10 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

there’s no good way to stop scalpers and whales from buying dozens or hundreds,

"Limit 2 Per Person."

Ah, that was easy. . .

But seriously, FFG has to have some idea of how many units of each ship get purchased on an initial print run. Make that many with a little bit of overage or underage depending on what they think is appropriate for sales and demand.

There is no point in scalpers buying dozens or hundreds, because if that many are made, they are no longer collectible/limited. If there is a limit on 2 Per Person and you have to go thru FFG, even the most demented deviant could probably only score a dozen or so.

And, to be honest, IMHO the whole point here is to screw the scalpers in the first place: make the ship easy enough to get that there is no immediate secondary market. In a couple of years it might be a "vintage" piece, but if you want to speculate on toys and have $250 bucks worth of plastic sitting in your basement for 2-3 years, good for you.

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EDIT: For my part, I hope I can snag one. I just started playing, and I have intentionally gone for the non-Clone Wars era factions first. I still want a silver N-1, but if I don’t get it, I don’t get it, and I’ll just get yellow ones when I inevitably get to the Clone Wars. But if this were a Limited Edition TLJ Poe’s T-70 in orange, or a Limited Edition Falcon with its sensor dish snapped off from Endor, or something I cared about more deeply, I would be a bit pissed if I couldn’t get one.

I have wanted them all because I love Star Wars. If I can't get this one, it will be my 3rd failure.

And eventually, if they stick with this program, they will hit everyone's "BUT THAT'S THE ONE I REALLY WANTED!!!!!"

Again, something I think is unwise to do to your fan base.

After the failings of the latest wave releases, the randomness of which country gets what. B&N breaking street dates etc etc etc. I really have lost any sense of caring I had about getting one of these.
The marketing of Armada and X Wing has been woeful for a little while now, long before Covid was a thing and it’s really driving my interest in the game right down. Dates mean nothing, stock is never in production and what they hype is completely random when it becomes available. The SSD for Armada took 12 months to become available after it was first advertised, it took me 4-5 weeks after official release date to get a TIE/ba. I don’t read the news articles anymore as I prefer to wait until it’s on the shelves to even care about any of it.

10 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

I have wanted them all because I love Star Wars. If I can't get this one, it will be my 3rd failure.

And eventually, if they stick with this program, they will hit everyone's "BUT THAT'S THE ONE I REALLY WANTED!!!!!"

Again, something I think is unwise to do to your fan base.

Does Plo’s Delta really count when it was never for sale? Or was there one I missed?

We’ll have to see how this one goes... I don’t know what their solution will be for the sale of these. Hopefully they realize f5 fest won’t work (I’m scared the delay is they’re just upgrading the hardware pronto to accommodate the load).

3 hours ago, Archangelspiv said:

I don’t read the news articles anymore as I prefer to wait until it’s on the shelves to even care about any of it.

Whoa. It's like being a consumer in the Pre Internet Era. 😉

1 hour ago, ScummyRebel said:

Does Plo’s Delta really count when it was never for sale?

FOMO doesn't worry about real-world accessibility. 😎

15 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

"Limit 2 Per Person."

Ah, that was easy. . .

But seriously, FFG has to have some idea of how many units of each ship get purchased on an initial print run. Make that many with a little bit of overage or underage depending on what they think is appropriate for sales and demand.

There is no point in scalpers buying dozens or hundreds, because if that many are made, they are no longer collectible/limited. If there is a limit on 2 Per Person and you have to go thru FFG, even the most demented deviant could probably only score a dozen or so.

And, to be honest, IMHO the whole point here is to screw the scalpers in the first place: make the ship easy enough to get that there is no immediate secondary market. In a couple of years it might be a "vintage" piece, but if you want to speculate on toys and have $250 bucks worth of plastic sitting in your basement for 2-3 years, good for you.

I have wanted them all because I love Star Wars. If I can't get this one, it will be my 3rd failure.

And eventually, if they stick with this program, they will hit everyone's "BUT THAT'S THE ONE I REALLY WANTED!!!!!"

Again, something I think is unwise to do to your fan base.

