2 minutes ago, Ebak said:

@Shadow345 tell me your master plan to make it so 'meaningful' Star Wars characters are back in the game without completely installing a bias for certain ships or pilots?

Make a character too good, people use them regardless of the lore because they are OP, if they are not good enough, they are never used. Game design is a fickle thing, in the end though Mechanics > Fluff.

You know how the set of mechanics known as "Dengar" is really good in this game? Basically, you change the name of that set to "Luke Freakin' Skywalker" and call it a day.

FFG peaked with the Ghost expansion - I've never heard anyone call it OP, yet it consistently has good showings with characters that most know and love.

Just now, Astech said:

You know how the set of mechanics known as "Dengar" is really good in this game? Basically, you change the name of that set to "Luke Freakin' Skywalker" and call it a day.

FFG peaked with the Ghost expansion - I've never heard anyone call it OP, yet it consistently has good showings with characters that most know and love.

So what does Dengar get in return? Plus that ability was created for the Jumpmaster, a primary turret focused ship to encourage use of the firing arc, so unless Luke is flying around in a Jumpmaster, I don't see how that solves the problem. That ability would be next to useless on the nowhere near agile X-Wing.

Edit: Once you start getting into the business of giving the movie characters better abilities purely because they are the main characters you start to go down a slippery slope in my view. Why don't we just give them plot armor?

"Plot Armor:
You may equip this card to any named character from the movies. When defending against an attack add two evade results to your dice roll.

Cost: 0"

1 minute ago, Ebak said:

So what does Dengar get in return? Plus that ability was created for the Jumpmaster, a primary turret focused ship to encourage use of the firing arc, so unless Luke is flying around in a Jumpmaster, I don't see how that solves the problem. That ability would be next to useless on the nowhere near agile X-Wing.

First, who cares about Dengar, exactly? He's one of the most obscure characters that gets screen time.

Second, why can't Luke be in a JM5K, or piloting the Falcon? Dengar's ability is going to be fantastic in any ship in the game, because he has the best pilot ability in the game. It's child's play to buff the X-wing without making it OP - there's a lot of debate about how to do it, but most agree that it's very easy to do.

If Boba had Dengar's ability and vise verse nobody would bat an eye, but suddenly a much-loved EU character is competitive, with a frame that compensates for its strengths.

Why can't Luke be in a JM5K? Maybe because that's not the ship he is known for flying? He is known for flying an X-Wing and thus he was most likely the first pilot they outlined when they made the X-Wing back when the core set was in production.

If you are going to suggest we have pilots as separate cards we assign to ships I have to hit the nail on the head of that idea, because there is a similar game people probably have heard of but don't care about called Star Trek Attack Wing. You know what my biggest complaint about that game is: Overpowered combos and the one thing that the game allows that enables that: The ability to put any captain and their ability on any ship. Most people play Picard (PS9 Version) because he gives two actions and is PS9. 99% of lists have Picard in them even if he's on something stupid like a Borg Sphere, a Bioship or even a Klingon Bird of Prey. That's why I like how X-Wing 'locks' pilots into ships. There are some abilities on one ship I would not want to see on other ships because it will push things over the edge and make a handful of pilots auto-take.

Just take Fenn Rau on a Firespray, suddenly you're throwing 5 dice at range 1, rolling 3 dice with an evade token with two arcs to use and a large base so thus a larger range 1 zone. Countess Ryad suddenly becomes the best Imperial pilot because she can turn any straight into a K-turn without changing its colour and it's rare to find a straight that is red on a ship. She'd be my go-to pilot for the Lambda.

As for 'who cares about Dengar?' Somebody does, just because you or I don't really care about him doesn't mean he is useless or deserving to lose his ability. Different strokes for different folks. I am sure if Luke was made today he would have a better ability. It was Wave 1 dude they had no idea what was coming or even that the game would go on for this long.

