, that always sounded like it'd be really fun.

I mean... Even if you do have scheduling problems week to week, I am down to just schedule on a week to week basis. (Might have to be every other week though - School and a job and local games can take a lot of time). Or if you want to run it locally, I can post my ruleset.

40 minutes ago, Do I need a Username said:

Or if you want to run it locally, I can post my ruleset.

I may ask into this in a few months. I’d really like to fly TIEs in this setting.

My local scene has actually died quite a bit. Back when Ed Horne of NSR started the Central Ohio X-wing League we would have around 20+ people showing up to the LGS to play X-wing on league night. That was back around Wave 7. Since then it's sort of ebbed and flowed, but over the past year it's died down significantly. Now we have maybe 2-3 people who regularly show up to play X-wing. It's the worst it's ever been. It's at the point where X-wing league night has been rebranded "Star Wars game night".

Most of the casual players moved on to other games a long time ago, but a large chunk of the competitive scene has also left recently. Several players have jumped on the Legion bandwagon and I doubt they'll return. Me and a few other guys have basically jumped ship to IA Skirmish (which, by the way, is currently in the best state it's ever been since the game was released. Every faction is equally viable, most of the iconic movie characters are playable and are regular staples of competitive lists, there's a healthy mix of unique and generic figures in play, objectives are still an important part of the game, the gap between competitive lists and "fun" casual lists is small, competitive lists are both fun and interesting to play, and, most importantly, things actually die in this game. The game state actually changes from round to round!)

The last tournament I went to was Adepticon and had I not signed up for it months in advance I'm not sure I would have bothered. My only motivation to go was to hang out with my local friends and friends who traveled from across the country. Worlds this year is the same way. I'm glad I got an IA ticket because I legitimately want to compete in that tournament, but I really don't have much of a desire to play X-wing there. I'm waaaaaaaaay more excited about seeing all of you guys in person and hanging out.

Edited by defkhan1
2 minutes ago, defkhan1 said:

It's the worst it's ever been. It's at the point where X-wing league night has been rebranded "Star Wars game night".

Ha! That was last year for my closest FLGS! No one goes to X-wing nights anymore at that one, I run weekend events, but nights are not workable for me. I hear one of the 6+ LGS still have more than a handful show up to night games. My tournaments are usually 8-14 players, down from last year, and it helps that my son always comes, to shore up the number of players.

There were only ever ten people at a time at my FLGS at X-Wing's peak, but the game has now died down to 2-3 of us, the same people, showing up every single week, and the occasional newbie.

As fun as it is to define your own meta, playing the same opponent time after time eventually gets boring if all you play is X-Wing. So on the nights when there's only two of us (which is most game nights), we've started joining my brother and his high school friends for random games of Risk and Spyfall.

I take all the credit/blame for killing my community. I shouldn't have played so much meta garbage... :(

Edited by Kieransi
14 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

I take all the credit/blame for killing my community. I shouldn't have played so much meta garbage... :(

All it takes is one player who thinks Dash is fun. Then things start to escalate until everyone is just handing out Kylo Crits like candy.

*Dash is kinda fun though kinda

Edited by Boom Owl
3 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

Then things start to escalate until everyone is just handing out Kylo Crits like candy.

Remember, the bar has been lowered. Kylo is wholesome now

6 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

All it takes is one player who thinks Dash is fun. Then things start to escalate until everyone is just handing out Kylo Crits like candy.

*Dash is kinda fun though kinda

I have to admit, I started flying Dash occasionally recently, just because I wanted to try him out, and there was plenty of stuff already less wholesome being flown. And I paired him with my sub-optimal PTL/BB8 Poe, so I felt like I was still being semi-wholesome.

The two players left are also the only two who usually play Rebels or Imperials. And then the third guy who shows up is one of those awesome casual players who literally couldn't care less whether he wins or not. Sadly, scum players aren't very happy right now... maybe that's what's going on.

Edited by Kieransi
3 hours ago, Kieransi said:

I have to admit, I started flying Dash occasionally recently, just because I wanted to try him out, and there was plenty of stuff already less wholesome being flown. And I paired him with my sub-optimal PTL/BB8 Poe, so I felt like I was still being semi-wholesome.

