Like the title says, I question the devs decision regarding Vader Crew. Having flow him a lot on Vermeil alongside 0-0-0 as his crew, which is the best platform for Vader anyway I don't see how they fixed this card. Whisper does not necessarily need Vader as her crew, as long as he is in the squad somewhere to remove tokens, Juke works just as well. Not to mention Fifth brother on her is as solid as ever!
I used to be bumped that Agent Kallus was only for attack or that the cheapest force user crew before the changes was Seventh Sister. I am actually happy that Phantoms have a cheaper force user they can equip now. Even without a crew slot Whisper or Echo with Juke and Fifth Brother is gonna be bonkers and is not even more expensive than before the points change for having a force user on them!

What should have be done to address this problem IMO is to make Vader a 2 crew slot upgrade card. Furthermore if you want to change the phantoms, it would have been better to put a point cap to about 8, like the 1.0 bomber title used to have, to the crews they can equip. Giving them a cheaper force user is not fixing the problem but relocating it.

For comparison before the points change:

Whisper + Juke + Seventh Sister: 68
Echo + Juke + Seventh Sister: 66

after:

Whisper + Juke + Fifth Brother: 68 no change!
Echo + Juke + Fifth Brother: 64 total -2 points!

This combo here is still as good as before and have plenty of room for another Ace or a punisher with barrage rockets...

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v5!s!183:115,63,26,-1:;199:123,-1,82,-1:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Well, for me personally, the Force point on Whisper/Vader was not the issue for me. The issue was Vader taking away a green token or damaging my ship, and then juking Whisper blasting through more damge. The Force was always negligible, even when I was flying Cloak n Choke, the major issue was the additional damage/removal of tokens that let Whisper be even more efficient.

Now with Fifth Brother, Whisper still has the Force point, but the actual card ability is not as powerful, as it is just upping a normal Force-modded attack to a crit instead of just a hit. Still powerful, but not as bad.

Well, personally, I think Sloane was another problem that was fixed by this upgrade. The problem wasn't that you had a Force user on a Phantom; it's that you had an incredibly potent ability on a platform that could be everywhere it needed to be and was very difficult to hit. Now, the Phantoms still have access to a Force User, but the big abilities have to go on shuttles that are a bit more vulnerable, and take more planning to position properly.

7 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Well, personally, I think Sloane was another problem that was fixed by this upgrade. The problem wasn't that you had a Force user on a Phantom; it's that you had an incredibly potent ability on a platform that could be everywhere and was very difficult to hit. Now, the Phantoms still have access to a Force User, but the big abilities have to go on shuttles that are a bit more vulnerable, and take more planning to position properly.

I agree and disagree.
Yes phantoms lost the ability to have a very potent crew like Sloane on them but still have a very potent force user on them. Sloane can go on Vermeil that is not as vulnerable as shuttles and can be equally hard to hit. Just try Vermeil with Sloane and 0-0-0 and tell me if you like it, the meta will just adjust to the changes really quick.

2 minutes ago, tsondaboy said:

I agree and disagree.
Yes phantoms lost the ability to have a very potent crew like Sloane on them but still have a very potent force user on them. Sloane can go on Vermeil that is not as vulnerable as shuttles and can be equally hard to hit. Just try Vermeil with Sloane and 0-0-0 and tell me if you like it, them meta will just adjust to the changes really quick.

When I say "shuttle", I mean Reapers as well as Lambda s. And yes, the Reaper is a formidable craft, but it still doesn't have the free Evade tokens and 2-4 agility of a Phantom (not to mention being on a larger, easier to hit base). The point wasn't to make Imperial crew worthless; just to make them require a little more thought to use effectively.

4 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

When I say "shuttle", I mean Reapers as well as Lambda s. And yes, the Reaper is a formidable craft, but it still doesn't have the free Evade tokens and 2-4 agility of a Phantom (not to mention being on a larger, easier to hit base). The point wasn't to make Imperial crew worthless; just to make them require a little more thought to use effectively.

Agreed but you also need to take in account the major cost reduction of the Decimator. Whisper Chirpy is back on the menu. But again like you say that was always a list that require skill to fly, likewise as the Reaper. Overall I am actually happy with the change

Also the Reaper can’t go slow as effectively as the shuttle, and makes it a far less effective craft than the Lambda for Slone, in most lists.

I say this as someone who is very good with the Reaper. They are the best Death Troopers carrier though.

4 hours ago, millertime059 said:

Also the Reaper can’t go slow as effectively as the shuttle...

The Reaper's like,