FFG doesn't really expect you to buy conversion kits so that you can convert every single miniature in a large collection to 2nd edition. The fact is the nature of X-Wing itself is changing. When it released there were only two factions and the releases were all movie ships. It was just sort of assumed everyone would be buying every ship just because they were fans of the franchise.

That is no longer the case.

X-Wing will now have FIVE factions (potentially 7 before it's over). There is no other miniature wargame where the developers intend you to keep up with five different factions at once. And X-Wing doesn't either. That is why they promise we will not have to buy outside a faction any longer and why the conversion kits are by faction.

You're not supposed to buy 2 of every conversion kit if you have a large collection. You are supposed to PICK ONE OR TWO FACTIONS and trade or sell the rest. Nor are you supposed to buy more than one conversion kit if your personal collection goes over what is included in a faction's kit. You are supposed to either hit up ebay to grab single upgrades or wait till the ships are re-released in 2nd Edition blisters and then buy the single ship cardboard upgrades they hinted at on yesterday's live stream. It may just require some patience before every single ship in your collection can be fielded at once. Having patience is a useful trait to acquire.

2nd Edition isn't the end of the world even if you have a large collection and are heavily invested. It is a huge positive for the game and it's community and a huge boon to new players even if it temporarily inconveniences you for a couple of months. And if 1st edition could last 6 years then 2nd edition should last a lot longer than that with a larger design space and easily adjusted point values for balancing.

It's a one time cost for the betterment of the game and it doesn't have to break your bank unless you let it. And you do get a lot for that one time cost, because a lot of your ships that you thought were worthless except for the upgrade cards they came with are now going to be useful again. And many of you didn't mind paying a lot more than $50 to buy epic ships for small ship fixes so in that context this is a very cheap fix for a TON of ships.