The two players left are also the only two who usually play Rebels or Imperials. And then the third guy who shows up is one of those awesome casual players who literally couldn't care less whether he wins or not. Sadly, scum players aren't very happy right now... maybe that's what's going on.

Yea my post was 100% sarcasm. Fly whatever you enjoy!

I find the best communities have a mix of players who can clearly differentiate between what a purely casual game looks like, what a meta practice match looks like, and what a mismatch of the two looks like.

The more people with open minds and energy for all of it the better things tend to be.

So basically....I usually go to my casual nights expecting to have to react to whatever the people around me are using.

If its Ghost/Fenn for days I just play the Mirror against them until they stop.

Edited by Boom Owl
1 hour ago, Do I need a Username said:

I mean... Even if you do have scheduling problems week to week, I am down to just schedule on a week to week basis. (Might have to be every other week though - School and a job and local games can take a lot of time). Or if you want to run it locally, I can post my ruleset.

I'd be interested in your ruleset!

48 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

And then the third guy who shows up is one of those awesome casual players who literally couldn't care less whether he wins or not. Sadly, scum players aren't very happy right now... maybe that's what's going on.

Warning! Warning! The casual guy doesn't care if he wins or loses until he's not having fun any more. Then they get frustrated and bitter and walk away since their investment to the game is much less than the hardcore player. That said, I'm of the mindset of fly what you find fun as well.

No, I doubt scum being in bad shape is the reason for decline. Or not the only reason. Meta fatigue is big, as is the change in game style. I'm very curious how the game evolves over the next few months... Will we see something change that allows decision making during the game that is as important as the decision making during list building? Xwing the Card Game is not what I personally signed on for.

Shadespire is fun.

Okay, seeing demand for the campaign thing I will make it easier to read and upload it sometime in the next few weeks (See: When @Brunas uploads the videos). Might take a bit since I am working on a few campaigns.

Long time lurker, once in a while poster...

The trick is living in a place where there are no premier events ever. Canada's prairie provinces are so far from everything that our players never go to premier events. The only real competitive season is the two regionals that are in driving range. Our community is alive and well with some players who have been around since launch, and we see new players joining every month. We've had a few locals sell off their collections recently, but these are players that were never really consistent at coming out.

I'm not saying that we don't fly competitive squads. We pretty regularly see all the meta squads to try them out, but quickly move on to the next thing once someone puts us in the dirt. There's a core group of about 12 - 20 of us that beat the **** out of each other twice a week, and don't take things too seriously. We have players that are good enough to put the meta squads into the dirt often enough that we don't have the same overall negative feelings about the game right now.

I've taken a step back from many of my regular podcast listens, and spending less time on this forum because I'm not having the same miserable experience that many of you guys are. It's too bad that the meta has gotten this bad in so many places. I'm still loving this game 4 years later, but I also recognize that it has changed quite a bit. I understand why these feelings are so common right now, and I hope that some changes are made that are significant enough to keep people around, and bring others back.

Myself and a couple other locals are making the trip to Worlds, and are really excited for the challenge! I hope to see a bunch of you guys there, and have some beers (or pops for Chris). Keep an eye out for Blizzard Squadron. We'll be giving out swag like candy to our opponents, and whoever has a drink with us. We better order more...

One of the big things we found is actively curating the events has really worked for us. Too many stores just have a night for X-Wing which either becomes a 3 round tournament or totally casual pickup games. This is fine for a long time but if the meta starts to go weird it can get stale quick. But it also locks out different groups of people eg a 3 round tournament only works for those who can get away earlier in the day and always casual can actually be harder for new players to get involved in because cliques do form and it is harder to break into a social group than be allocated a game via software.

One of the things our local group found out early in our organised play is that in our area we have many players who only have time for a single competitive match after work. They only get away from work at 6pm and want to be home at a reasonable time. We initially had a casual "play upto 12 games over 6 weeks" and found that many players only wanted to play a single game then head home. So we moved to a setup where it is casual games until 7pm then a single "league" game then casual after that. We used to run a 6 week league (so 6 games) with a cut. We have dropped that to 4 weeks as it allows people to join in quicker.

