17 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Yeah, and it's one of the main reasons I play it. And I want it to stay that way.

$30 for a single small fighter mini is 40k prices. No thank you.

It's literally a large ship expansion with a small base/peg instead of a large base and peg. The base size should not be the single thing determining the cost of a ship. It's a big mini from the looks of it (looks about the size of some large base ships), has more upgrades than a small base ship, and likely has a mission in it like large bases.

15 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

Actually they had a 10% increase last year already, cut severely discount fors online retailers last year as well (iirc about 30%) and the MSRP of new releases seems to be significant higher as well, considering this two new releases.

The msrp hasn't gone up at all. They just stopped the crazy big discounts for online retailers

9 hours ago, Ralgon said:

If this was really the case, then why isn't the gunboat priced higher? It's certainly got a bigger following........ Looks like the model is one of those "needs a medium base but we aren't going to do it" things so it got a small base slotted into a u wing/ig box at that pricepoint.

I can pretty much guarantee the gunboat does not have a larger following than the silencer will. Millions of people will see the new movie and be able to walk into a store and recognize the silencer on a shelf as being from the new movie. The only people who recognize the gunboat are the ones that played a 23 year old video game

7 minutes ago, VanderLegion said:

It's literally a large ship expansion with a small base/peg instead of a large base and peg.The base size should not be the single thing determining the cost of a ship. It's a big mini from the looks of it (looks about the size of some large base ships), has more upgrades than a small base ship, and likely has a mission in it like large bases.

Perhaps the base size shouldn't be the sole determination for determining the cost of a ship. But upgrades and a mission should be just about the last thing that determines the cost of a ship. You're talking about pieces of paper for ****s sake.

"Hey guys, here's a fully sculpted and painted model, complete with plastic base, lots of cardboard tokens, and some pieces of paper. Fifteen dollars."

"Hey guys, here's the exact same thing, but we printed out a few more pieces of paper for it! Thirty dollars!"

No...thank you...sir.

3 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

Perhaps the base size shouldn't be the sole determination for determining the cost of a ship. But upgrades and a mission should be just about the last thing that determines the cost of a ship. You're talking about pieces of paper for ****s sake.

"Hey guys, here's a fully sculpted and painted model, complete with plastic base, lots of cardboard tokens, and some pieces of paper. Fifteen dollars."

"Hey guys, here's the exact same thing, but we printed out a few more pieces of paper for it! Thirty dollars!"

No...thank you...sir.

You aren't paying for the piece of paper and couple pieces of cardboard. You're paying for the time it takes to develop and test the ship, pilots, upgrades, and mission. And as I already pointed out, the model looks a lot closer to some $30 large base ships than it does to $15 small base ones

When you buy a video game do you think a bluray disk in a plastic case costs $60? No, you're paying for the development of the game. This is the same idea.

It looks like it wouldn't fit into a $20 clamshell, so their options were to use the $30 packaging or make a new packaging size. Packaging is just as important a factor in cost as anything else.

44 minutes ago, VanderLegion said:

You aren't paying for the piece of paper and couple pieces of cardboard. You're paying for the time it takes to develop and test the ship, pilots, upgrades, and mission.

So...even though the majority of the upgrades that I'm supposedly paying extra for are old upgrades, I'm still paying for their development and testing?

54 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

So...even though the majority of the upgrades that I'm supposedly paying extra for are old upgrades, I'm still paying for their development and testing?

You're also playing for the salaries of FFG employees; the administrative costs of their business, plus some pure profit for them and any distributor/FLGS who actually sold it to you.

You do understand this is a business yes? Making money is the objective.

2 hours ago, VanderLegion said:

It's literally a large ship expansion with a small base/peg instead of a large base and peg. The base size should not be the single thing determining the cost of a ship. It's a big mini from the looks of it (looks about the size of some large base ships), has more upgrades than a small base ship, and likely has a mission in it like large bases.

