The coming points change (and other factors) have left me in an X-Wing slump. Here's my take on the current state of the game. Let me know if you are in a similar place, or completely disagree.

I haven’t played competitive X-Wing since around the time Nymiranda became a thing, so I can’t speak to the tournament meta. I can say that if I was facing the same 1-3 list archetypes all the time, I would get sick of it too.

That being said, I just got back into X-Wing with wave 3, and playing around with Republic and Separatist lists and playing a few games here and there definitely keeps me engaged. My FLGS was always light on Rebel players, and in days long passed I was the most prevalent Rebel player, and with me moving on to different factions, there just isn’t anyone even considering Rebel Beef (or Quad Phantoms, for that matter).

I guess my suggestion is try a casual game or two to try and “fall back in love” as it were? Or wait a week.

Edit: I’ve also read some of your blog posts in the past, and you fly mostly scum, right? They seem like they aren’t in a great place as a faction at the moment, especially against Rebel Beef. I guess what I’m saying is, if I was in a similar position I would probably feel the same way.

I'm simply working my through all the ships I haven't flown in 2nd ed yet.

Got quite a few scum ships to try out, otherwise there's just a handful left to go: Rebel A- and B-Wings, plus Captured Tie, Auzituck, and YT2400; Resistance Falcon; Imperial just the Phantom and that's going on the table this Sunday (just one though); Scum Fang, Firespray, Kihraxz, G1A, Kimogila, Aggressor, Jumpmaster, and Scurrg.

Gotta fly them all!

I am, perhaps, fortunate that no-one in my local crowd flies Rebel Beef - I was the closest, when I was flying 4 X-Wings back in November but the way they exploded there was nothing beefy about them!

25 minutes ago, MidWestScrub said:

The coming points change (and other factors) have left me in an X-Wing slump. Here's my take on the current state of the game. Let me know if you are in a similar place, or completely disagree.

If I played only for tournaments and proving my abilities (even if only to myself) I'd likely be sitting in the same boat.

However...

I actually play the game because I like the game, win or lose. After the last hyperspace trial I knew I had well over a month until the next big thing for me (GenCon) and, so it seems, not even a kit tournament in between. I do however get at least one game a week at the local shop, throwing random stuff up against random stuff. I'm using lists I wouldn't normally use at big events for fear of them flopping, and discovering things I had previously dismissed as bad. The community in general is definitely waiting for the points to drop, but I guess our location decided to go back to experimenting with things that might become good instead of what is good now. (I even saw E-wings, and TIE Interceptors not named Fel, again this week)

Taking breaks is healthy and good.

The game will still be here if half the players take two weeks off and unwind. You end up liking it even more when you come back.

20 minutes ago, Gilarius said:

I am, perhaps, fortunate that no-one in my local crowd flies Rebel Beef - I was the closest, when I was flying 4 X-Wings back in November but the way they exploded there was nothing beefy about them!

To be fair, we locals of @MidWestScrub don't really play much rebel beef. The "breaking" game was me, I guess, wherein I was trying to see if slotting in Jake as the fourth to the typical Wedge/Cassian/Braylen combo would make it more fun to play. Spoiler...nominally. I think I hated playing that game more than him.

@MidWestScrub feeling similarly, and I had the same trouble at the end of Season 0.

I think with tournaments happening year round there’s no longer a clear “off season.” Even if I’m not planning on going to a tournament any time soon, others usually are and will be prepping with a tier 1 squad. Gone are the days of showing up to game night after a regional season and knowing that people will be flying fun, casual lists they’ve been dying to try.

And if you don’t have a tournament coming up until after the points change, it just doesn’t feel worth it to continue putting reps in against the current meta. I’d rather have some time before the meta shake up to decompress and try silly lists with the current points.

Maybe we should be thinking about establishing an off season for Arch Alliance ( @gennataos ) maybe a couple weeks or month before the new points drop. Obviously if people are desperate to go to this or that tournament that’s understandable, but if we as a group have gotten what we want out of the “season” we might declare that game nights are casual unless you specifically set up a competitive game? Just a thought. I know a couple more casual players have stopped coming as often because they don’t want to play against top tier lists all the time.

