I was thinking about several pieces of info that popped up recently and what do they mean for the future of the Rebels as a faction.

- Navaro (FFG Head of Studio) stated in his AMA that both Empire and Rebels are pretty much "complete factions". They will certainly get new pilots with the cards expansion, but probably no new ships until more content (films, series, etc) gets released.

- The excellent rundown by ChahDresh on the state of the game shows that while you can be successful flying rebels, they are nowhere near a top position (joined by other factions, but those expect more content sooner).

So what do you think will be the future of the faction? Stay the course, with a tweak here and there? Or something more radical?

Some things on my mind:

- Some new stellar pilots, maybe familiar names but in different ships or more "evolved" versions. It could be some new force pilots like Corran Horn or Kyle Katarn (though I really hope that the Force doesn't become a clutch or must-have feature to be competitive) or things like Hera in a starfighter.

- Allowing a chassis to be able to be flown in a more swarm-like fashion; Z95s and Awings could be good candidates for this. Perhaps some pilots that act as strength-multipliers similar to inferno squadron?

- Perhaps rebels will find new life as they are in Epic and Missions? They do have a versatile fleet...

I think their future is partially in new pilots but also the fact that the point costs are ever changing. They were kings in the last point cycle... that could always change again.

To be honest, I’m mostly hyped for epic style games with the missions for the rebellion.

18 minutes ago, LUZ_TAK said:

I was thinking about several pieces of info that popped up recently and what do they mean for the future of the Rebels as a faction.

- Navaro (FFG Head of Studio) stated in his AMA that both Empire and Rebels are pretty much "complete factions". They will certainly get new pilots with the cards expansion, but probably no new ships until more content (films, series, etc) gets released.

- The excellent rundown by ChahDresh on the state of the game shows that while you can be successful flying rebels, they are nowhere near a top position (joined by other factions, but those expect more content sooner).

So what do you think will be the future of the faction? Stay the course, with a tweak here and there? Or something more radical?

Some things on my mind:

- Some new stellar pilots, maybe familiar names but in different ships or more "evolved" versions. It could be some new force pilots like Corran Horn or Kyle Katarn (though I really hope that the Force doesn't become a clutch or must-have feature to be competitive) or things like Hera in a starfighter.

- Allowing a chassis to be able to be flown in a more swarm-like fashion; Z95s and Awings could be good candidates for this. Perhaps some pilots that act as strength-multipliers similar to inferno squadron?

- Perhaps rebels will find new life as they are in Epic and Missions? They do have a versatile fleet...

Obviously it's new pilots. The new Card pack will have Sabine Wren in everything! Sabine in a B-Wing? Sure! An E-Wing? Don't even know what that is, but why not! A TIE Defender? No problem! An Aggressor? Both TIE and IG versions! Combined with Sabine getting 3 extra dots added to her name and you can have up to 4 Sabines! The future is here!

On a serious note, it will be interesting to see what all the pilot pack adds.

30 minutes ago, LUZ_TAK said:

Some new stellar pilots, maybe familiar names but in different ships or more "evolved" versions.

This would be nice.

A Hoth mission set could give you Luke Skywalker: Rogue Leader, for example, or (going the other way) Wedge Antilles as a Phoenix Group cadet.

I have been waiting over 3 years for Z-95's (both Rebel and Scum) to get 2-4 more named pilots with good pilot abilities similar to Tie/ln's to use in a 5-7 ship named swarm or as good, cheap fillers. This seems like a huge wasted opportunity. I am again holding out hope that card packs can help with this.

But in general, I just really want to see more named pilots and astromechs from the lore. And would love to see things like Wedge, Luke and Corran in other chassis and missing pilots like Jansen and Tycho to make returns.

Same can be said for more Tie Interceptor pilots and some of the Imperial Aces in other chassis.

14 minutes ago, pickirk01 said:

I have been waiting over 3 years for Z-95's (both Rebel and Scum) to get 2-4 more named pilots with good pilot abilities similar to Tie/ln's to use in a 5-7 ship named swarm or as good, cheap fillers. This seems like a huge wasted opportunity. I am again holding out hope that card packs can help with this.

I would argue the other way.

TIE Fighters as a swarm are iconic. And that should be their "thing".

Secondly, TIE swarm isn't a thing in Extended. Which given HS has basically died with all the major events being Extended, that feels bad.

So having rebel swarm of non-iconic ships (Zs) hard compete with it would be even worse.

The Rebel iconic ships of Xwing, Bwing, Ywings and Han/Lando Falcons are well represented imo.

Faction separation should be respected. Rebels CRUSHED it in the last wave and are still decent. Finalist in the Aus SOS etc. Give it time, the wheel will turn and we will be back to complaining about Rebels again.

Rebels only really need one thing: for I4 to be relevant.

All their greatest pilots are I4, but most of them (not all) get bullied around by I5-6 or by beefy swarms. We’re honestly pretty close to where we should be, it’s mainly the stupid cheap Jedi that are a problem now.

