Re-posting some quick positive thoughts on 2.0 from ten or so proxy games I have played. Invite you to share some of your own early reactions to 2.0 games you might have played or seen.

• Actions Feel More Rewarding :
  • I tend to consider action choices a little more slowly to not lose an action
  • So far at least there aren't so many ways to modify dice without taking an action so there is more to consider.
  • I dont just already have a focus or an evade etc. I have to "do something" to get that stuff even if its just pick up a token and put it next to the ship.
  • That means it feels like I am a little more responsible for the outcome of each round in slightly different ways.
  • The biggest one for me is I cant just PTL my way out of trouble every turn (I tended to run 2 Aces and a Striker alot of times the Aces have PTL equivalents)
  • I have run Vader almost exclusively for the past 12 months and the ability to take different combinations of Focus/TL/Barrel Roll/Boost/Evade has honestly become a huge crutch
  • From a few proxy games sure I have force charges, but I am choosing from basically 3 actions now
  • Fewer Options that Matter More can apparently be fun to?
  • I am looking forward to trying out Afterburners a bit more.
  • Dials, Actions, the last rounds decisions....it all just feels that much more impact full.
• Blocking Matters
  • Because my opponent often only is taking a Focus to modify dice catching things on a Block ends up feeling more important
  • Sure...Force Users can still partial Poe their dice, but it got to the point in 1.0 that everything seemed to have Advanced Optics/Rey or Sensors or some kind of Passive Modification.
  • In the few proxy games I have played so far Blocks have been massively important, almost always game changing moments especially if I can get blocks over a couple consecutive rounds ( easier to do with more ships )
  • That means that ships that move first suddenly feel more impact full, I can out guess my opponent and be rewarded for it rather than just be messed up and taking a bomb next turn.
• Bombs Are Less Annoying
  • Keeping them in the new System Phase feels great
  • If I take a Bomb I had a ton of information leading up to it to avoid the Bomb.
  • My opponent isn't just reacting to a board state and going through the motions like I was occasionally able to do with my Vader in 1.0
  • That means I am not just watching the inevitable happen if I don't have control baked into my list via Ion/Stress etc
• Almost Everything Takes Damage
  • This one is hard to describe
  • I was already very used to one sides of this with Vader just evaporating if i did something dumb.
  • But Token stacked Inquisitor had also let me put the ship in stupid places so many different times its ridiculous
  • With 2.0 going into a game and im just kinda accepting the fact that everything I put on the table could be destroyed at any moment, not just the ship I use to manufacture that feeling in 1.0 (Strikers, Vader, etc)
  • It goes both ways basically, I am not afraid of never doing damage to my opponents ships if I choose my actions right and coordinate fire over at least 2 turns correctly.
  • I don't have to escalate my lists Damage Potential to keep up with single ships with 10+ Hp and the equivalent of 3 modified green dice.
  • And I don't have to escalate my lists own defensive capabilities to extreme levels either.
  • I know there is still a good deal of optimization that I will do and we all will do. Its not like I wont try to maximize my lists offense and defense.
  • But, there is a really seriously positive impact on your mind set in a game that you go into expecting a 50/50 or to take some losses
  • Versus a game where your basic strategy before and during the game is to never lose more than 1 ship
• Lists with 4+ Ships Are Fun
  • Since I started playing X-Wing last year I have never played against a list with more than 4 ships in it during the 3 high level major tournaments I attended.
  • The closest thing to a swarm I ever saw on the table was actually FSR2, Quad Wookies, and Quad TLT.
  • I have played against Swarms and other higher ship count lists it on Vassal and on Casual Nights all the time but when I did it always seemed like a novelty in 1.0, like reading a history book.
  • I took barely any damage, they lost a ship per turn, the game usually just ended...
  • Now though and this relates to the Everything Takes Damage comment...a couple cheap Tie Fighters even if its just 4+ Vader or 3 Tie Strikers and a Lambda, it maybe just kinda works?
  • Sure the Swarm still loses a ship per turn but it seems more capable of taking something down with it.
• Turrets Are Less Annoying
  • The existence of 2.0 is liberating in the sense that we can finally stop being "politically correct" about 360 Turret Mechanics, no one really was holding back before but you get what I mean.
  • Its been over discussed at this point but it wasnt fun to have to fight against ships with "No Escape" AOE Zones
  • Genius Nym was probably the worst offender in this regard in my limited experience
  • Basically the combo of Advanced Sensors Bomb AOE & the relentlessness of a TLT
  • It actually was the specific ship that drove me to using Kylo Crew and finding ways to throw 14+ nearly fully modified Red Dice as often as possible
  • Now though.... I dont feel like I "need" to depend on a Blinded Pilot Card or a High PS Alpha Strike to deal with Turret ships
  • Turrets always felt like an HP Countdown which is fine on paper, some ships should have more hull vs agility etc.
  • But in 1.0 basically my opponent was going to do X amt of damage without fail to my ships per turn no matter what and I had X amt of turns to keep up.
  • This is still basically true but I don't feel as much pressure to basically "skip" one of those turns either via a huge damage spike or a huge defensive spike
  • So Turret Counter Play Options now more regularly includes the following: Staying out of Arc and Focus Fire from Multiple Ships
  • It sounds really simple because it kinda is? The 2nd one there was technically true before its just more true now?
• Dash is on the watch list but he doesn't scare me yet
  • So far I have played with and against "worst case" Dash twice
  • Random aside its weird doing Crit Damage
  • Having the Range bonus when defending at Range 2-3 is a blessing, and it matters alot.
  • Pretending he has Luke Gunner ( we dont know for sure yet ) the choice between spending an Action and Rotating the Arc and Saving the Action or the Force seemed significant
  • Maybe its all the reps I have using 3 named Tie Strikers against Dash in 1.0 but fighting 2.0 Dash felt much better
  • This was mainly because his Offense and Defense was just bad enough that again see above ships take damage now
  • Dash's damage output seems just low enough that the 2nd ship in the list determines a lot about how fast the HP Countdown moves
  • I think he will only be as good as his wingman but will probably still be a "barrier to entry" list of some kind like he was in 1.0
  • That said the counterplay is different, focus fire is a legitimate option its not just a generic useless little tag line
  • If you want to get a feel for this just play against 1.0 Dash but without Expertise, Lone Wolf, PTL, Countermeasures, Rey, or Glitterstim. Even with the 360...he just dies.
• Force Users
  • Ok so this one is really hard for me to get an early read on...
  • There are so many Force Crew that the possible combos seem potentially game breaking just on paper.
  • I am not sure how I feel about Force Users being able to modify Focus Results when you are stressed or bumped, maybe the rules will prevent that and I think I would prefer it that way
  • Force Powers in general are pretty incredible.
  • Stuff with Force Charges seems to hit harder since ships like the Grand Inquisitor and Luke can roll up and Target Lock instead of focus and still survive/do damage
• Charges Feel Better
  • Wont go into to much detail but this is absolutely huge...
  • There are all kinds of mechanics and cards that essentially break fundamental "rules" about X-Wing.
  • But if you put charges on them suddenly its slightly less annoying to deal with
  • And slightly more interesting to use even
  • Its like adding Stamina to an ARPG that only has Health and Mana.
  • Special Moves that can be used infinitely don't feel special, they feel cheap.
  • That doesnt mean FFG should feel like its ok to make extreme mechanics like Supernatural Reflexes cheap, but it does give them another option to balance things out.
• Bullseye Arcs Are AMAZING
  • "Worth repeating"
  • Seriously....the first time I lined up a Predator Bullseye or Crackshot or 2.0 Procket....its massively rewarding.
  • You to can be better than your opponent at X-Wing.
  • Now we have a very tangible and real metric of who is better, Bullseyes per Game.

