So, in my opinion, the competitive scene of xwing has become pretty degenerate as combobombo turret wing has really transformed the game within the last few waves. Yet, this is simply a personal opinion.

So I want to know- What wave was it that the game was the best or most fun for you? And along with that, because I think often our best memories are aligned with when we are introduced to a game, what wave was it in when you were introduced to the game?

Wave 1.

Seriously. (the Millennium Falcon, with unbalanced generics, the agility of a small ship and that freaking 360º attack were the first drawback in the game, IMO)

Wave three baby I miss those heady days when swarms were good but vying with interceptors and falcons fir the top spot and some crazy people used t-65s which weren't Biggs!

Wave 6
Meta was moving away from mostly generics, Scumbox brought the firespray back to the table. We got Autothrusters before they where made irrelevant by TLTs.

Thursday night. It was the last time I played.

That's hard to say because honestly, despite the current scum-wing/turret-wing/bomb-wing metas that have been ruling for the past couple years, I'm still having fun. I joined X-Wing shortly after Wave 2 dropped, so when was that? Fall of 2013? Has it really been that long?

I can say that the LEAST fun time period was right after wave 4 dropped- when Fat Han was King. Also there was a period right after Armada came out when I considered dropping X-Wing. But then Wave 8 came out and revitalized my interest.

But yeah, through most of the past 4 years I have had a lot of fun with X-Wing. I think the key is that I have always flown what I want to fly. I stay aware of the meta, and I build lists with the meta in mind, but I rarely fly "meta" lists. And I've even done fairly well with my non-meta lists competitively, taking top 8 at regionals last year with an elite-TIE mini-swarm, and winning a Store Championship with my own take on Commonwealth Defenders after palpatine and x7 got nerfed. Also, it has helped that my local league likes to mix up formats- we've done things like HotAC, epic games, massive epic games, fur balls, king of the hill, etc.

So yeah, fly casual and have fun, and that doesn't mean you can't still be competitive.

I was introduced to the game with Force Awakens set. Worse time was Dengaroo era. Ugh, so lame. Best was right after they killed Dengaroo.

Every single wave that releases just ups the bar for me. New ships to try out, new upgrades to try on some old favorites, new opportunities for epic play, and a lot of fun games to be had whenever I have the time.

If we are talking on the more competitive side? Wave 9 I think (which ever one had the Shadow Caster). The Shadow Caster remains one of the best designed ships FFG has ever released. I tend to gravitate to a few ships that I use all the time, and the Shadow Caster very quickly joined the Outrider, the Ghost, the T-70 and the A-Wing. It's actually the first Scum ship since the Hound's Tooth and IG-2000 that I genuinely enjoyed flying.

Introduced Wave 4. I like the metas of Wave 4, 6, 7 (not to many quad TLT's in my area), 9 and 10.

The ships that killed the other waves for me: Wave 5- YT-2400 and Decimator; Wave 8 Ghost and Punishing one; Wave 11 H6 and Auzituk

I'm gonna say early 2016. Back then, all three factions were relevant and each had several list archetypes that were reasonably competitive.

I decided to get in the game right around Wave 3.5 so that's the time I look back on the most, but I never really got to play in that meta - by the time I got up to speed and was playing competitively it was the Phantom Menace era. So the time-frame I enjoyed the most as a competitive player was the Phantom nerf to Wave 8 span. I actually enjoyed Wave 7 since I had been playing non-BroBots Scum since Wave 6 and TLTs were the missing piece that let me fly generic swarms and win tournaments. My favorite lists were (and are) 5 and 6 ship scum swarms.

Wave 3 for me.

Imho, the game went from being hailed as the new best thing (and rightfully so, because it was), to being a joke.

I liked Wave 8, 9 and even Wave 10 /HotR metas.

Sure Triple Defenders were annoying, but beatable by good blocks. Sure Dengaroo was slightly broken, but you always had the feeling it was possible.

So many different ships and archetypes were viable, so much diversity already but not quite lost the Star Wars yet, and not quite too complex for new players.

Wave 10 changed that, and it got much worse since then.

I started before Imp Aces (3.5) came out.

I have loved every meta this game has produced since except the Deadeye U-Boats. That was terrible! I still hate playing against even naked contracted scouts.