I know a guy (not a friend) who, as soon as tickets for his favorite band go on sale, uses five or ten different fake names, friends and relatives’ credit cards, and other tricks to get scores of tickets despite limits on how many he supposedly can buy. Then he waits, and scalps them for several times retail and makes a disgusting amount of extra cash. There are people in the collectibles market who will absolutely do the same thing. ****, if I were a real jackass, I could use the cards of several family members to buy up a dozen of these suckers (if they ever actually go on sale) and probably make $50-$100 on each of them in a few months.

Fortunately, I just want one. 🙂

I'm hoping the intent of the online sale is to in part have a larger pool of product to sell. With luck, if that hope holds, the only real after market will be well after they're sold out for some time, and the best price they might get is 40. And that may only be to collectors new coming to the game after the official sale.

Then again, hope with FFG is like warming yourself with a match at the south Pole in winter.

2 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

I'm hoping the intent of the online sale is to in part have a larger pool of product to sell. With luck, if that hope holds, the only real after market will be well after they're sold out for some time, and the best price they might get is 40. And that may only be to collectors new coming to the game after the official sale.

This.

7 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

I know a guy (not a friend) who, as soon as tickets for his favorite band go on sale, uses five or ten different fake names, friends and relatives’ credit cards, and other tricks to get scores of tickets despite limits on how many he supposedly can buy. Then he waits, and scalps them for several times retail and makes a disgusting amount of extra cash. There are people in the collectibles market who will absolutely do the same thing. ****, if I were a real jackass, I could use the cards of several family members to buy up a dozen of these suckers (if they ever actually go on sale) and probably make $50-$100 on each of them in a few months.🙂

Because the way to defeat this kind of an a****** is to make enough product that demand is satisfied by the primary source. These minis are not limited to the number of seats in the theater, there are limited only by quantity produced. FFG 100% gets to choose how many people can get one. I've simply been advocating that FFG tries its best to meet initial demand with an understanding from both ends that this is not a "forever product," and thus still "limited edition."

2 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

I'm hoping the intent of the online sale is to in part have a larger pool of product to sell.

In this case it has more to do with “everyone was mad at us for a true convention exclusive so let’s put a few online” than having a larger pool. And then when the convention got cancelled they had to offload these “2020 convention exclusives” somehow so they planned to sell them all online. It has nothing to do with a better inventory plan.

11 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

FOMO doesn't worry about real-world accessibility. 😎

I suppose that’s fair. I mean, it is an irrational fear. I do empathize that you’ve missed two for two and we don’t know what’s coming for the third.

I missed the first but didn’t care (I recognize that doesn’t mean everyone should feel the same). The second I managed to get because it was local-ish to me (45 min drive which for that sort of event is local) and was able to participate in that event (last chance qual into it). I totally get that isn’t the case for everyone. I like the idea of a worlds prize that’s unique, even if I don’t make it in (and if I had bad luck that would have been me anyway). But, I get not everyone feels the same.

I will be honest I’ve had fomo moments during the lockdown “what nothing is going on? I’ll be so far behind!!! Wait.... everyone else is on pause too”

7 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

I know a guy (not a friend) who, as soon as tickets for his favorite band go on sale, uses five or ten different fake names, friends and relatives’ credit cards, and other tricks to get scores of tickets despite limits on how many he supposedly can buy. Then he waits, and scalps them for several times retail and makes a disgusting amount of extra cash. There are people in the collectibles market who will absolutely do the same thing. ****, if I were a real jackass, I could use the cards of several family members to buy up a dozen of these suckers (if they ever actually go on sale) and probably make $50-$100 on each of them in a few months.

Fortunately, I just want one. 🙂

You could, but if you did you’d be part of the problem. And honestly, with how their load was when they tried to sell it I bet no more than 2 accounts would get it before they sold out. Possibly even just one account.

9 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

You could, but if you did you’d be part of the problem. And honestly, with how their load was when they tried to sell it I bet no more than 2 accounts would get it before they sold out. Possibly even just one account.

If we had to speculate. How many people do you think was trying to log on to buy one? 500? 1000? 5000? I’m curious as to how many x-wing-ers are present enough in the game to buy one given a time and date.

