I have yet to see ANY nerf cause any sort of imbalance

You're conflating nerfs with "FFG releasing poorly playtested and worded models/upgrades", the REAL source of imbalance

Every thing that has been nerfed is the result of some incredibly obviously busted mechanic (especially phantom decloak which exacerbated turret dominance alongside the release of Dash/cheri)/c3po, incredibly easy to spot torpscout upgrade synergy, the ability to stack defensive mods atop a ship you are required to shoot at, the clear intention behind genius and trajectory simulator...)

Nerfs have never themselves resulted in imbalance, there are simply more things that need to be addressed because FFG can't stop releasing them

We went from Biggs + Low to Nym upgrade synergy right into Harpoons on Miranda and now Fenn Rau (who can also pair with Lowh)

Ancedotal reference to people leaving the game. In my area, attendance is up at tournaments, in part due to running some different formats and getting in some interesting prize support and themes. We also have a number of new players showing up, so my single point of data would say it's up.

I know you can't determine the state of the game everywhere, but if FFG used any indicators, they would look at sales and attendance at different tournaments and sales. I know that last year, the closest Regional to me was 77 players and this year was 139. England also hosted a system open that I read was around 500.

So I'm not sure if Xwing is dwindling overall, since my area seems to be growing. My personal feelings about the game have changed. After having gone to 2 regionals in 2 years and reading about the meta lists in big tournaments, I've invested more into helping my local tournaments grow and over different formats to keep it interesting. I may still try to go to Worlds and some big tournaments down the road, but right now, I can focus on casual gameplay and helping others have fun learning and playing the game.

Here is a quick rundown of what is wrong with X-wing

1. It was designed initially... to be a beer and pretzel game... Imagine arguing about the balance issues in Flick em up.

2. It got massively popular faster than FFG ever imagined... it had far less design resources than its rise to fame required and what it had came from a small and rapidly growing company.

3. It had to worry about if it even had the rights to X-wing after Disney came along

4. After the priors, the game was kind of a hodgepodge, each wave was almost it's own thing.

5. Now how do you keep making product but also fix what came before without causing too much trouble?

6. Rapid waves outpace playtesting capabilities.

So here we are years later and eventually this needs some overarching back to basics type of fixes. How we get them is a big questions right after if we get them. But all in all I'm still pretty happy with my awesome beer and pretzel game.

I mean, things could potentially go right back to the wave 7 glory days provided FFG

1.) Erratas some clearly problem cards/interactions

2.) slows way the **** down and focuses on releasing fixes rather than new ****

traditionally, ace packs have been released as an ancillary addition to waves resulting in a vomitous wave of new content. Just now, though, it seems the next wave consists only of Saw's and the Reaper (Solo solo movie pending). Hopefully, less product = more testing = better gameplay

maybe they're finally learning? Give the game 2-3 Waves like these, fixing old products while simultaneously pushing new ones (the ace expansions) to keep the cash flowing, and I think we'd be in a **** good spot. This is doubly the case for FFG because Disney is going to be milking the OT FOREVER so you'll always have marketing power behind re-released OT ship packs

course it'd be a dream come true if FFG went back to turn turrets into mobile arc to enforce some kind of effective player interaction, but turrets are only a game breaker when they're ******* everywhere

EDIT: oh no, I forgot the Armada campaign box!

FFG get on that **** for xwing stat!!!!

Just think, new pilots for old ships + game objectives + overarching campaign...

Makes one drool, it does. That box alone could provide enough content to be an entire wave or two

Xwing r/whatcouldgowrong

2 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Give the game 2-3 Waves like these, fixing old products while simultaneously pushing new ones (the ace expansions) to keep the cash flowing, and I think we'd be in a **** good spot. This is doubly the case for FFG because Disney is going to be milking the OT FOREVER so you'll always have marketing power behind re-released OT ship packs

I have been saying this forever:

A-wing = Phoenix Squadron

X-Wing = Blue Squadron

TIE Fighter = Inferno Squadron, Scythe Squadron

Y-Wing = Tiree and Pops

TAP = 4th Bro/7th Sis

heck even Defender = Vult Skerris

The Y-Wing doesn't need a fix, per se, but a pilot puff would be nice.