Buffing the X-Wing is something I agree on. It's about how it is done to give utility to the greatest amount of pilots for the X-Wing without making it OP.

I do agree that either ability could work on the Jumpmaster or Firespray, the difference is: That's not how it was designed, and Boba's ability is still very good. Stick Expertise on him and suddenly you don't need offensive mods so long as you get to range 1.

1 minute ago, Ebak said:

Why can't Luke be in a JM5K? Maybe because that's not the ship he is known for flying? He is known for flying an X-Wing and thus he was most likely the first pilot they outlined when they made the X-Wing back when the core set was in production.

Just take Fenn Rau on a Firespray, suddenly you're throwing 5 dice at range 1, rolling 3 dice with an evade token with two arcs to use and a large base so thus a larger range 1 zone. Countess Ryad suddenly becomes the best Imperial pilot because she can turn any straight into a K-turn without changing its colour and it's rare to find a straight that is red on a ship. She'd be my go-to pilot for the Lambda.

As for 'who cares about Dengar?' Somebody does, just because you or I don't really care about him doesn't mean he is useless or deserving to lose his ability. Different strokes for different folks. I am sure if Luke was made today he would have a better ability. It was Wave 1 dude they had no idea what was coming or even that the game would go on for this long.

Buffing the X-Wing is something I agree on. It's about how it is done to give utility to the greatest amount of pilots for the X-Wing without making it OP.

I do agree that either ability could work on the Jumpmaster or Firespray, the difference is: That's not how it was designed, and Boba's ability is still very good. Stick Expertise on him and suddenly you don't need offensive mods so long as you get to range 1.

Luke Skywalker, son of the 'greatest star pilot in the galaxy', and current greatest pilot in the galaxy, can't fly a JM5K? Let's face it - it makes exactly as much sense as Palpatine being in a dogfight in the middle of nowhere. Luke was put in the X-wing or thematic, crowd-drawing reasons, but there is absolutely no reason he shouldn't be in other ships, since he's capable of flying them, and you can just about guarantee that somewhere in the EU, he's flown it.

I see what you mean with Fenn, but the Firespray is a garbage ship for him since he'd be over 50 points and would die like a punk without the defensive mod he relies on. Similarly with Ryad her K-turns can still be blocked, and blocking an obvious K-turn from a large-base ship is super easy. I'm not talking about letting any pilot fly any ship in their faction. I'm talking about releasing new versions of famous pilots with abilities that are actually good, in new and exciting ships.

Dengar is known, canonically, for standing in front of Vader and coming in second place behind Boba Fett. He might have a following, but I'd rather lose to Fenn Rau (as semi-obscure as he is) than a guy I had to look up the name of.

9 hours ago, jmswood said:

I will admit doing this in a miniatures game is not as simple as doing it in a card game, but many players are disappointed that FFG doesn’t even try.

28 minutes ago, Astech said:

Luke Skywalker, son of the 'greatest star pilot in the galaxy', and current greatest pilot in the galaxy, can't fly a JM5K? Let's face it - it makes exactly as much sense as Palpatine being in a dogfight in the middle of nowhere. Luke was put in the X-wing or thematic, crowd-drawing reasons, but there is absolutely no reason he shouldn't be in other ships, since he's capable of flying them, and you can just about guarantee that somewhere in the EU, he's flown it.

I see what you mean with Fenn, but the Firespray is a garbage ship for him since he'd be over 50 points and would die like a punk without the defensive mod he relies on. Similarly with Ryad her K-turns can still be blocked, and blocking an obvious K-turn from a large-base ship is super easy. I'm not talking about letting any pilot fly any ship in their faction. I'm talking about releasing new versions of famous pilots with abilities that are actually good, in new and exciting ships.

Dengar is known, canonically, for standing in front of Vader and coming in second place behind Boba Fett. He might have a following, but I'd rather lose to Fenn Rau (as semi-obscure as he is) than a guy I had to look up the name of.