The msrp hasn't gone up at all. They just stopped the crazy big discounts for online retailers

I can pretty much guarantee the gunboat does not have a larger following than the silencer will. Millions of people will see the new movie and be able to walk into a store and recognize the silencer on a shelf as being from the new movie. The only people who recognize the gunboat are the ones that played a 23 year old video game

I think you mean "play," present tense. It being on Steam and GoG allows it to remain accessible even after all these years!

...I'm thinking it may be about time to upgrade the 23-year-old joystick, though.

2 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Perhaps the base size shouldn't be the sole determination for determining the cost of a ship. But upgrades and a mission should be just about the last thing that determines the cost of a ship. You're talking about pieces of paper for ****s sake.

"Hey guys, here's a fully sculpted and painted model, complete with plastic base, lots of cardboard tokens, and some pieces of paper. Fifteen dollars."

"Hey guys, here's the exact same thing, but we printed out a few more pieces of paper for it! Thirty dollars!"

No...thank you...sir.

I think you're looking at it somewhat backwards. As others have pointed out, the ship likely wouldn't fit in a clamshell pack, so they needed the larger packaging. Larger packaging requires greater packaging costs, as well as higher shipping costs (or at least less product for the same cost), so they need to charge more. They would probably be justified just doing that, but instead they decided to add more value by increasing the number of cards and (possibly) adding a mission.

If it doesn't sound like a good value to you, then don't purchase it. But stop pretending that it's a thoroughly arbitrary decision on their part, with pure greed being the only possible factor.

All signs point to these being very large or complex models. The prices don't seem out of line for the range.

But go ahead and be mad. It's a free country.

23 hours ago, Dengar5 said:

Pure exploitation started long ago with epic ships.

Palpatine.

There are literally thousands of people who paid $100 dollars for a single upgrade card. There are literally thousands of Raider ship models in peoples closets that will never be used.

Raider is the one thing I haven't pulled the trigger on yet. I want one, but that's a lot of money and I have to make sure I can fly it enough.

I bought the Tantive and all cards off someone like new for $45. Maybe I can get that deal somewhere with a raider.

4 hours ago, VanderLegion said:

It's literally a large ship expansion with a small base/peg instead of a large base and peg. The base size should not be the single thing determining the cost of a ship. It's a big mini from the looks of it (looks about the size of some large base ships), has more upgrades than a small base ship, and likely has a mission in it like large bases.

The msrp hasn't gone up at all. They just stopped the crazy big discounts for online retailers

I can pretty much guarantee the gunboat does not have a larger following than the silencer will. Millions of people will see the new movie and be able to walk into a store and recognize the silencer on a shelf as being from the new movie. The only people who recognize the gunboat are the ones that played a 23 year old video game

And yet it's been one of the most requested ships outside of what came in the first 3 waves. I think you underestimate who the real playerbase is with the disposable income to buy big.

Edit: it was also 5 video games and several novels

1 hour ago, JJ48 said:

I think you mean "play," present tense. It being on Steam and GoG allows it to remain accessible even after all these years!

Amen! TIE Fighter especially is like no game since, a campaign story that puts you in with the 'bad guys' working your way up the chain of command in the military AND in the secret Dark Side kabal. Darth Vader, Admiral Thrawn and the Emperor himself are your brothers in arms, and they grow to appreciate your hard work throughout the game. And it's a lot of fun! Screw physics!

Not gonna read all the crap before this, but I'll try and put my two cents in anyway. Packaging size is going to dictate price point, period. A long ship like the U wing or Striker, regardless of base size, requires a certain amount of void airspace protection to prevent breakage in shipping, which forces it out of blisters and into boxes. There are two blister sizes, $14.99 and $19.99. Both of those blisters are based around small base ships. Once you hit large base, the base itself no longer fits in the blister, so you're forced into a box. Price points are based, at this point, on how many units fit into a case, and how many cases fit into a ConEx (intermodal).

In short, it isn't about how big the base is, it's about how many units they can transport overseas at X cost. Given abysmal overseas production costs, it makes sense that a significant portion of the point of sale cost is based purely on shipping.