Sprinkle with new releases from Rebels and the new movies (Sentinel shuttle, Zeta Shuttle, Heavy TIE, etc.).

1 minute ago, Darth Meanie said:

The Y-Wing doesn't need a fix, per se, but a pilot puff would be nice.

A blue Y comes with the Hammerhead Corvette.

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

I have been saying this forever:

A-wing = Phoenix Squadron

X-Wing = Blue Squadron

TIE Fighter = Inferno Squadron, Scythe Squadron

Y-Wing = Tiree and Pops

TAP = 4th Bro/7th Sis

heck even Defender = Vult Skerris

The Y-Wing doesn't need a fix, per se, but a pilot puff would be nice.

Sprinkle with new releases from Rebels and the new movies (Sentinel shuttle, Zeta Shuttle, Heavy TIE, etc.).

Marek Steele on Gunboat!

7 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

I have yet to see ANY nerf cause any sort of imbalance

You're conflating nerfs with "FFG releasing poorly playtested and worded models/upgrades", the REAL source of imbalance

Every thing that has been nerfed is the result of some incredibly obviously busted mechanic (especially phantom decloak which exacerbated turret dominance alongside the release of Dash/cheri)/c3po, incredibly easy to spot torpscout upgrade synergy, the ability to stack defensive mods atop a ship you are required to shoot at, the clear intention behind genius and trajectory simulator...)

Nerfs have never themselves resulted in imbalance, there are simply more things that need to be addressed because FFG can't stop releasing them

We went from Biggs + Low to Nym upgrade synergy right into Harpoons on Miranda and now Fenn Rau (who can also pair with Lowh)

It's my biggest gripe about how FFG handles the game. They design a poorly balanced card/mechanic, because they rush releases and ignore their playtesters. Then after that card/mechanic begins to dominate, instead of just going back and fixing the problem at the source with an errata, they try and design their way out of the issue with a new 'fix' card. The 'fix' is just as poorly designed and balanced, causing yet more issues with the game.

You don't design your way out of a design problem.

4 hours ago, CRCL said:

It's my biggest gripe about how FFG handles the game. They design a poorly balanced card/mechanic, because they rush releases and ignore their playtesters. Then after that card/mechanic begins to dominate, instead of just going back and fixing the problem at the source with an errata, they try and design their way out of the issue with a new 'fix' card. The 'fix' is just as poorly designed and balanced, causing yet more issues with the game.

You don't design your way out of a design problem.

Ignore their playtesters? It’s the Bomblet Generator 100% because of the play testers?

10 hours ago, Wiredin said:

Xwing r/whatcouldgowrong

This thread is going to give me nightmares, but I can't look away...

24 minutes ago, Shockwave said:

Ignore their playtesters? It’s the Bomblet Generator 100% because of the play testers?

It's a perfect example of an easily fixed issue. Just reduce it's efficiency via errata, either by making it only a single die, or by having some kind of recharge time, or by not counting crits.

On 4/16/2018 at 2:51 PM, Commander Kaine said:

Just because it is no longer called that, Rebels is still part of the EU.

It isn't part of the main saga. Its an addition. Its extra. It is literally what Expanded Universe stands for.

So, while technically it is named canon, rebels is not a primary source. When people say they have unrecognizable ships, they usually mean that they weren't featured in any of the movies extensively. But I think you know that.

Rebels content is decidedly more canon than content from Star Wars: Starfighter. But I think you know that.

9 hours ago, CRCL said:

It's my biggest gripe about how FFG handles the game. They design a poorly balanced card/mechanic, because they rush releases and ignore their playtesters. Then after that card/mechanic begins to dominate, instead of just going back and fixing the problem at the source with an errata, they try and design their way out of the issue with a new 'fix' card. The 'fix' is just as poorly designed and balanced, causing yet more issues with the game.

You don't design your way out of a design problem.

This.

You sir probably penned it better, but I’ve voiced this concern previously. As a designer by profession (though not games sadly) I saw this process fairly quickly and it was further illuminated in interviews where designers confirmed. Their system is clearly not the best way to help insure optimal project outcome, regardless the genre. (Insert emoji banning his head against a wall here)

2 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Rebels content is decidedly more canon than content from Star Wars: Starfighter. But I think you know that.