But I knew who Dengar was by sight. Even his ship. Just because you don't know mean he has no value. Expand your scope and you find Dengar was once a piloting rival of Han's, better than him in some cases. Yeah, that wasn't in the movies, but neither is probably 90% of what I hear people cite as their favorite stuff for characters like Wedge.

I've got no problems getting more main characters up to speed, but I don't think it should be at the cost of others.

I'd go off the wall if they ever made Vinto Hreeda or Loku Kanoloa crew, to be sure. Just from their Imperial Assault models alone, they're two of my favorite characters.

For the rest, classic Star Wars made action figures of pretty much every character in the Cantina. Even Force Awakens had two figures for Inspector Zuvio alone, who was essentially cut from the film. Marginal characters are a huge part of Star Wars tradition. Boba Fett has four and a half lines, then dies like a punk. Bossk has one. Every other bounty hunter? None. But it's all good.

Res luk ra'auf.

7 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

But I knew who Dengar was by sight. Even his ship. Just because you don't know mean he has no value. Expand your scope and you find Dengar was once a piloting rival of Han's, better than him in some cases. Yeah, that wasn't in the movies, but neither is probably 90% of what I hear people cite as their favorite stuff for characters like Wedge.

I've got no problems getting more main characters up to speed, but I don't think it should be at the cost of others.

but not when you watched the film for the first time, because he was a no-name. It's undeniable that Luke, Han, Wedge, Chewie, Vader, etc have a far larger following in X-wing because they're featured in the films so predominantly.

As it is now, characters like Dengar are being made stupidly powerful at the expense of more-loved characters, which is ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

1 minute ago, Astech said:

but not when you watched the film for the first time, because he was a no-name. It's undeniable that Luke, Han, Wedge, Chewie, Vader, etc have a far larger following in X-wing because they're featured in the films so predominantly.

As it is now, characters like Dengar are being made stupidly powerful at the expense of more-loved characters, which is ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

So? Because Han and Luke are known by more, the opinion of those who like lesser known characters then don't count? That's bull.

I disagree that Dengar's power is at the expense of the main characters. The main characters were made at the beginning, when the designers had yet to learn from already made mistakes. If anything, it is the greed of the company and us for crying for those characters first. Dengar didn't steal his ability from Luke. He got a gameplay ability the designers implemented to encourage a turret ship to worry about its arc. Not something Luke needs in an already arc locked ship.

What you are ascribing is just favoritism, and in a _competitive_ balanced game, that is not how you stay in business.

21 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

So? Because Han and Luke are known by more, the opinion of those who like lesser known characters then don't count? That's bull.

I disagree that Dengar's power is at the expense of the main characters. The main characters were made at the beginning, when the designers had yet to learn from already made mistakes. If anything, it is the greed of the company and us for crying for those characters first. Dengar didn't steal his ability from Luke. He got a gameplay ability the designers implemented to encourage a turret ship to worry about its arc. Not something Luke needs in an already arc locked ship.

What you are ascribing is just favoritism, and in a _competitive_ balanced game, that is not how you stay in business.

FFG could either make 100% of their customers happy in this regard by making the main characters at least decent in the game (but preferably strong), or they could make 5% of their audience happy by pandering to a niche audience. It'd be like making Sabine the strongest pilot in the game - sure, some people would be happy, but the vast ajority would be very upset.

Dengar (ad the JM5K) in general gave X-wings the final slap in the face, because he did literally everything they did, better and more cost effective. The thing about Dengar is he's still a fantastic PWT without his ability - he's PS 9 with an unblockable focus + target lock each turn. The ability just makes him stupid.

There already is favouritism in the game. It's just that the developers, for whatever reason, favour obscure, generally unpopular scummy pilots over beloved, iconic characters.