8 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

@MidWestScrub feeling similarly, and I had the same trouble at the end of Season 0.

I think with tournaments happening year round there’s no longer a clear “off season.” Even if I’m not planning on going to a tournament any time soon, others usually are and will be prepping with a tier 1 squad. Gone are the days of showing up to game night after a regional season and knowing that people will be flying fun, casual lists they’ve been dying to try.

And if you don’t have a tournament coming up until after the points change, it just doesn’t feel worth it to continue putting reps in against the current meta. I’d rather have some time before the meta shake up to decompress and try silly lists with the current points.

Maybe we should be thinking about establishing an off season for Arch Alliance ( @gennataos ) maybe a couple weeks or month before the new points drop. Obviously if people are desperate to go to this or that tournament that’s understandable, but if we as a group have gotten what we want out of the “season” we might declare that game nights are casual unless you specifically set up a competitive game? Just a thought. I know a couple more casual players have stopped coming as often because they don’t want to play against top tier lists all the time.

Wait, not sure who this is, maybe I did at one point?....uuuuh....Patrick?

I'm not sure if casual vs. competitive can ever be truly mandated. I think we should, instead, foster an environment where people feel comfortable saying, "I'm looking for a more casual game" and opting out of more competitive games. I do think our regular Monday night shop has become the more competitively-focused night. Tuesday night virtually doesn't exist. Thursday night is much more casual, but attendance is really spotty (I'll be working on that). Friday nights seems to be growing, offering fairly regular HOTAC and regular games. But, yeah...I think people just need to be more vocal how they want to play the game...I'll post about it on our FB group.

I am right there with you Scrub. With the looming changes to points coming up I find it difficult to want to theory craft and find my desire to play waning. I also hate the current beefy meta because it is such a slog to play through. I just throw bombs at it while hiding in the rocks. Doesn't work, but at least provides some entertainment for me. Luckily my local group plays random side events to break up the monotony of beef battles. A few weeks ago we tried out the Mario Cart variant and tonight we are trying something we created, Golden Gun. If it wasn't for the amazing group of people I have to play with and the fact that we like to change things up every now and then there would be no way I would stick around.

This phenomena is a lot like what happened when 2nd edition was announced last Spring and we had about 4 months to just sit on our hands with the option to play a game that didn't feel vibrant any more.

Change is good; it keeps the game alive and the gaming community interested and healthy. How many players dropped not because of the new edition, but because we knew there wouldn't be anything new going on for such a long stretch that they became bored and moved on and never came back? It was a rough time.

Sadly this lack of interest in the game because of a "solved meta" on top of a known change to the game that hasn't arrived will be typical if FFG keeps to their updates to two times a year. Granted the wait isn't as long for the update than it was for 2nd edition to drop, but the feeling is eerily similar.

For the good of the players, I wish that FFG would do the points change 3 times a year: The beginning of the year, mid to late Spring and late Summer to early Fall.

As a player you can do a few things: play alternate formats (Escalation, Quick Build, Mario-Kart, Tron, Asteroids, etc.), play a faction that you know will change minimally (Separatist and Republic) or likely change for the better (First Order and Scum) or finally: build + fly jank just for the entertainment value. You may be surprised how effective certain "joke" lists are and can help you find synergies and tactics you wouldn't otherwise have come across.

There's hope yet, and buck up. I know it doesn't feel like it, but Change is on the horizon.

21 minutes ago, gennataos said:

Wait, not sure who this is, maybe I did at one point?....uuuuh....Patrick?

I'm not sure if casual vs. competitive can ever be truly mandated. I think we should, instead, foster an environment where people feel comfortable saying, "I'm looking for a more casual game" and opting out of more competitive games. I do think our regular Monday night shop has become the more competitively-focused night. Tuesday night virtually doesn't exist. Thursday night is much more casual, but attendance is really spotty (I'll be working on that). Friday nights seems to be growing, offering fairly regular HOTAC and regular games. But, yeah...I think people just need to be more vocal how they want to play the game...I'll post about it on our FB group.

You got it!