Of course more options would be great as well. Expensive high-I options for the A and B come to mind, and especially more pilots for the Auzituck, E, Z, and K, which hardly have options to speak of.

Alternative titles and refit configs would be cool too, especially a new HWK title and a B-6 prototype title for the B-Wing.

But honestly most things can be fixed through costing. Rebel 4x I4 would be awesome if 4xI5 lists weren’t possible/frequently seen.

Maybe if they stopped nerfing Hatin’ Kanan...

For real, I think a lot more options will open up if they knock the named B’s up a couple more points, Leia gets a few more well deserved points, or other ships get a bit cheaper. Any mix of those three things, really. It just doesn’t feel like there’s much of a choice when you can have Ten or Braylen for their respective costs, and while I don’t hate them, I’d like more diversity to show up again.

I’d die for another Wookiee pilot, but K2SO seems like another solid option for the U-Wing, and with Leia as another i5 Falcon pilot (here’s hoping she’s got a stellar pilot ability like the other Rebel Falcon pilots), things will hopefully shake up a touch when the card packs drop anyways

Even if they don’t produce new ships for the faction, any new generic upgrade that’s added to the game could freshen up some of the ships depending on abilities. And hopefully they can add new pilots that have effects around the new game mechanics, such as strain, to keep the faction feeling “new.”

It's sad that we never get the chance to fly the Otana, it could have been a very good expansion.

1 hour ago, LUZ_TAK said:

- The excellent rundown by ChahDresh on the state of the game shows

Wow, "X-Wing is in a good spot" lasted, what, 2 hours??

1 hour ago, ScummyRebel said:

I think their future is partially in new pilots but also the fact that the point costs are ever changing. They were kings in the last point cycle... that could always change again.

To be honest, I’m mostly hyped for epic style games with the missions for the rebellion.

All of this.

The future of the game is in paper products. No faction is complete now that card packs are really a thing.

Rebs are going to see:

• Gina Moonsong (A/SF-01 B-Wing)
• K-2SO (UT-60D U-Wing)
• Leia Organa (Modified YT-1300)
• Alexsandr Kallus (VCX-100)

and this still leaves Merrick and Blue Squadron, Pops, Tiree, Tycho, all of the lesser Red squadron pilots, Wraith Squadron, etc. etc. in development.

We may have all the ships for awhile, but pilots that could come along are a-plenty.

6 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

and this still leaves Merrick and Blue Squadron, Pops, Tiree, Tycho, all of the lesser Red squadron pilots, Wraith Squadron, etc. etc. in development.

I want Janson back; was always fun to say “good shot Janson!” after he deals damage.

I hope Rebel players will gradually stop playing the faction so it fades into obscurity, then FFG will ban it once and for all.

Six factions is enough.

3 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

I want Janson back; was always fun to say “good shot Janson!” after he deals damage.

100%.

FFG needs to give priority to pilots with a High Quotability Index!!!

Someday, we'll all get to scream "I lost Tiree!!"

One other note: while Rebels have the most ships languishing on the sidelines, they also have the most ships available, as well.

14 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

Alexsandr Kallus (VCX-100)

Woah woah woah what? How did I miss this??

1 hour ago, pickirk01 said:

I have been waiting over 3 years for Z-95's (both Rebel and Scum) to get 2-4 more named pilots with good pilot abilities similar to Tie/ln's to use in a 5-7 ship named swarm or as good, cheap fillers. This seems like a huge wasted opportunity. I am again holding out hope that card packs can help with this.

But in general, I just really want to see more named pilots and astromechs from the lore. And would love to see things like Wedge, Luke and Corran in other chassis and missing pilots like Jansen and Tycho to make returns.

Same can be said for more Tie Interceptor pilots and some of the Imperial Aces in other chassis.

Same. I love my Z-95s. I want them to be better and have more useful pilots.

Bossk may actually be a good pilot for the Zs. Slap Marksmanship on him and call it good.

Except for maybe some esoteric ships left, Rebellion and Empire are indeed mostly complete. There really isn’t anything new they need, just re-releases of their v1 ship.

As for the Rebellion’s role, they are the epitome of a faction that is very forgiving and tanky. The vast majority of their ships can take a beating beyond what most other factions have to offer, and astromech options are abundant. The result is a faction made up predominantly of 1 to 2 agility fighters with upwards of 6 to 9 total hit points, and 1/3rd of those hit points typically being shielding. Anything that doesn’t fit that mould, is either an A-Wing, a spammy Z-95, or a specialist of some kind (e.g. Attack Shutte or Phantom 2). The Rebels can afford to make some mistakes and still come out on top, even going so far as having something like a B-Wing end up jousting a Defender at Range 1, blanking it’s sole defense die, eating 4 crits from the defender, and flying past without a scratch on it’s hull (and possibly a shield left if it took an upgrade). You just don’t get that kind of tankiness and forgiving play from any other faction in the game. And it makes sense for Rebels to have that as a thematic feature, because they are the OT “good guy” faction that new players will disproportionately gravitate towards. Points being what they are, will tend to be the deciding factor on how prevalent they are at winning tournaments.