When did I ever mention any video games?

2 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Rebels content is decidedly more canon than content from Star Wars: Starfighter. But I think you know that.

Okaaaaay

40 minutes ago, Commander Kaine said:

When did I ever mention any video games?

Well, mentioned or not, I can see it come into play as the Star Wars actual universe, as apposed to the fictional one. Fans and their levels of fandom are amazingly layered. The point I made about the lack of recognizable ships comes from a macro view of Star Wars fans, not micro. Yeah, I get most people who are this deep in the lore, those who post on gaming forums about "what is more cannon or no cannon" is amazingly tiny group of the whole who know what Star Wars is.

I believe if you looked at a cross section of all persons of all ages who have some knowledge of Star Wars, would probably break down --knowledge and recognizable wise-- something like this: 1) the largest group would be those who original trilogy as the very definition of Star Wars and what is cannon (but this may show my age, though statistically this guess is fairly sound), 2) the second largest group would be those who delved into the second set of movies as the prequel to the original trilogy first and it set their Star Wars core (those who liked it probably went right into #1 above if the didn't prior), 3) then you can add quickly the fantastic Rogue One and the first two movies in what I call, the Kylo post-trilogy (this is the newest group, and most probably delved into #1 and maybe even #2 above as fantastic Rogue One sucked many newbies in), 4) then we have those who started with the Rebels or other Star Wars cartoons and this is their base (but I'm sure they went into the others above as they aged into being able too, or this may be added to those who were already into those above), 5) games and books or other media, I believe were probably add-ons selected by those who already were exposed to the sections above, so the games are "in addition too" and not a "freestanding SW group" (I'll bet for simplicity).

With this in mind, it explains why I have been asked many times, "what are you playing?" when there ISN'T some original cannon Wave 1-3 ships on the mat that came from the original trilogy. Sure, once recently I was playing against GhostFenn and a passing kid went, "cool, there's the Ghost" but that was a real outlier against the average I've experienced.

With that in mind, getting original trilogy ships back up the power curve would assist in the local (and I'm guessing global) marketing of the game, and might even make many players a bit more happy with our beautiful game, IMO. It's a solid business decision, that's all.

....sorry, I'm rambling.....where's my tea?

3 hours ago, Commander Kaine said:

Intriguing...

*That feel when you can't tell if the storm trooper is a roleplayer or a psychopath*

10 minutes ago, E Chu Ta said:

*That feel when you can't tell if the storm trooper is a roleplayer or a psychopath*

I guess you'll never know

7 minutes ago, Commander Kaine said:

I guess you'll never know

He'll know

At the end, he'll know...

4 hours ago, Wiredin said:

whatever you do, do not click on any link that shows

4 hours ago, Commander Kaine said:

Intriguing...

55 minutes ago, E Chu Ta said:

*That feel when you can't tell if the storm trooper is a roleplayer or a psychopath*

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT PRESS THIS BIG RED BUTTON!

*shows you were the button is, hands you the keys to the acrylic lock box, and gives you the passcodes*

There's a little Kender in all of us.

I feel like I have successfully derailed this thread.

human curiosity gets all of us eventually... the question is... do you keep going?

2 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

There's a little Kender in all of us.

Not anymore.
That was the weak part.

7 minutes ago, Wiredin said:

I feel like I have successfully derailed this thread.

As if this were a train worth taking. . .

Just now, Darth Meanie said:

As if this were a train worth taking. . .

sometimes you just need the right people to get on the train to make it interesting.

10 minutes ago, Wiredin said:

I feel like I have successfully derailed this thread.

Checked out the sub btw. It's nothing special. You can see worse in any movie, with sad and dramatic music no less.

27 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

There's a little Kender in all of us.

Fun fact, my D&D setting used to have small folk, but at this point they are only present in cryptic proverbs. "You'll disappear like the Halflings" is a common threat.

They were exterminated in a pogrom by other species. This is what happens when in D&D, a species is biologically compelled to be thieves. People don't take kindly to them.

The point is, admitting to your Kender heritage is kind of a no-no. You might wanna be careful with that... Or you know...