Yeah, maybe my perception is skewed because Monday is my usual night. I agree, it’s hard to mandate one or the other. I think the unspoken assumption is that it’s competitive unless you ask otherwise... I’m just wondering what the possibility of flipping the script occasionally is. It’s hard when the onus is always on the person who wants to play casually to ask.

21 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

You got it!

Yeah, maybe my perception is skewed because Monday is my usual night. I agree, it’s hard to mandate one or the other. I think the unspoken assumption is that it’s competitive unless you ask otherwise... I’m just wondering what the possibility of flipping the script occasionally is. It’s hard when the onus is always on the person who wants to play casually to ask.

Yeah, maybe "training" the competitive crowd to be more cognizant of this is the correct approach.

Honestly, just wait a while! Take a break from the game and build some wacky lists and cool combos. And pretty soon you'll come back due to the ever growing desire to test those lists!

Kinda feeling like that myself... I have a Hyperspace trial this weekend and man, I really wish it were the weekend after that instead... this meta is like General Veers in the third Indiana Jones movie... kind of getting old fast.

29 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

I’m just wondering what the possibility of flipping the script occasionally is.

Won't speak for your store, as it's entirely people related... but our decidedly "odd" meta location flips things up a fair bit to avoid ruts. This is likely our longest run without flipping it... for reasons.

• We drop the Death Star Trench Run in once every two months or so, try to further balance it and such. Not an option for most locations, since not many will build the terrain. Scenarios in general though removes the normal death match mentality.
• We used to drop an epic game once every two months, right up to the point they announced a 2.0 huge ship conversion coming. I've been reluctant to run another one until I see a more professional conversion rather than our Huge ship 1.5 we've been running.
• I like the sound of "Pilot of the Week" I've seen suggested by some. Nominate a janky pilot the week before, everybody builds lists including said pilot, and come back and play it out.
• Quickbuild… um.. ok, we did one QB tournament... Vader won. Think I'm done with that now...

1 hour ago, gennataos said:

Yeah, maybe "training" the competitive crowd to be more cognizant of this is the correct approach.

I guess the main thing is to make sure people bring multiple lists, and then treating “casual” as just another format (e.g. “hyperspace, extended or casual?”)

Local group mainly plays hyperspace avoids lists that feel scummy to play with or against (so far, only rebel beef truly qualifies)

I guess Vader+soontir+bombers could be considered in the same tier, but idk they can be outplayed

Point is, we've been having a good show of things while waiting for the ball to drop on beef. Even scum (lotta fangs of all varieties) makes appearences; we're only really missing First Order and CiS players.

All you need is a tacit agreement not to waste your opponent's time with bull

Or, take a break.

life kicked me in the balls right round before the first points errata, and I didn't come back till a while after my lovely Arcs finally hit the table

I still enjoy playing the game, but I do admit my own list building creativity has taken a huge downturn as I know I only have so much time before I have to redo them because points changes. I’ve been purging my app account of all lists I don’t see myself using before points change, or if it’s one I really want to keep but minor tweaks once I see the new points.

In the meantime, I got the 2400 on the table again without Dash. I’ve got some scum ones to finish out my faction there. I have been keeping tabs on what models have been used and strive to use unused ones.

10 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

I guess the main thing is to make sure people bring multiple lists, and then treating “casual” as just another format (e.g. “hyperspace, extended or casual?”)

That works for folks willing to do so. Sometimes they're there specifically to test/practice for an event, in which case, if I was that player, I'd actively seek out games with other players wanting to do the same. I do agree the onus should be more on the more active players to bring that up than the newer players who aren't necessarily as comfortable doing so.

4 hours ago, svelok said:

Taking breaks is healthy and good.

The game will still be here if half the players take two weeks off and unwind. You end up liking it even more when you come back.

Yeah the break is welcomed. The cyclic down time created by the OP seasonal schedule and points release seems a lot better than just going at it until you burn out.

1 hour ago, WAC47 said:

I guess the main thing is to make sure people bring multiple lists, and then treating “casual” as just another format (e.g. “hyperspace, extended or casual?”)