3 hours ago, TrollCandy said:

If we had to speculate. How many people do you think was trying to log on to buy one? 500? 1000? 5000? I’m curious as to how many x-wing-ers are present enough in the game to buy one given a time and date.

I imagine the number was much much much higher. Thinking like multiple tens of thousands of people logging in. Consider the ones who could make it to the convention in the first place where likely a thousand by them selves. This is a move to get a direct sale to a tremendously larger audience.

They should have made the ship a prize for an in store op....and then sell a retail version at next restock

22 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

I imagine the number was much much much higher. Thinking like multiple tens of thousands of people logging in. Consider the ones who could make it to the convention in the first place where likely a thousand by them selves. This is a move to get a direct sale to a tremendously larger audience.

Oh wow. I figured I’d be in the thousands but didn’t think much past 5k or so.

20 hours ago, Wayne Argabright said:

They should have made the ship a prize for an in store op....and then sell a retail version at next restock

That would actually be a very nice addition to store tournament prize kits. They have limited edition alt art cards in the seasonal prize kits, right?

23 minutes ago, pakirby said:

That would actually be a very nice addition to store tournament prize kits. They have limited edition alt art cards in the seasonal prize kits, right?

It would jack the price of the prize kits for stores up significantly. I don’t like this idea much. I’d rather the limited paint ships be a seasonal release period like @Darth Meanie suggests, or have them be a participant souvenir at major events (oh, you registered for Adepticon? Here’s your included toy. Same for other System Opens and maybe Worlds as well, and make the SO series the same prize kit so it’s not pressure to hit more than one). Having them be a prize to earn at that level is no different than having them be unobtainable to most people.

The prize kits are pretty much all alt art cards, with the occasional tokens exception. They have had other prizes in store championships/regionals/hyperspace quals, but never something to the level of the ship. It’s usually dice, range rulers, etc. for store champs this year it was damage decks at top 4 and alt punchboard and dial covers for top 8.

10 hours ago, TrollCandy said:

Oh wow. I figured I’d be in the thousands but didn’t think much past 5k or so.

Consider too, it may actually cost them more to do smaller print runs on the model. Possibly. That would be up to the manufacturer. But it's not uncommon for smaller runs to Ironically cost more of many things.

More importantly, the small runs they sold previously as a promotion only to see the price hike a thousand percent after market, that probably felt bad. They want a piece of that action. Doing a print run off a say 10k units, if they knew they would likely sell every single one would be very appealing to them. As it stands there's probably a few thousand units of many SKUs sitting in back stock right now they would love to move.

53 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

It would jack the price of the prize kits for stores up significantly. I don’t like this idea much. I’d rather the limited paint ships be a seasonal release period like @Darth Meanie suggests, or have them be a participant souvenir at major events (oh, you registered for Adepticon? Here’s your included toy. Same for other System Opens and maybe Worlds as well, and make the SO series the same prize kit so it’s not pressure to hit more than one). Having them be a prize to earn at that level is no different than having them be unobtainable to most people.

The prize kits are pretty much all alt art cards, with the occasional tokens exception. They have had other prizes in store championships/regionals/hyperspace quals, but never something to the level of the ship. It’s usually dice, range rulers, etc. for store champs this year it was damage decks at top 4 and alt punchboard and dial covers for top 8.

problem is current op prizes are pretty lame.. so it jacks the store op price by a 15 bucks.. just have folks adjust the op play price accordingly. i would rather be playing for a cool ship than, tokens that look like coins, or altart cards that are not even as cool as the original in some cases. or some kind of plastic bit that i ALL READY HAVE..

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ALT PAINT HOWL RUNNER?

12 minutes ago, Wayne Argabright said:

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ALT PAINT HOWL RUNNER?

Never heard of this nor saw anything about it.

13 minutes ago, Wayne Argabright said:

problem is current op prizes are pretty lame.. so it jacks the store op price by a 15 bucks.. just have folks adjust the op play price accordingly.

Opinion, not fact. And we don’t know what the pricing impact looks like in reality. Also, the OP kits these days are more about rewarding attendance for open play than for hosting tournaments. They have some tournament kits as well.

