1 hour ago, IndyPendant said:

...Huh. You wouldn't happen to live in the Vancouver area, would you? This, in a nutshell, is the main reason I dropped from competitive X-Wing altogether.

Once FFG went super-stingy on their OP kits, I didn't like basically financing the same few players' winnings at every tournament.

I am afraid not, Hamilton, Ontario here.

Now the last big tourney (actually the first I ever went to) I did get the range range rulers, but it seemed that everyone there already had them, and could equip their ships with acrylic tokens.

Now the store I game at does give some store credit for the top spots, so I did get a free (well paid for by price of admission) TIE Striker, so it isn't all bad, but talking to players, in their fancy t-shirts for their league, there are a lot that go from tourney to tourney.

Edit: Just another note, when I got the range rulers, I only managed to come in a spot that earned the big (3) one, the bloke who beat me twice) already had a set of 1 and 2 rulers gave me his extra, a cool thing to do. There is some decency.

57 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I am afraid not, Hamilton, Ontario here.

Now the last big tourney (actually the first I ever went to) I did get the range range rulers, but it seemed that everyone there already had them, and could equip their ships with acrylic tokens.

Now the store I game at does give some store credit for the top spots, so I did get a free (well paid for by price of admission) TIE Striker, so it isn't all bad, but talking to players, in their fancy t-shirts for their league, there are a lot that go from tourney to tourney.

Edit: Just another note, when I got the range rulers, I only managed to come in a spot that earned the big (3) one, the bloke who beat me twice) already had a set of 1 and 2 rulers gave me his extra, a cool thing to do. There is some decency.

That'd be the PTL (Prototype Toronto League). Really nice guys, but they do travel a lot for their love of the game, which does accrue acrylics because a) you just go to a lot of tournaments and b) you get better by going to a lot of tournament. They are not the most approachable at first, because they all know each other and don't know who you are, but just talk to them (or beat a few ) and I guarantee fun and shenanigans once they realize you love the game and care about playing well.

Joining Star Wars Gaming Ontario on Facebook, or the PTL itself (they're close enough that you may be able to take part in a season) would be a good starting point to get to know the louder guys.

They do go around stealing regionals from the maritimes to the US though. Next time, I'll beat EZ, I swear!

Yeah, and same thing here. And in re-reading my previous post, I do feel the need to point out that the X-Wing community here in Vancouver is actually really great, I don't want to give the wrong impression. It's the main reason I say I've gotten out of competitive X-Wing, rather than X-Wing altogether. ; ) I also know that at least some of the players that go to these tournaments do so because they enjoy the challenge of it; the competition is a big part of how they have fun.

But when there's only a few of the good prizes up for grabs, and a number of top-level competitors that like to attend as many tournaments as they can (and whether their reasons are what another person might consider 'legitimate' or not is somewhat irrelevant, here) it basically means anyone else attending them needs to have some other reason than "I want the tokens or card". (And many do! For me though, it sort of becomes paying to play what I can otherwise play for free, with minimal rewards for the purchase.)

1 hour ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I am afraid not, Hamilton, Ontario here.

Now the last big tourney (actually the first I ever went to) I did get the range range rulers, but it seemed that everyone there already had them, and could equip their ships with acrylic tokens.

Now the store I game at does give some store credit for the top spots, so I did get a free (well paid for by price of admission) TIE Striker, so it isn't all bad, but talking to players, in their fancy t-shirts for their league, there are a lot that go from tourney to tourney.

Edit: Just another note, when I got the range rulers, I only managed to come in a spot that earned the big (3) one, the bloke who beat me twice) already had a set of 1 and 2 rulers gave me his extra, a cool thing to do. There is some decency.

You guys do attract some good players there. I'd invite you to Milton, we're far less meta, and attract a different crowd. That said, don't think we got the Q1 coming to our shop though...

Sounds like some of these stores should do what my LGS does. They put out all the prizes from the kit, along with a handul of other random prizes leftover from other kits/tourneys/etc. First place gets first pick at the price pile, then 2nd, etc. Then goes back again to 1st once everyone has gotten something.

This includes breaking up the acrylic tokens usually, so you can only take 1 or 2 at once, not a whole group, so most people can get it on it.

Quite like the Shadowport full art card.

18 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Quite like the Shadowport full art card.

It's a beautiful bit of art, I'm just not sure when I'm going to actually fly a Shadowport Hunter... (Outside of Epic at least. In Epic they have a definite place alongside a Jabba C-ROC.)