This also feels like the best idea to me. I consistenly bring stuff for 2-3 different list, often different faction too. When I know someone who is a really good player, i'll take out my best list, but if I play someone else i'll usually ask them what do they want to play against / what level of play do they want to play.

I think the mess around the wave 4 release has put me off more than I thought it would. There were a few lists I wanted to try, I was a lucky Australian who was able to pick up stock on the 6th Jun, only to be told I would have to wait a month to use them. IMO this last wave has been worse than terrible, it shows a distinct lack of professionalism by either Asmodee and/or FFG.

I enjoy 2.0 mostly, it’s implementation has been poor.

7 hours ago, MidWestScrub said:

Let  me  know if you are in a similar place, or completely disagree. 

I disagree, but I don't want to write a rebuttal because this is purely a matter of opinion and you explained very well how you got to yours, so there is nothing to rebut.

Maybe I can instead offer a different point of view, at least on your second point and later also the first. The second point is an opinion I never understood and I still don't.

I don't play tournaments to win any swag or notoriety or anything alike. The reason for me to play tournaments is to play many games at a time, and in an environment where I get to play a bit more seriously. I enjoy competition, and I enjoy it a lot when my opponents and I actually try to play well.

We don't have regular game nights, so tournaments are basically all I have to play the game. And only at tournaments (and vassal) do I get to play different people. Which is especially important for me, personally, because I have the bad tendency to play against my opponent and his/her specific quirks and peculiarities, and not the list.

Second edition is a lot fun to play! Most games are better than no game to me. Even if the matchup is crap: I'm sure there is a specific objective that you can give yourself to train a specific aspect.

The trick for me is to uncouple your fun, your performance, and the endresult of a game. As soon as you do that, it doesn't matter to a large degree whether you play rebel beef or rebel jank.

And then it also doesn't matter whether you play in any tournament or on a game night. You give yourself different operational parameters to enjoy the game, and so you can do just that:

Enjoy the game, independent of rebel beef, and independent of the tournament tier.

43 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

I disagree, but I don't want to write a rebuttal because this is purely a matter of opinion and you explained very well how you got to yours, so there is nothing to rebut.

Maybe I can instead offer a different point of view, at least on your second point and later also the first. The second point is an opinion I never understood and I still don't.

I don't play tournaments to win any swag or notoriety or anything alike. The reason for me to play tournaments is to play many games at a time, and in an environment where I get to play a bit more seriously. I enjoy competition, and I enjoy it a lot when my opponents and I actually try to play well.

We don't have regular game nights, so tournaments are basically all I have to play the game. And only at tournaments (and vassal) do I get to play different people. Which is especially important for me, personally, because I have the bad tendency to play against my opponent and his/her specific quirks and peculiarities, and not the list.

Second edition is a lot fun to play! Most games are better than no game to me. Even if the matchup is crap: I'm sure there is a specific objective that you can give yourself to train a specific aspect.

The trick for me is to uncouple your fun, your performance, and the endresult of a game. As soon as you do that, it doesn't matter to a large degree whether you play rebel beef or rebel jank.

And then it also doesn't matter whether you play in any tournament or on a game night. You give yourself different operational parameters to enjoy the game, and so you can do just that:

Enjoy the game, independent of rebel beef, and independent of the tournament tier.

Well said, and thanks for taking the time to reply so thoroughly.

I expect that my current blog post leads to the erroneous thought that I mainly play in tournaments to win stuff. That is very much not true (I'm typically mid tier at best). I play in tournaments to challenge myself and to meet and see people. More than anything it's the community that I run into at tournaments that keeps me going back for more.

I was disappointed with the last tournament I played in because I very much wanted to go to world's. Not because I thought I might win, or even that I would do well there. I wanted to go because I wanted to hang out with everyone who was going and thought I had to have an invite to go. I did better at that tournament than I have at any other Hyperspace Trials previously, and was disheartened to not have done quite well enough.

That, coupled with the annoyance of having faced the same archetype over and over again at that tournament left me feeling done with the competative scene for a bit.

I think I just needed a bit of a break. Lol.

Last Chance Qualifier! there's still hope.