What Rebels need more than anything else, is just simply some more pilots for the ships that are lacking some. A-Wings, B-Wings, Z-95s, maybe even another ARC-170 pilot or two, Corran Horn in an X-Wing with force powers, force-using Kyle Katarn in a Raven’s Claw, etc.

2 minutes ago, MegaSilver said:

Same. I love my Z-95s. I want them to be better and have more useful pilots.

The more I think about it, the more I would prefer new pilots to new ships. The poor Y-Wing has been waiting for 6 years to get pilots that appear in Ep. 4.

I think every chassis should have at least 5-6 pilots, and up to 10-12 would be alright by me. And now that wings are a thing, more generics would be great for themed wings, like Scythe Squadron TIEs.

Rebels really aren't that dead, you guys. T here's as many Rebel lists making cut as CIS or FO.

Rebels feel dead because they went from like 40% of the meta to like 13% overnight. But 13% is basically where a faction ought to be when there's seven of them!

Anyways I'm sure some new Rebel content will pop up here and there in some series or another with how many are in the oven.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

... or (going the other way) Wedge Antilles as a Phoenix Group cadet.

Even a lower initiative (4? 5?) Wedge in an A-Wing would be really nice. Wedge's ability would make his 2-dice pea-shooter relevant.

1 hour ago, pickirk01 said:

... and missing pilots like Jansen and Tycho to make returns.

I hope the pilots return, but maybe not the abilities. Tycho's ability is kind of boring. 1e Wes' ability was a nasty, nasty thing that I'd hate to see come back. FFG rightly reduce the range of Jam, and bringing back long-range, high-init Jams would be something that I do not want.

2 hours ago, MasterShake2 said:

Obviously it's new pilots. The new Card pack will have Sabine Wren in everything! Sabine in a B-Wing? Sure! An E-Wing? Don't even know what that is, but why not! A TIE Defender? No problem! An Aggressor? Both TIE and IG versions! Combined with Sabine getting 3 extra dots added to her name and you can have up to 4 Sabines! The future is here!

On a serious note, it will be interesting to see what all the pilot pack adds.

Sabine Wren (30) (unlimited)

Crew (or Huge equivalent)

Setup: Remove this upgrade to deploy any ship from any faction. Remove any name, cost, initiative, and pilot ability from the ship, and make it an I3 with the name Sabine Wren, and the pilot ability "Before you activate, you may perform a <barrel roll> or <boost> action."

(Note to self: Look up how Sabine's Gozanti would perform a barrel roll...)

The future of the rebel faction will be a combination of tweaks and card packs. I wouldnt be shocked if they do a rebel starter kit at some point like the republic and separatists with new pilots/paint job to sweeten the deal.

With seven factions I will expect that you will see factions/archetypes go from 1st to worst more often.

Most people will move onto the "new thing" instead of trying to tweak the familiar list when points change.

32 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I hope the pilots return, but maybe not the abilities. Tycho's ability is kind of boring. 1e Wes' ability was a nasty, nasty thing that I'd hate to see come back. FFG rightly reduce the range of Jam, and bringing back long-range, high-init Jams would be something that I do not want.

They could always balance his ability or just flat give him a new one. Thane got a new ability without stealing an old one from an EU pilot for example. I could see limiting 1.0 Janson to bullseye only? Or maybe his new ability is “green tokens have no impact against Janson’s primary weapon attack” so it’s sorta like his 1.0 ability in the sense he can ignore the tokens, but he won’t strip them off so you can’t have them?

4 minutes ago, reqent said:

The future of the rebel faction will be a combination of tweaks and card packs. I wouldnt be shocked if they do a rebel starter kit at some point like the republic and separatists with new pilots/paint job to sweeten the deal.

If the paint looks cool, I’m all in!

Although as far as squad packs go, I know it’ll never happen because not canon but I still want my Hawk-bats themed scum interceptors

1 hour ago, It’s One Of Ours said:

force powers, force-using

L e t

i t

g o...

1 hour ago, theBitterFig said:

Even a lower initiative (4? 5?) Wedge in an A-Wing would be really nice. Wedge's ability would make his 2-dice pea-shooter relevant.

I hope the pilots return, but maybe not the abilities. Tycho's ability is kind of boring. 1e Wes' ability was a nasty, nasty thing that I'd hate to see come back. FFG rightly reduce the range of Jam, and bringing back long-range, high-init Jams would be something that I do not want.

I agree 100%. I want to be able to fly the names together. The abilities are less important. And of course there are ways to make the old abilities similar but less powerful by restricting to bullseye, using the charge system, etc.