Stay on Target: please do not derail this thread. I know the temptation is great to share a joke or enjoy some wit, but let us avoid such this one time.

We all are aware of the current pervasive feeling that FFG has neglected Armada. I propose a thread for FFGs benefit in which we can all advise on what we'd like to see to help alleviate that feeling. Let us not devolve into "I want the SSD" or "Venator or Bust" type posts. I intend this to be a collaborative/constructive brainstorm to answer the question "What expectations do you have of FFG that they have fallen short on and how can they make good your faith, either in Armada?" I do not want to resort to thread-tyranny, but I will report posts that don't contribute to the collaborative effort. I'm begging people to at least keep the socratic method in mind while they post. If you happen to agree with a post - just like it. No need to post "this" (Edit: I'm okay with people doing a simple bump to this thread)

For the sake of setting a precedence, I shall go first - naturally, it's also because I'm starting this thread.

Will another next-wave preview article be enough? no, but it will be a good first step.

I'd be satisfied with two more articles in the next two months that aren't wave previews (ie: a reveal of the longer-view vision of the game or an interview with the current showrunner, for example; I think a dev-blog would be a good idea, actually) or an announcement of another non-ship expansion: another campaign, a scenario deck, or something along those lines. Both would be better.

I think a new one-off scenario like "Take the station" every 4-6 months (give or take) once per year might be a really good idea, too.

I remember that there was an attempt last year to form a "Informally Agreed Rules Interpretation Council" of sorts where we, as a community, deliberated ambiguous rules and when it was all hashed out were to all agree that that ruling is what we would make as TOs at tournaments. The fact that there were many who felt like this was necessary, on some level, is a problem. As such: I feel like a FAQ after 3 months of a wave release is not unreasonable, even if it means releasing another FAQ 3 months after that - OR - someone from FFG doing round-tables in the forums for a while after a release to get the company and community on the same page, instead of the community debating with itself.

Going on from the idea of a round-table, I think it'd be a good idea to have FFG have a presence in their own forums. Right now, it feels like we're shouting in a vacuum chamber. I don't expect FFG to give answers they aren't ready to give, but even someone from FFG popping into a rules debate thread and saying "Crap, we hadn't thought of this interpretation of this rule, we'll get back to you" would be amazing. I cite the Thrawn issue: Thrawn happened to be a card designed by a member of the forum, and that member graciously ended up clarifying questions about that card rather than someone on staff.

EDIT: putting in my Twitter "conversation" with FFG felt self serving. I took it out in order to keep it about the solution rather than the problem.

I would like to see:

1. Two releases a year. Winter and Summer. I know Wave 7 looks to be delayed but I don't really mind that and would still consider late January a winter release. Each release can be 1 pack per faction.
2. Quite agree, FAQs after each release.
3. For the future I would like some expansions that may not be tournament legal. Different types of scenario you can play such as Convoy Escort where one side attacks 2-4 freighters and the other seeks to defend them while they exit the map. Or Planetary Assault missions as one side attempts to land shuttles, bulk landers and probe droids onto planets to deliver ground forces. Base Assault missions to attack sizable static space stations & repair yards against determined resistance.

17 minutes ago, FoaS said:

I think a new one-off scenario like "Take the station" every 4-6 months (give or take) might be a really good idea, too.

I would take this especially. We're in a bit of no man's land with our group in terms of community and tournaments. Itd be nice to see some one off scenarios to help fill some of the time.

17 minutes ago, FoaS said:

I remember that there was an attempt last year to form a "Informally Agreed Rules Interpretation Council" of sorts where we, as a community, deliberated ambiguous rules and when it was all hashed out were to all agree that that ruling is what we would make as TOs at tournaments. The fact that there were many who felt like this was necessary, on some level, is a problem. As such: I feel like a FAQ after 3 months of a wave release is not unreasonable, even if it means releasing another FAQ 3 months after that - OR - someone from FFG doing round-tables in the forums for a while after a release to get the company and community on the same page, instead of the community debating with itself.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have an FAQ update at the time of a wave release to clarify some card interactions with a follow up in 3 months to address any huge imbalances. Not hearing about how specific cards interact for months after a release just makes me not play them.