My problem is why was the U-wing stuck with a large base when Kylo's ride gets the small base? Both come in same sized boxes, why screw the U-wing so badly? Not to mention making it even worse mechanically. Oh well, rebs got enough toys that they didn't need a Lambda shuttle clone anyway. They will probably end up stealing one sooner or later.

3 hours ago, Dr Zoidberg said:

You're also playing for the salaries of FFG employees; the administrative costs of their business, plus some pure profit for them and any distributor/FLGS who actually sold it to you.

You do understand this is a business yes? Making money is the objective.

What does that have to do with them charging me twice as much for a package that's not giving me twice the value?

You understand they were already making money when they were charging me $15 for a small ship yes? I'll even be fair and say this thing is more in line with the TIE Punisher, which was $20. I was already paying their salaries and their administrative costs when I was paying $20 for a small ship.

Now they want me to pay $30 for the exact same product with a few extra pieces of paper in the box? Well guess what, if their objective was to make money they ****ed up, because I'm not paying that.

2 hours ago, JJ48 said:

As others have pointed out, the ship likely wouldn't fit in a clamshell pack, so they needed the larger packaging.

Sorry, but this thing is not bigger than a Punisher. Longer maybe, but it's also not as wide. It didn't HAVE to come in a box.

2 hours ago, JJ48 said:

I think you mean "play," present tense. It being on Steam and GoG allows it to remain accessible even after all these years!

Sure, they're still accessible to play, but I'd wager the vast majority of people who play tie fighter (or any of the X-Wing games) are going to be the people who played them back in the day in the first place. I'm sure some people will pick them up fresh, but not nearly as many as will go back and play them from nostalgia. And still nowhere near as many people as will watch the new movie.

1 hour ago, Ralgon said:

And yet it's been one of the most requested ships outside of what came in the first 3 waves. I think you underestimate who the real playerbase is with the disposable income to buy big.

On the forum full full of hardcore Star Wars and X-Wing fans there's tons more casual players of the game out there who have never been to Reddit or the forums that have never even heard of the assault gunboat

6 hours ago, Captain Mayhem said:

Whaaaaaattt? Are they nuts?

Remember the price point on LEGO kits is approximately .10$ per piece. At 7541 pieces, you're looking at $754.10 in plastic alone. Tack on another $50 for the Ultimate Collector's Edition label and you get to the $799.99 price.....and, if I had the cash, I'd be picking this up in a heartbeat.

31 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

Sorry, but this thing is not bigger than a Punisher. Longer maybe, but it's also not as wide. It didn't HAVE to come in a box.

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but just keep in mind that simply physically fitting in the packaging isn't everything; it also has to be able to fit with enough space around it to prevent it from getting crushed and broken (and also allow it to display nicely).

1 hour ago, VanderLegion said:

Sure, they're still accessible to play, but I'd wager the vast majority of people who play tie fighter (or any of the X-Wing games) are going to be the people who played them back in the day in the first place. I'm sure some people will pick them up fresh, but not nearly as many as will go back and play them from nostalgia. And still nowhere near as many people as will watch the new movie.

On the forum full full of hardcore Star Wars and X-Wing fans there's tons more casual players of the game out there who have never been to Reddit or the forums that have never even heard of the assault gunboat

It's a bit hypocritical bashing material from a 23 yo video game when our source material just turned 40. You missed my point, what are the ages of those fans?My experience is many of them are video gamers too, and any imperial player worth his salt has come across a gunboat at least once.

On 9/8/2017 at 8:17 PM, Dengar5 said:

Pure exploitation started long ago with epic ships.

Palpatine.

There are literally thousands of people who paid $100 dollars for a single upgrade card. There are literally thousands of Raider ship models in peoples closets that will never be used.

Those thousands of people should try flying it in an epic game a few times. Epic is a blast and was just why I needed to revitalize my interest in the game. I'm just saying.

2 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

What does that have to do with them charging me twice as much for a package that's not giving me twice the value?

You understand they were already making money when they were charging me $15 for a small ship yes? I'll even be fair and say this thing is more in line with the TIE Punisher, which was $20. I was already paying their salaries and their administrative costs when I was paying $20 for a small ship.