I didn't mind the Phantom because I was still new and it was a fun challenge trying to figure out. Plus I was flying what I coined "B-Roake Tactics which was similar to panic attack. I remember playing against the falcon and having that thing locked down with stress and ion but still lost due to some crazy hot dice.

I remember that being when I accepted the variance in this game and sometimes no matter what your doing, dice can determine a game. I've won some and lost some due to dice and just accept it. Heck I even had a tournament where I only did 5 damage the first round and only 3 more the rest of the tournament... (thanks opponents green dice )

Having just got back from UK Nationals, I'm going to say yesterday. Excellent event, a lot of fun lists, excellent opponents, and a good amount of variety on the table.

I have fun nearly every time I play X-Wing. I enjoyed it less a year ago, I was winning/losing about 50/50 and I couldn't wrap my head around a lot of my losses. Since then I've gotten better at self critique, my performance has improved, and I enjoy the game more.

Also: A while ago I started packing a casual list along with my competitive list when I go play X-Wing. I'll play the more casual, fun list against newer players or when my opponent also wants to play something fun and off the wall.

I came into this stuff around wave 3. I loved the game when FLYING was an invaluable part of the game. Arc Dodging was an art form and a skill to be mastered. It was awesome....then...the Turret meta dropped and half of my Imperial ships became irrelevant. It's just sad to see a collection worth over a 1000 dollars be nearly useless against a net list of three ships that came out last week...

That being said, it is still a fun game...and I buy ships to collect as well as play. I just wish there was better balance so that older ships could still be viable.

I've always had a blast playing x-wing, I think I started spring 2013ish? Right after wave 2 hit and I saw an a-wing and an interceptor in the shop. I was sold on them both!

I think the MOST fun time was when I was prepping for Worlds 2016, starting slightly before Adepticon that year. Everything in the game was just escalated. Wins/losses/theorycrafting/building lists/still flying fun stuff. I think it was the most fun because that's when I was playing the most, probably 3-4 times a week (I've never used Vassal). Now that I have a youngin' in the mix, its still fun I just don't get to play as much as I used to. But I still enjoy bringing wonky stuff to casual nights or store kits!

The game itself, for me, is still fun. What I realised after winning a Regionals is the competitive side isn't. I played for almost 12 hours that day, and came out with a win after some amazing games, but I didn't feel like I had fun doing it.

This year, I took 4x TIE Bombers to Regionals and made top8. I had much more fun doing that, especially with the reactions the list got. I didn't win, but I didn't care, because it didn't feel like a slog through needing to win. At one stage I even conceded a game early so we could restart it. That felt great.

This Saturday was probably the most fun tournament I've been too. However, I didn't face Nym. Although, my list does wreck him.

3 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

The game itself, for me, is still fun. What I realised after winning a Regionals is the competitive side isn't. I played for almost 12 hours that day, and came out with a win after some amazing games, but I didn't feel like I had fun doing it.

This year, I took 4x TIE Bombers to Regionals and made top8. I had much more fun doing that, especially with the reactions the list got. I didn't win, but I didn't care, because it didn't feel like a slog through needing to win. At one stage I even conceded a game early so we could restart it. That felt great.

Exactly, I also feel like I don't really need to "prove" anything anymore. Which is funny because it's a game with plastic toy spaceships. I'd rather do missions or create my own lists and have fun in that aspect of the game.

Post Palp nerf and Sabine crew to current day for me. It's a personal preference based on losing too much with Brobots and Triple U-boats vs Palp Aces,but I hated Soontir 'I blanked out but still get 3 evades' Fel with a passion.

Sabine crew is one of my most hated aspects of the game, honestly. Autodamage is one thing - I actually don't have a problem with autodamage mechanics when they're done well - but Sabine taking the mickey. Mechanics like Feedback Array, Ruthlessness, and Wampa's pilot ability all have drawbacks that balance them, and only work for one ship. Sabine inexplicably works for every bomb on every ship on the table, at any range.

As soon as I see her, even in a casual game, I know I'm going to enjoy that game less than I should.

Playing the scenario in the Core Set with my kid, then we made up our own Trench Run rules on the kitchen table and masking tape.

I don't play competitively and the game is just as fun as it was when I started. No list can beak the game if you play a different list every time.