13 minutes ago, Astech said:

FFG could either make 100% of their customers happy in this regard by making the main characters at least decent in the game (but preferably strong), or they could make 5% of their audience happy by pandering to a niche audience. It'd be like making Sabine the strongest pilot in the game - sure, some people would be happy, but the vast ajority would be very upset.

Dengar (ad the JM5K) in general gave X-wings the final slap in the face, because he did literally everything they did, better and more cost effective. The thing about Dengar is he's still a fantastic PWT without his ability - he's PS 9 with an unblockable focus + target lock each turn. The ability just makes him stupid.

There already is favouritism in the game. It's just that the developers, for whatever reason, favour obscure, generally unpopular scummy pilots over beloved, iconic characters.

Again, you are promoting the ignoring of other opinions because they don't agree with what you like. You can give what more mainstream fans want without stepping on what more niche audiences want. It's called respect. I've met plenty of players who got into the game not because they could play as Luke or Vader, but because they could play as bounty hunters or inquisitors. They are paying customers too and they don't mean that suddenly the movie main characters no longer exist.

The JM5K was indeed unbalanced (we'll see moving forward), but the fact of the matter is that even if that was Vader with that kind of power, it would be unacceptable. This is a game. You want to see plot armor, there is other sources for that.

In the end, I'm all for all forms of favoritism to be eliminated. What you are advocating is merely shifting that favoritism around. You aren't fixing a problem that way. You are only tilting the board to something you like better.

7 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Again, you are promoting the ignoring of other opinions because they don't agree with what you like. You can give what more mainstream fans want without stepping on what more niche audiences want. It's called respect. I've met plenty of players who got into the game not because they could play as Luke or Vader, but because they could play as bounty hunters or inquisitors. They are paying customers too and they don't mean that suddenly the movie main characters no longer exist.

The JM5K was indeed unbalanced (we'll see moving forward), but the fact of the matter is that even if that was Vader with that kind of power, it would be unacceptable. This is a game. You want to see plot armor, there is other sources for that.

In the end, I'm all for all forms of favoritism to be eliminated. What you are advocating is merely shifting that favoritism around. You aren't fixing a problem that way. You are only tilting the board to something you like better.

Of all the popular characters in the game, the ones that aren't good at all are the protagonists from the classic trilogy - undeniably the most loved characters from the original series. Look on the forums, your FLGS, even youtube; a large majority of people are disappointed that Luke auto-loses to anything that isn't a Punisher, and Wedge is out flown by video game cult favourites. For the purposes of competitive play, those characters don't exist. That upsets a lot of people a lot more that raising those characters to be equal in power to the current hotness.

I didn't ask for plot armour - I asked for balance. I explicitly said so, so you seem to be making points against arguments you've heard before, not against the ones I'm making now.

1 minute ago, Astech said:

Of all the popular characters in the game, the ones that aren't good at all are the protagonists from the classic trilogy - undeniably the most loved characters from the original series. Look on the forums, your FLGS, even youtube; a large majority of people are disappointed that Luke auto-loses to anything that isn't a Punisher, and Wedge is out flown by video game cult favourites. For the purposes of competitive play, those characters don't exist. That upsets a lot of people a lot more that raising those characters to be equal in power to the current hotness.

I didn't ask for plot armour - I asked for balance. I explicitly said so, so you seem to be making points against arguments you've heard before, not against the ones I'm making now.

You asked for abilities be taken from one pilot and given to another. That's not balance, that's replacement.

Wanting balance is great. Wanting balance at the expense of other people's likes isn't. You can advocate for movie main characters getting a boost without attacking characters you don't care about.

And even in a balanced environment, Luke is still likely to lose to Dengar because Dengar is the more expensive combatant, thus should be the more powerful piece.

2 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

You asked for abilities be taken from one pilot and given to another. That's not balance, that's replacement.

Wanting balance is great. Wanting balance at the expense of other people's likes isn't. You can advocate for movie main characters getting a boost without attacking characters you don't care about.

