Free is nice, but I'd buy it for a $1 or even $3. I'm a casual player and love using Aurora for now but it's been crashing on me lately, might be my iphone OS causing it but a fully supported FFG X-Wing app with updated card images and other features would be cool and welcomed by me.

30 minutes ago, SpaceBall1 said:

Free is nice, but I'd buy it for a $1 or even $3. I'm a casual player and love using Aurora for now but it's been crashing on me lately, might be my iphone OS causing it but a fully supported FFG X-Wing app with updated card images and other features would be cool and welcomed by me.

Agreed. I use StarTactics right now and I paid them to have the little ad removed.

1 hour ago, dadocollin said:

It would make sense for FFG to have an X-Wing squad builder, if only to make user data readily available to them, both from tournaments and from the mass of non-tournament players out there still playing games and building squads.

That said, I'll provide the sad and cautionary tale of Dungeons & Dragons. D&D made a subscription-based character builder in 4th edition (packaged with some digital content). In 5th edition, they've changed their model to giving away the digital magazines and selling the character builder a la carte. You buy the base builder with the core options and every time they release additional content, you can choose to buy as much as the entire new release or as little as a single character option or weapon for a few dollars. It sounds crazy, but they say things along the lines of: "Hey, people buy a digital song for 3 bucks, why not a digital sword!" By the way, in both 4th edition and 5th, they didn't care if you bought the print book, you still had to buy all the digital stuff separately.

So, imagine a world where you buy all the physical ships with the new cards and then have to buy their digital versions separately to have access to them in the official builder. This sounds nefarious, but D&D is doing this and they're not the only one.

I know Boba is envisioning a free character builder like many of the ones available online, but when a company has to justify development and maintenance costs for software, you get into a slippery slope! The fact that there is a free IA one available is a good sign that FFG isn't entirely motivated by huge corporate interests like D&D, but adding more and more software makes charging something tempting.

It seems like if FFG were to sell the cards via micro-transactions, than the physical cards wouldn't be required in tournaments. I would be ok with this bc it means we wouldn't need to buy useless ships to get the cards. I would pay to get cards or sub to get all of them.

However, I would not accept FFG double dipping. IE, micro-transactions and still require the physical copy at tournaments. If that were the case, I would suggest the community to ignore ffg requirements at tournaments to have physical cards. Or ignore their squad builder and just use community driven ones.

2 hours ago, dadocollin said:

That said, I'll provide the sad and cautionary tale of Dungeons & Dragons. D&D made a subscription-based character builder in 4th edition (packaged with some digital content). In 5th edition, they've changed their model to giving away the digital magazines and selling the character builder a la carte. You buy the base builder with the core options and every time they release additional content, you can choose to buy as much as the entire new release or as little as a single character option or weapon for a few dollars. It sounds crazy, but they say things along the lines of: "Hey, people buy a digital song for 3 bucks, why not a digital sword!" By the way, in both 4th edition and 5th, they didn't care if you bought the print book, you still had to buy all the digital stuff separately.

Are you referring to D&D Beyond? Can you clarify what you mean by buying swords? They sell rules packs basically, like you can buy just the rules for half-elves, barbarian, or sorcerer, or specific spells but its not like you can't enter that information into the system manually. It's just pre-packaged info and rules for those individual items. This allows someone playing a dragonborn war domain paladin to only buy the content relevant to their character if they want instead of ponying up for the whole class or PHB pack. The DM is the only one who truly needs that info and most DM's are just going to buy the PHB anyway. Even if they didn't, you are free to type in anything you want into the interface. In any case, i'm not sure what model you would prefer? Forced subscription each month that gets you content you probably aren't using vs buying whatever is relevant to your group.

The analogy here would be buy the Star Wing Rules Pack for 9.99 or buy the Advanced SLAM card pack for 1.99 if you don't want to pick up the star wing. That kind of sounds....great?

Micro-transaction are terrible and are definitely not what I had in mind.

Sounds like a great idea.

Also sounds like something FFG won’t do.

They like to sell stuff. Cardboard, cards, custom dice, etc. Most of their games are full of fiddly bits and odds and ends. Dials, tokens, etc etc. Even “pen and paper”, “theater of the mind”, table-top RPGs from FFG are weighed down with cards and custom dice, etc. It’s in their DNA.

Your idea sounds too clean and easy and too difficult to monetize. Sounds wonderful for us customers, much less so (I suspect) from FFG’s perspective.

Perhaps if the app cost a lot or the updates weren’t free or something?

Maybe they could go to a book-based system something like modern GW for AoS. A “General’s Guide” every year type thing (except in app form)

I think the root of the problem here is the mounds of cards. Errata etc is not clean in this game and the rules are distributed widely over all these expansions over all these years. A real mess and logistical nightmare.

An app would solve this issue nicely, for sure. I just can’t envision how they’d make enough money were you not forced to purchase products you don’t want just to get upgrades you do...

Why do people keep thinking this involves microtransactions or replaces purchasing of physical cards? It's neither, it's just an official FFG squad builder so that it's easier and gives them a better way for pushing out card text and point adjustements...