17 minutes ago, FoaS said:

Going on from the idea of a round-table, I think it'd be a good idea to have FFG have a presence in their own forums. Right now, it feels like we're shouting in a vacuum chamber. I don't expect FFG to give answers they aren't ready to give, but even someone from FFG popping into a rules debate thread and saying "Crap, we hadn't thought of this interpretation of this rule, we'll get back to you" would be amazing. I cite the Thrawn issue: Thrawn happened to be a card designed by a member of the forum, and that member graciously ended up clarifying questions about that card rather than someone on staff.

Especially in the rules forum. An official responses thread would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't mind a summer "ship" release and a winter "expansion pack" release. The expansion pack could be a new map for a Corellian Conflict campaign with all the squadron goodies that come with that, an epic game ship, even a pack of cards if they wanted.

I'd like to see some article every 2-3 months. Previews, fleet building, etc.

Community involvement. Heck, they've got themselves the Corellian Conflict. Why not make every store championship be for either imperial/rebel with a map to show how each side does. Maybe the winner gets a sneak preview of their faction's stuff for the next summer release.

Just some ideas.

1 more preview article for the next wave would not stop my complaints either. It would be a most welcome sight and would certainly postpone any more communication complaints from me for a month or two though.

I'd have to say that I'd be satisfied with one article every month or two. These could be but wouldn't have to be previews. I'd love to see some tactic articles like they do for X-Wing. The dev-blog idea would be wonderful for satisfying almost all of my wants on that side of things.

I think every 4-6 months for new one off scenarios might be a bit much. I don't want them pushing out junk scenarios just to fit them in a certain time frame but I think 1 a year is reasonable.

An FAQ update every 3 or 4 months sounds good to me. I would take it a little further and have there be some sort of FAQ available at release for new waves. I would think that enough questions come up during play testing to provide them with all they need to do that.

FFG having an active presence on these forums would be great. I don't like the fact that it seems like the only way to get even a half-a**ed response is via Twitter. Maybe it shouldn't bother me but it does. I think FFG is really missing out on a golden opportunity to interact directly with their player base by seemingly ignoring their own forums. I realize those of us on here don't make up all or even the majority of Armada players but we are all here because we're passionate about this game.

I really didn't add much to what's already been said here but I couldn't just like posts because I have no more to give. I guess I could add that I'd like that limit increased but I'd probably still run out.

39 minutes ago, FoaS said:

An announcement of another non-ship expansion: another campaign, a scenario deck, or something along those lines. Both would be better.

I think a new one-off scenario like "Take the station" every 4-6 months (give or take) might be a really good idea, too.

Aren't these similar to your "I want an SSD" issue though? I can agree with your more articles, FAQ sooner, and better community engagement and communication, but you're essentially saying "I want new product."

Does X-wing get a new scenario every 4-6 months? Does Destiny? I'm not trying to detail the thread, but I'm not sure how viable these are.

45 minutes ago, FoaS said:

I'd be satisfied with two more articles in the next two months that aren't wave previews (ie: a reveal of the longer-view vision of the game or an interview with the current showrunner, for example; I think a dev-blog would be a good idea, actually).

While I also want these, does X-wing or Destiny or Runewars get these? Legion got one, but it's also about building hype for new players. Again, I'm not trying to detail the thread but I wonder if you have unrealistic expectations.

8 minutes ago, geek19 said:

Aren't these similar to your "I want an SSD" issue though? I can agree with your more articles, FAQ sooner, and better community engagement and communication, but you're essentially saying "I want new product."

My intention was to avoid beating dead horses, or avoid one-word spams as well as asking for specific ships. The scenario suggestion is asking for the introduction of another type of product and/or a new avenue of content.

Quote

Does X-wing get a new scenario every 4-6 months? Does Destiny? I'm not trying to detail the thread, but I'm not sure how viable these are.

While I also want these, does X-wing or Destiny or Runewars get these? Legion got one, but it's also about building hype for new players. Again, I'm not trying to detail the thread but I wonder if you have unrealistic expectations.

17 minutes ago, Megatronrex said:

I think every 4-6 months for new one off scenarios might be a bit much. I don't want them pushing out junk scenarios just to fit them in a certain time frame but I think 1 a year is reasonable.