And even in a balanced environment, Luke is still likely to lose to Dengar because Dengar is the more expensive combatant, thus should be the more powerful piece.

That was merely an example of how giving a popular character a strong frame doesn't break the game - it just gives valuable fan service. Dengar can always have his crew card, and be a pilot on a strong ship. I was saying that it would be just as easy to put Luke on such a strong frame.

Wow. Therefore random scum characters should continue to be 50% more efficient than Rebels of massively superior popularity? I want to take the game's namesake - X-wings (which are space superiority fighters)- with canonically incredible pilots and have a 50/50 chance of winning a game against Dengar - a bounty hunter in a scouting vessel.

Wedge and Luke should beat Dengar, but as-is they're lucky to get half points. ****, Han Solo - a phenominal pilot - should be able to beat Dengar at his price point, yet finds himself outmatched.

1 minute ago, Astech said:

That was merely an example of how giving a popular character a strong frame doesn't break the game - it just gives valuable fan service. Dengar can always have his crew card, and be a pilot on a strong ship. I was saying that it would be just as easy to put Luke on such a strong frame.

Wow. Therefore random scum characters should continue to be 50% more efficient than Rebels of massively superior popularity? I want to take the game's namesake - X-wings (which are space superiority fighters)- with canonically incredible pilots and have a 50/50 chance of winning a game against Dengar - a bounty hunter in a scouting vessel.

Wedge and Luke should beat Dengar, but as-is they're lucky to get half points. ****, Han Solo - a phenominal pilot - should be able to beat Dengar at his price point, yet finds himself outmatched.

Fan service doesn't equal a good step for a competitive game. In fact, it's mostly the opposite. Again, you are discarding a pilot because you don't like him as much as another. That is a crappy way to want to balance a game.

If those Scum randos out price that popular rebel ship, then yeah. Don't you see that what you are ascribing (more poplar = more powerful) is plot armor? And yeah, the space superiority fighter might have trouble with the highly customized and suped up ship of a bounty hunter who had to depend on it to survive.

Yes, Luke AND Wedge (together) should have better odds at bringing Dengar down, as should Han. But the problem isn't that a lesser known character is beating more well known characters. It's a problem in faulty mechanics. Again, if Luke was in the position of Dengar, it would still not be a good situation.

1 hour ago, Astech said:

FFG could either make 100% of their customers happy in this regard by making the main characters at least decent in the game (but preferably strong), or they could make 5% of their audience happy by pandering to a niche audience. It'd be like making Sabine the strongest pilot in the game - sure, some people would be happy, but the vast ajority would be very upset.

Dengar (ad the JM5K) in general gave X-wings the final slap in the face, because he did literally everything they did, better and more cost effective. The thing about Dengar is he's still a fantastic PWT without his ability - he's PS 9 with an unblockable focus + target lock each turn. The ability just makes him stupid.

There already is favouritism in the game. It's just that the developers, for whatever reason, favour obscure, generally unpopular scummy pilots over beloved, iconic characters.

I disagree that there is favoritism towards scum. I just think their strategy and general design is more successful for this game.

imperials are all about large numbers with little health and high agility. That design does not work in this game (for the most part). Rebels are all about synergy and team work and the power of friendship annnd, well, with FSR nerfed and many lists just being two ship builds that leads us to assume that the scum design is superior in the game environment since the rebels are now just copying it.

you know, how scum have freighters that hit like semis and are largely built around one ship doing all the work and then bring a second ship that can also do all the work. Don’t forget how many ships scum don’t get to bring to play (like most of their small base synergy ships)

I disagree that it is favoritism. the game engine itself just favors their design format and also since scum ships are newer, they have all the fancy high damage stuff. Anyone else remember how long Games took before fat Han? I do.

It will swing back around. Don’t worry.

31 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:

Poe is an example that wouldn’t exist if the TFA core set was developed in hindsight instead of NDA-sight. This example exists because of modern merchandizing.