4 hours ago, Cryix said:

Are you referring to D&D Beyond? Can you clarify what you mean by buying swords? They sell rules packs basically, like you can buy just the rules for half-elves, barbarian, or sorcerer, or specific spells but its not like you can't enter that information into the system manually. It's just pre-packaged info and rules for those individual items. This allows someone playing a dragonborn war domain paladin to only buy the content relevant to their character if they want instead of ponying up for the whole class or PHB pack. The DM is the only one who truly needs that info and most DM's are just going to buy the PHB anyway. Even if they didn't, you are free to type in anything you want into the interface. In any case, i'm not sure what model you would prefer? Forced subscription each month that gets you content you probably aren't using vs buying whatever is relevant to your group.

The analogy here would be buy the Star Wing Rules Pack for 9.99 or buy the Advanced SLAM card pack for 1.99 if you don't want to pick up the star wing. That kind of sounds....great?

Yes, Beyond. You can buy it all as a package, a release, specific options like a class or even down to items and spells from what I understand for certain things. I don’t like this model (not a subscriber - went back to paper) and I didn’t like paying the monthly subscription. My biggest pet peeve is buying a print book and having to re-buy the electronic options if you want to use them in Beyond.

I don’t like the micro-transactions model in general and I’m hoping the bad reaction to video games like Battlefront II in this regard will fizzle it out.

1 hour ago, Makaze said:

Why do people keep thinking this involves microtransactions or replaces purchasing of physical cards? It's neither, it's just an official FFG squad builder so that it's easier and gives them a better way for pushing out card text and point adjustements...

I fully understand Boba’s original intent was a basic squad builder that’s free. I think that would be great. I’m just pointing out that prices balloon with software development and that can mean having to charge in some way. I’d love it if they managed to put one out and make it free. Can you imagine if it even let the community see trends and other data a lot of people spend a lot of time piecing together? Awesome!

On 1/27/2018 at 7:14 AM, Boba Rick said:

I love this game and I am definitely in it for the long haul, and one of the things I think FFG needs to do to keep this game alive for the long run is to make their own official X-Wing app. Here are a few reasons why:

I agree with most of your suggestions except 'Diet 2.0 and Patching' and 'At Home Mode'.

To start, whilst I agree with your sentiment of finding an easier way to represent erratum, point cost changes etc. I'm afraid a digital substitute will not really change anything per say. This is a tabletop game, and with physical/static components being used, its very different to patching a video game. The Dev's have already stated their distaste for costing changes, and the potential issues it could cause.

I've seen the video game patch comparison a few times, and I don't really think its a valid one. A patch for a video game like an MMO is ubiquitous. Sure, it affects values and mechanics within a game in the back end but does not directly affect the player and how they physically interact with it. For example, erratum of pilot/upgrade cards; their abilities change the way a player interacts with that ship as the player needs to physically move the ship, assign tokens, calculate damage etc. The equivalent of an XWM errata in a video game would be like a patch changing the buttons on a controller from X = X to X = O, or LEFT = LEFT to LEFT = UP. This would simply never happen in a video game because it affects the visual interaction the player has with the physical components needed to operate the game. That is what erratum is for X-wing, and its erratum itself that is the issue, not the method in which it is delivered to the players.

In a video game its all in the background, and done for the player without them having to actually do anything to resolve the change. Changing your 'Wildling Great Axe's damage value from 50 to 80 in a video game does not change the way the player uses the axe, nor does the player need to remember or calculate damage based on that change. The game does it for them. In a tabletop game, the onus is on the player (and their opponent) to remember the change, calculate damage using said change, and account for effects of said change etc. Having a digital portal does not change how the game was designed, which is what is needed to affect the nature of erratum. If XWM was designed similarly to say, Warhammer or similar, whereby a codex or faction rulebook is used instead of individual cards and upgrades, then I would be singing a different tune. In that case an app would be great as that rulebook could be distributed to the players quickly and without the cost of printing out new books etc. But as we have it now, we will always have our cardboard bits as that's how FFG make their money. Having an app with updated rules etc. Is the same as keeping a PDF of the FAQ on your phone.

And to the 'At Home Mode', we have that now. Anyone who plays with only the cards in their hand against opponents who do the same thing are fine without FAQs and erratum in printed or digital format. If it were an app instead of a document, that player would still have to relearn how to use those cards if they chose to enter the competitive scene, which a lot of players do eventually decide to do. It boils down to whether the player acknowledges erratum or not, it doesn't matter whether its a document or an app. How a player interacts with and acknowledges rules is equally determined by how the opponent chooses to acknowledge them. Anyone can ignore the FAQ right now if they choose to. If one player uses 'at home mode' in their app and the other wishes to use'competitive mode', we still have the same issue as we do now with a printed FAQ document.

That being said, I will add the disclaimer that I actually have no issue with the current FAQ system, and the above is not a complaint by any means. I'm simply stating why I don't think an app is the 'fix' that many want in terms of FAQs/errata.

I do want an official app for the other reasons you stated though, having an official squad builder that was updated at the same time as each FAQ was released instead of having to rely on dedicated fans and players doing it in their spare time, and therefore incurring a delay, would be fantastic. The erratum would be instantly accessible to the squad builder, and if the app interacted with tournament software, or other databases like meta-wing, TTO etc. like you said, it would streamline organised play massively for both FFG sanctioned and player created events with a universal platform. If FFG added their own campaigns and therefore a campaign tracker, having an all encompassing app would be handy for sure. With the game as is though, I don't think it would present enough value on either end to be worth it.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

13 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Oh yes

so many haters in this thread, and turns out you were right!

THANK YOU, FFG!