You both bring up very valid points regarding viability and quality vs quantity.

I still find value in the suggestion of having periodic release of scenarios that keep hype alive instead of just build initial hype. It would go a long way to let players feel like Armada isn't neglected, which is one of the core issues we're struggling with.

Given that, I can with the 1-year per scenario. Assuming a spring and winter release cycle, a scenario OR special event in summer would be neat. I'll edit my opening post accordingly. Thanks

Back to the suggestions

I am also quite fond of the level of community interaction suggested here and elsewhere.

Having a non-preview article every couple of months would be really appreciated, especially using the sort of model we see such articles take for X-Wing and other games - dev blogs, fleet build concepts, even some brainstormed scenario missions that the devs thought up one night!

I would also like to see a bit of FFG presence on the forums, again largely focusing on the rules interaction issues that get brought up. The current time between FAQ releases really is too long, and I like to think part of that problem could be alleviated if the problematic questions being asked were being seen by the dev team earlier.

Lastly, when a product release is known to be delayed, I think we would all appreciate a more proactive dissemination of this information - even if it is just on Twitter, telling us without being prompted that a heavily-anticipated product would be out later than expected is a much nicer way to find out than us having to specifically ask.

How about another fleet building contest, like was done before wave 3/4? It was a great way to engage the community and was one of the few times I remember an article that wasn’t just an announcement or preview. That was community engagement, and it was a blast to discuss and then see the results. I would participate even if there wasn’t a prize for it.

I'd be interested in articles after major tournaments like Worlds, GenCon, and some of the larger National tournaments that discuss the top lists (top 2 or top 4) and have a brief interviews with the winners and runners-up.

I'd also like to see an occasional tactics article.

Lastly the contest and mini in-house tournament they did for waves 3 and 4 was awesome.

2 minutes ago, mcworrell said:

How about another fleet building contest, like was done before wave 3/4? It was a great way to engage the community and was one of the few times I remember an article that wasn’t just an announcement or preview. That was community engagement, and it was a blast to discuss and then see the results. I would participate even if there wasn’t a prize for it.

That is an excellent idea, it was a whole pile of fun - I would love that to become a regular feature done with each wave as a sort of community showcase of the upcoming products.

What would be necessary is just more attention. I know it is hard to focus on so many games but nearly all of them gets a treat now and then, except Armada. Or that's how I feel.

A few articles now and then, the topic doesn't matter, would do wonders. A short interview, perhaps. Or some in-depth tactical analysis of a ship. Or I always liek the part of the X-Wing articles when they show you a fighter equipped with some spicy combo of cards - it would totally work for Armada too. r a rule clarification or explanation article (I'm looking at you Rapid Launch Bays!). Or just a short report form the latest Worlds. This ind of stuff. They wouldn't have to invest too heavily into these articles, but the community still would have something to talk about.

39 minutes ago, ricefrisbeetreats said:

Why not make every store championship be for either imperial/rebel with a map to show how each side does. Maybe the winner gets a sneak preview of their faction's stuff for the next summer release.

I think this is a @#$^% brilliant idea, which has spawned another special event idea for me:

FFG could map the real-world to the star wars galaxy so that each store is a different sector. Let the running results of a given store determine the faction alignment of that sector. For example: If the store special-event games make it so that the Imperials outrank the Rebels at 5-3, the sector is imperial.

I don't know how viable this idea is, but it's an idea.

I'm gonna start with an acknowledgement of why people are frustrated as a framing tool, but constructive stuff comes after.

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Consternation with communication at the moment is closely tied to Wave 7.

First, Gencon. All we got was an acknowledgment that something was in the pipeline. And that's fine! You can't always have everything ready for any given arbitrary deadline, we get it. Then, after some time passes, we got the Wave 7 announcement! It was almost entirely focused on the Chimaera (to the point of even excluding the Profundity card spread and driving people to search FFG's Spanish site for details), but that's cool, an information trickle is the regular expected practice, and we got a Q4 release window and all was well.

But then nothing. The Profundity preview article never came. The wave was, apparently, delayed to 2018; which we didn't learn until people got angsty enough to ask FFG on Twitter. We don't know why it was delayed (which, hey, that's standard business practice for this sort of thing), we don't exactly what the new target release window is - we don't even know if the delay is behind us, or if there's still an ongoing problem.