Confession: this game and wookiepedia are the only reason I know who Soontir Fel is.

For shame, not knowing who the most ELECTRIFYING MAN IN ALL STARFIGHTER ENTERTAINMENT was.

5 minutes ago, UnitOmega said:

For shame, not knowing who the most ELECTRIFYING MAN IN ALL STARFIGHTER ENTERTAINMENT was.

Chris Blair?

40 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Fan service doesn't equal a good step for a competitive game. In fact, it's mostly the opposite. Again, you are discarding a pilot because you don't like him as much as another. That is a crappy way to want to balance a game.

If those Scum randos out price that popular rebel ship, then yeah. Don't you see that what you are ascribing (more poplar = more powerful) is plot armor? And yeah, the space superiority fighter might have trouble with the highly customized and suped up ship of a bounty hunter who had to depend on it to survive.

Yes, Luke AND Wedge (together) should have better odds at bringing Dengar down, as should Han. But the problem isn't that a lesser known character is beating more well known characters. It's a problem in faulty mechanics. Again, if Luke was in the position of Dengar, it would still not be a good situation.

I'm saying that there's no reason to give obscure pilots phenomenal abilities when the pilots that are supposed to be god-like get lacklustre frames and abilities. It's far worse to have a game with a few no-name pilots dominating (Miranda, Nym, Dengar).

They've under priced all the scum ships since wave 8, with the exception of the quadjumper, which can't really be made cheaper. As for Dengar's ship being better because he "depends on it to survive" - that's exactly what Rogue squadron does - every day, for the entirety of the GCW. As well as the vast majority of pilots in this game - Luke included. ****, some pilots don't even let the techs touch their ships because they're so finely calibrated.

The mechanical problem is absolutely greater - to the point that this debate is kind of trivial while that problem is still around - but not being able to fly the coolest pilots in the game (as chosen by popular vote) and win is incredibly depressing.

27 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

I disagree that there is favoritism towards scum. I just think their strategy and general design is more successful for this game.

I disagree that it is favoritism. the game engine itself just favors their design format and also since scum ships are newer, they have all the fancy high damage stuff. Anyone else remember how long Games took before fat Han? I do.

It will swing back around. Don’t worry.

Scum Ships that are Bad/Okay:
Scyk (debatable), Firespray, Brobots (debatable), G1-A, Quadjumper. 5 ships total. The rest are excellent, bordering on OP after guns for Hire.

Rebel Ships that are Bad/Okay:
A-Wings, Attack Shuttle, ARCs, B-wings, HWKs, U-Wings, X-wings (post biggs nerf), Y-wings (trumped by scum ones), Z-95s (again, trumped by scum ones). Totalling 9 ships - nearly double scum.

Imperial Ships that are Bad/Okay:
Firespray, Lambda, TIE Advanced, TIE advanced prototype, TIE aggressor, TIE bomber, TIE fighter, TIE Interceptor, TIE Phantom, TIE punisher, TIE striker, Upsilon Shuttle. 12 ships total.

Scum can field more than half their options and have a strong list, whereas both Rebel and Imperial players are limited to 3-4 ships if they actually want to compete. Even after this recent wave of nerfs, Scum meta lists are still stronger than Rebel and Imperial ones. The game format doesn't favour them - it favours regen and damage prevention because MoV is a thing, but they've been released at such BS point costs that they become absurd regadless of what they were actually designed for.

16 minutes ago, Astech said:

I'm saying that there's no reason to give obscure pilots phenomenal abilities when the pilots that are supposed to be god-like get lacklustre frames and abilities. It's far worse to have a game with a few no-name pilots dominating (Miranda, Nym, Dengar).

They've under priced all the scum ships since wave 8, with the exception of the quadjumper, which can't really be made cheaper. As for Dengar's ship being better because he "depends on it to survive" - that's exactly what Rogue squadron does - every day, for the entirety of the GCW. As well as the vast majority of pilots in this game - Luke included. ****, some pilots don't even let the techs touch their ships because they're so finely calibrated.