Now they want me to pay $30 for the exact same product with a few extra pieces of paper in the box? Well guess what, if their objective was to make money they ****ed up, because I'm not paying that.

Sorry, but this thing is not bigger than a Punisher. Longer maybe, but it's also not as wide. It didn't HAVE to come in a box.

Ok I'm not sure how this can be stated any simpler, so I'm going to do my best.

small base ship costs $30.

Your reaction- "Grrrr I'm so angry I'm paying more even though the only thing that is different from other ships that cost this much is the size of the plastic it sits on grrrrrr!"

What your reaction should be- "hmm. That's interesting. Usually small base ships cost less than this. Let's investigate why that may be before we come to any irrational conclusions.

Oh! It's in a large box, and there are as many upgrade cards as you usually get with a large base ship. There is likely a mission booklet as well. Knowing that, that price makes sense, since shipping costs for a larger product are going to be involved, and since products like the IG-2000 expansion has a similar price. So the only thing I'm losing out on is a bigger plastic base and some bigger cardboard inserts! I guess they could have maybe made the model fit in a smaller blister, but that would mean less upgrades and no mission booklet. If that upsets me, I can just not buy this product, but that seems like a silly thing to get upset about since a player purchasing this is getting the apropriate value out of it from what we've seen in previous releases.

1 hour ago, Ralgon said:

It's a bit hypocritical bashing material from a 23 yo video game when our source material just turned 40. You missed my point, what are the ages of those fans?My experience is many of them are video gamers too, and any imperial player worth his salt has come across a gunboat at least once.

It's a 23 year old video game that's been played by a small fraction of the number of people that have seen the 40 year old movies. And the source material in question right now isn't the 40 year old movies anyway. It's the brand new movie coming out in a few months that millions of people will go see.

And as as someone who played the games, I couldn't care less if the gunboat had never come into X-Wing. I'll buy it since it is (since I buy everything), but even among the people that's DID play the games not everyone was dying for it to show up in this game (I accept I'm in the minority there, but I'm not the only one either)

2 minutes ago, VanderLegion said:

It's a 23 year old video game that's been played by a small fraction of the number of people that have seen the 40 year old movies. And the source material in question right now isn't the 40 year old movies anyway. It's the brand new movie coming out in a few months that millions of people will go see.

And as as someone who played the games, I couldn't care less if the gunboat had never come into X-Wing. I'll buy it since it is (since I buy everything), but even among the people that's DID play the games not everyone was dying for it to show up in this game.

You do know it was 5 video games, right? and some of the best sellers of their time.......

4 minutes ago, Ralgon said:

You do know it was 5 video games, right? and some of the best sellers of their time.......

The main draw of the gunboat is from TIE Fighter. And even in 5 games it's still a small fraction of the number of people that have seen Star Wars. And there's probably a LOT of overlap in the people that played said games.

edit: also, what was the fifth game? X-Wing, tie fighter, X-Wing vs tie fighter, and X-Wing alliance. What was #5?

related, there REALLY needs to be a new modern X-Wing game

On 9/8/2017 at 6:50 PM, DarkArk said:

They probably did it because the Silencer is too big for a $20 blister. It still comes with 13 upgrade cards, doubling everything, way more than the 5 or 8 you normally get. I'm fine with it.

I don't have a problem with them playing around with ship sizes in expansions so long as I'm getting good value for my money. Also, this sort of complaining is probably why the U-wing is a large ship against logic. Because, what is the moral problem with paying $30 for a small ship?

Right, there is no medium base right so there will be those that complain no matter what. They put the u-wing on a big base to compensate and a lot of people said it should be a small base. So they gave the silencer a small base since it is probably a tweener and if they put it on a large base a lot of people would say "why is it on a large base?".

I am ok since the cards seem to justify the pricing. Just don't want them to increase existing prices

I can't believe all the ballyhoo over 10 bucks. Most of you admit you only buy one of each ship in total, so it is literally 10 dollars, not 10xN. Skip Starbucks one day, and you're set. Seems most of you get too much caffeine anyways.