Compounding this, we're still waiting on an FAQ update for common questions about Wave 6. We're about to enter into regionals season (which still hasn't been officially announced, has it?) while major components of the last wave lack official clarifications.

Each and every one of these things wouldn't be a huge deal in isolation. But taken together, it becomes a total radio blackout. So it's important to keep in mind there's not any one given moment where a lapse of communication caused an issue, it's been a perfect storm of unexpected silence.

I emphasize unexpected very intentionally - people are making posts about whether Armada is even still supported. In my mind these are heavily exaggerated complaints, however, they arise because of violated expectations. You don't complain about 25 cent ramen to the grocery store, but you would if you were served it at an expensive Japanese restaurant. People are getting silence when they expected communication, and the best way to patch over those emotions are with regular contact.
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But this is a thread on solutions. So, here are my suggestions:

• Quarterly kit preview articles! I think we only ever got one - Q1 2017, as did all the other games - but there's four quarters per year, after all. It's a little thing, but it's nice to not have to rely on some store posting a picture to know what's in the kit, and it would be four (one would hope) quick and easy articles per year. There's under a dozen games in the quarterly program, so even putting out a brief article for each once every few months shouldn't be a giant workload or anything. This is the sort of regular interaction that would soothe a lot of people, and any boost to organized play (however slight) would be a nice bonus.
  
• Consistent FAQ updates! We got an FAQ after Wave 6 released, and times were good. But we're creeping up on six months since Wave 6 dropped, despite some as-yet unanswered questions arising during the preview articles themselves.The community has organized outstanding questions, so an official response to these issues would be sweet. In the future, it'd be very nice to see FAQs dropping more quickly after confusing interactions or cards are documented - I'm sure people would be glad to utilize any officially sanctioned channel (be it email or whatever else) if it produced responses.
  
• Guest articles! By my count, the X-Wing 101 guest writer series has had seven articles in 2017, plus a few articles by champions. That sort of thing would be great. The community does tactics articles of its own accord, so there's no shortage of people who'd no doubt be willing to write such a thing for the front page of the site.

1. COMMUNICATION! A lot of frustration is coming from dead air. We don't need to know what Ben had for lunch, but give us some communications.

2. More non-plastic expansions. I do not mind not having the ship quantity of X-Wing, in fact I prefer it to a bunch of random/created unknown ships, but give us more titles, unique squadrons, etc via the CC.

3. I love the idea of idea of fleet contests.

4. Errata cards - either as prize support or in some type of cardboard expansion - learn from X-Wing on this one please.

One thing I'd like to see come back was that list building contest they did for waves 3 and 4. I agree with having FAQs drop more often, it really help clarify any questions on cards. If FFG had more of a presence on the forums it would be great. I think the last time I saw a post from them was in the Xwing forum about that cheating incident months ago which was probably in response to the community outrage(not saying we should doing the same just to get their attention). If someone from FFG could post on these forums at least to say "hi how's everyone" would at least let us know they are keeping with us

6 minutes ago, Cusm said:

4. Errata cards - either as prize support or in some type of cardboard expansion - learn from X-Wing on this one please.

The Q4 Bomber Command is indeed Errata'd.

Which, hopefully is a good start to a continuing trend.

We just won't know until its repeated or not.

1 hour ago, geek19 said:

Aren't these similar to your "I want an SSD" issue though? I can agree with your more articles, FAQ sooner, and better community engagement and communication, but you're essentially saying "I want new product."

Does X-wing get a new scenario every 4-6 months? Does Destiny? I'm not trying to detail the thread, but I'm not sure how viable these are.

In the past many of the expansions had mission set ups in them. A quick look at the x wing wiki shows that might have slowed (last mission seems to have come in the gozanti) . But I think it's something FFG should continue to do.

Along with this I would love for a global campaign to take place. 40k had one with this last release that several folks in our group participated in. I think it would be a fun way to get some less played objectives and upgrades to the table.

4 minutes ago, draco193 said:

In the past many of the expansions had mission set ups in them. A quick look at the x wing wiki shows that might have slowed (last mission seems to have come in the gozanti) . But I think it's something FFG should continue to do.