We also have introduced alternating leagues. So one 4 week league will be competitive 100/6 standard then the next week will be alternative rule sets (eg last time we ran an Objectives League and we have done escalation in the past). We have found this strikes a good balance between the competition players and the more casual players.

So if your local league is dying down, then I suggest pulling back from the "normal" and look at your community and find something that works and helps it grow a bit. Don't just blame the meta (even though it is rough right now).

14 hours ago, Do I need a Username said:

yes. keep all text though, kylo is bad and needs buff.

Yes, I didn't do ^ first because people can't accept their fate. the Silencer also get the unique title Deployable pod: before you are destroyed, deploy an interceptor of your Pilot skill or lower, equipped with any number of points, ignoring uniqueness rules. Kylow/Soontir + Soontir is how we bring back the imperial ace, that is totally dead.

(For real though, people unironically thought he needed a buff:
https://www.reddit.com/r/XWingTMG/comments/89hovr/kylo_ren_silencer_is_missing_a_missile_slot/)

On the topic of Reddit being stupid:

"Tower Defense X-Wing is actually super interesting" -Reddit

10 hours ago, Kieransi said:

Wait, what? How do you know this? Was there a leak somewhere that I'm unaware of?

https://imgur.com/zULstTU

It has a stop too.

The Danny pig story being told on the April Fool's cast may be the greatest part of that excellent example of pure content goodness. 1000 Krayt coin to Chumbalaya.

6 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

Shadespire is fun.

True, but it lacks depth and has it’s own broken combos and NPEs (looking at you defensive Stormcast) after not even completing wave 1. It also attracts 40K and AoS players with all the, “fun,” that brings.

6 hours ago, defkhan1 said:

https://imgur.com/zULstTU

It has a stop too.

What's this from? I can't make out any of the text :/

1 hour ago, player2072913 said:

What's this from? I can't make out any of the text :/

I can’t either, but I don’t recall seeing anything from FFG in this format, either.

13 hours ago, Crit Happens said:

I've taken a step back from many of my regular podcast listens, and spending less time on this forum because I'm not having the same miserable experience that many of you guys are. It's too bad that the meta has gotten this bad in so many places. I'm still loving this game 4 years later, but I also recognize that it has changed quite a bit. I understand why these feelings are so common right now, and I hope that some changes are made that are significant enough to keep people around, and bring others back.

Despite living in a populous area, with two game stores within 45 minutes drive of my house, I recognise much of what you put in your post, especially this part. Our local meta is healthy, and I think that is because we regularly have 20-30 people turn up to play games on x-wing night, and groups of up to 8 randomly form and start playing on other nights. We maintain this by keeping open discussions going about what we are flying, and why ... if someone wants to practice with the recent meta bogeyman, there will be someone who wants to practice against it, similarly if someone turns up with a desire to play funsies lists, most folk have a funsies list ready to go. Having the flexibility is key to building a welcoming environment. We have premier event winners, worlds top 8 players and more at our store regularly, and one of the best games I have ever lost was against one such person when I'd been playing about 2 months, and was getting a bit cocky.

I'm a bit baffled by the perceived downturn in the US x-wing community right now. It doesn't mirror my experience of the game, and the community in the UK at all, and I can't help but look to cultural differences as to why that is the case.

15 minutes ago, Dreadai said:

I'm a bit baffled by the perceived downturn in the US x-wing community right now. It doesn't mirror my experience of the game, and the community in the UK at all, and I can't help but look to cultural differences as to why that is the case.

But muh cultural differences!!

We have many different kinds of stores and many different kinds of players.

Rest assured the Melting Pot is still strong and healthy.

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Edited by Boom Owl
2 hours ago, player2072913 said:

What's this from? I can't make out any of the text :/

Oops! That looks like Game Trade Magazine.

(After a little digging around in my bookshelf, uploading pics)

699b923a4dac570011da974ae3dca48f.jpg

e246534c4444c20f8a855fd1c1e35c19.jpg

I had that issue, I just didn't read the article closely enough. I feel kinda silly now.

So, the Reaper looks to have as much red on the dial as the silencer does greens. At least it can turn around, though?