The mechanical problem is absolutely greater - to the point that this debate is kind of trivial while that problem is still around - but not being able to fly the coolest pilots in the game (as chosen by popular vote) and win is incredibly depressing.

And I'm saying that's only moving things around to your liking, disregarding actual game balance and the opinions of people who actually know and like characters like Dengar. You can say more people like Luke until the cows come home, but that doesn't make the opinion people who like more obscure characters not matter.

Your first paragraph is my understanding of plot armor, something you claim you don't want. Just because we see Luke fly well doesn't mean there isn't someone else in a huge universe can be as good or better. If you don't know them, maybe take some time and dive into their lore, get to know them before labeling them as not important enough.

Underpricing is bad, but still has nothing to do with whether an X-Wing should be able to beat a Jumpmaster on its own.

Your point about X-Wing pilots relying on their ships is true, but doesn't discount that the Punishing One is still more than a simple scout ship. Plus, it shows your are willing to go into expanded lore for facts that support your points, but disregard things like back story for characters you belittle for having little screen time in the movies. Another show of favoritism.

Your last paragraph is the most sense you've made. Yes, it is sad that the more iconic characters aren't solid contenders. But if your answer is to strip down/bar more obscure characters from having anything better than the more iconic ones, then you have well and truly lost sight of the game.

12 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

And I'm saying that's only moving things around to your liking, disregarding actual game balance and the opinions of people who actually know and like characters like Dengar. You can say more people like Luke until the cows come home, but that doesn't make the opinion people who like more obscure characters not matter.

Your first paragraph is my understanding of plot armor, something you claim you don't want. Just because we see Luke fly well doesn't mean there isn't someone else in a huge universe can be as good or better. If you don't know them, maybe take some time and dive into their lore, get to know them before labeling them as not important enough.

Underpricing is bad, but still has nothing to do with whether an X-Wing should be able to beat a Jumpmaster on its own.

Your point about X-Wing pilots relying on their ships is true, but doesn't discount that the Punishing One is still more than a simple scout ship. Plus, it shows your are willing to go into expanded lore for facts that support your points, but disregard things like back story for characters you belittle for having little screen time in the movies. Another show of favoritism.

Your last paragraph is the most sense you've made. Yes, it is sad that the more iconic characters aren't solid contenders. But if your answer is to strip down/bar more obscure characters from having anything better than the more iconic ones, then you have well and truly lost sight of the game.

I am specifically saying that all pilots in the game should be equal. It's not possible to get everything totally even though, so it makes sense to give the most popular characters (arguably in all of film) the best abilities, if a tiebreaker is necessary.

Firstly, the old EU Luke is made out to be pretty much a god of the Star Wars universe. The disney Luke isn't far behind that. Sure, there could conceivably be some guy that's better, but there's literally no evidence of it. Dengar, in particular, is a Bounty Hunter - not a pilot. He might be a good pilot, but he should never get close to Wedge Antilles, Soontir or Vader. His PS 9 and outstanding ability just isn't justified by the lore.

The Punishing One is a highly modified scout vessel - not a purpose-built warship. Unlike the Falcon, it hasn't been rebuilt from the ground up numerous times with the best naval technology available. A ship like the X-wing, on the other hand, is designed for a single task - winning space-dogfights. ****, the Defender is probably the most expensive starfighter ever designed - and dominated the field (1v1 on a Ghost it won, remember). The Punishing One might be good, but there is a bigger fish.

You seem to be implying that it's a good thing that obscure characters should have better abilities. Is this the case?

Just gonna leave this little snippet of reality here for everyone.

Game mechanics and fluff, are not mutually exclusive, you can in fact have both. The current FFG devs just DON'T know how to balance the game, the release of the jumpmaster confirmed their incompetence.

Decent developers are entirely capable of balancing game mechanics and fluff.