Along with this I would love for a global campaign to take place. 40k had one with this last release that several folks in our group participated in. I think it would be a fun way to get some less played objectives and upgrades to the table.

I've always thought it would be cool to have scenarios for Armada like they have for X-wing. I wonder how difficult it would be to find people willing to play them as opposed to the standard Armada format. During my brief time playing X-Wing it seemed like all anyone wanted to do was play death matches. I do think it seems like it would have more appeal to Armada players than X-Wing players although I can't provide a concrete reason for that belief.

42 minutes ago, FoaS said:

I think this is a @#$^% brilliant idea, which has spawned another special event idea for me:

FFG could map the real-world to the star wars galaxy so that each store is a different sector. Let the running results of a given store determine the faction alignment of that sector. For example: If the store special-event games make it so that the Imperials outrank the Rebels at 5-3, the sector is imperial.

I don't know how viable this idea is, but it's an idea.

It wouldn't be too hard. If they're going to be developing something for the Legend of the Five Rings player involvement (because that's pretty much the selling point of L5R to me) then they can do it here as well. Heck, I've offered my services before to FFG for games. Send me a Chimaera and a Profundity and I'd create it for them. Ha ha.

7 minutes ago, ricefrisbeetreats said:

It wouldn't be too hard. If they're going to be developing something for the Legend of the Five Rings player involvement (because that's pretty much the selling point of L5R to me) then they can do it here as well. Heck, I've offered my services before to FFG for games. Send me a Chimaera and a Profundity and I'd create it for them. Ha ha.

Glad to hear I'm not crazy with that idea, then.

Let us steer the topic it back to exploring some new ideas on expectations and collaborative efforts in the general sense, just so won't don't get off on a tangent on executing a specific idea.

A monthly strategy article. Something that identifies some good synergy pieces and how to build a base fleet using them. Then offer up a sample or two using that base. Talk about the objectives to use it with, and deployment along with a general strategy to use with the fleet.

A quarterly scenario. Something fresh and different. Bonus points for narrative. These scenarios could pick a certain objective, or special deployment rules, or even fleet building rules. A Wave 1&2 early war scenario so you can only use stuff from those waves. It forces new ways to think about objectives and fleet building. Waves 3+, or Waves 2-4. It would just be fun to see some variety and get some neat narrative elements going.

A developer diary. Give us an early announcement, but then give us tidbits from the designers about the upcoming pieces before finally giving us the articles they always release in the run up to the actual release date.

A monthly 'Academy' article that is a detailed look at a single objective, ship or squadron. I know Cantgetyourshipout has this covered, but another perspective and writing style never hurts.

Play by play coverage of matches. Regional matches, or local matches they send people two, or the big tourneys...whatever. Have someone documenting a match. Give us the builds, give us at a minimum, the ship position at the start of each round with written play by play. Additional pictures showing key moments would be nice also. It would seem like a couple interns at Worlds could put together enough material for a monthly match article. These can be great teaching resources for new players.

One thing I used to love about WotC and M:TG was that they did a pretty decent job of having videos of games with cool deck ideas. This wouldn't be that hard to do every few months. FFG could even try to use some "upcoming" alt art cards and see if anyone notices. This would give them an avenue to do more than just preview articles.

They could even get some videos of the Master of the Fleet games, or the other great videos out there of folks playing games, and "break them down" to help folks work on strategies. The "meet the developer" idea was also a good way to attach faces to the FFG machine. Humanize it.

But, my one request above all else would be to communicate in these forums, with the community directly. Preview articles are great, don't get me wrong, but when you aren't going to walk down among your own people, what image are you portraying?

I would lile to see:

1. Lead designer / design team interaction

Could be as simple as appearing on someones podcast or youtube channel every now and then.

Interacting on the forum.

Interacting on facebook pages.

They do this already with their other games like Netrunner (forums dead but the global facebook page is super active).

2. Articles driven by the community

Ask the community what they want to see / read next. Quick article about it. **** make a community article competition.

3. OP Data collection

like what schmitty is doing but at a more official level.

More interaction and communications.

a timely FAQ after a wave would be most welcome as well.