Stuff I haven't experimented with yet and want to know more about...

• How easily can Rebel Synergy lists get full mods on multiple shots via Coordinate and Pilot Abilities etc?
  • There is no more Miranda, no more pt fortress Poe...cant just small base tank run to time anymore
  • But that doesnt mean there isnt a seriously good FSR2 style list buried deep deep within the Rebel Faction's assigned thematic identity of teamwork
  • Really curious to see how this type of stuff plays out
  • The nerfs to Lowhrick are big but the balancing of Defensive mechanics for Rebels have always been a problem and I see it as an area that FFG will have to actively pt adjust.
• How good will Supernatural Reflexes and Advanced Sensors actually be in 2.0?
  • The situation I imagine is what would happen if the Kylo Silencer was 100% unchanged in 2.0 ( Standard 1.0 Advanced Sensors, PTL, Optics, Thrusters, Etc. )
  • If Kylo only ever had to play against things that care about Arcs things would get dumb real fast
  • So stuff that lets you adjust significantly after you set your dial is high on my list of concerns.
  • When Arcs matter, dials matter, and when dials matter Intel Agent or Advanced Sensors equivalents are a real threat to the game, even coordinate in an extreme case.
• Most importantly, I think A-Wings and Tie Strikers going to be a real actual thing I get to play?