I think the negative press will hurt ffg more than any benefit from a few ship hunters like you. For almost everyone, you’re asking them to pay more for the same benefit.

6 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

Consider too, it may actually cost them more to do smaller print runs on the model. Possibly. That would be up to the manufacturer. But it's not uncommon for smaller runs to Ironically cost more of many things.

More importantly, the small runs they sold previously as a promotion only to see the price hike a thousand percent after market, that probably felt bad. They want a piece of that action. Doing a print run off a say 10k units, if they knew they would likely sell every single one would be very appealing to them. As it stands there's probably a few thousand units of many SKUs sitting in back stock right now they would love to move.

Do you think it’s fair to say that FFG did do a print run in the thousands for th N-1?

On 4/7/2020 at 10:39 PM, ForceSensitive said:

I imagine the number was much much much higher. Thinking like multiple tens of thousands of people logging in. Consider the ones who could make it to the convention in the first place where likely a thousand by them selves. This is a move to get a direct sale to a tremendously larger audience.

I really don’t know about multiple tens of thousands of people. That seems really high.

Even if there are enough people playing this game to support that sort of interest, most of them are casual enough that they either wouldn’t know about, or wouldn’t care about, logging on to this site at a particular time to pay money for an alternate paint job on a readily available model.

****, I might be new to X-Wing, but I’m in the Armada forums several days a week, and I didn’t know about the silver N-1 going on sale until the very last moment. I’m guessing a few thousand people were on top of this, tops.

What I find unprofessional is that they specifically told us they’d offer them again this week, then didn’t.

Like, I can wait, and I can deal if limited supply keeps me from getting one. I just want to see FFG take a little pride in keeping a promise.

If you don’t KNOW you can put it on sale again in a week, don’t say you can. If you think you can, say you can, then figure out that you really can’t, apologize and inform your customers by addressing the issue directly. This is pretty basic customer service and marketing.

20 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

What I find unprofessional is that they specifically told us they’d offer them again this week, then didn’t.

Like, I can wait, and I can deal if limited supply keeps me from getting one. I just want to see FFG take a little pride in keeping a promise.

If you don’t KNOW you can put it on sale again in a week, don’t say you can. If you think you can, say you can, then figure out that you really can’t, apologize and inform your customers by addressing the issue directly. This is pretty basic customer service and marketing.

This is part of the bigger failure of communication by FFG. There does not seem to be any unified communication strategy in the company, or even within individual product families. I mean, why is the FFG Organized Play facebook page posting a message about the webstore issues and not the main FFG facebook...or twitter... or posting an announcement here on the forum... or in the fan run discord... or on twitch... or on the youtube channel... or as a news item on the product homepage... or any of the other media platforms at their disposal. And why in the name of the Jedi do I have to know about and follow ALL of those to try and ferret out some small nugget of information. It just comes across as a poorly thought out and poorly implemented way to try (and often fail) to engage with their customers.

What about the fact that the FFG store also does not have information about the LE N-1? If I didn't go into this topic, I wouldn't even know where to buy it.

1 hour ago, Cpt ObVus said:

If you don’t KNOW you can put it on sale again in a week, don’t say you can. If you think you can, say you can, then figure out that you really can’t, apologize and inform your customers by addressing the issue directly. This is pretty basic customer service and marketing.

There are some circumstances that may prevent problems from being fixed, identified, or communicated in a timely fashion though. Most offices are trying to limit their staff, if they're open at all right now. Once a problem crops up, there may not be enough manpower to solve it quickly. Yeah their communication on the matter has been sloppy, but I'd imagine they kinda have more pressing matters to worry about right now. It's not like a game designer or the techs running a game companies online store are considered "essential workers" so communication being murky at best seems pretty understandable to me, considering there is likely just a skeleton crew running the show right now. All their product ships from overseas, so I'd imagine the big concerns now are logistical ones, trying to track down shipments that may still be sitting in a warehouse or on a shipping yard somewhere, and iron out exactly when production of products at the printer will actually be in a shipable state. I want the shiny new ship too, but let's not lose perspective people. Entire country's have had to be quarantined, and almost every state in the US, including the one FFG is based in are under stay at home orders for non essential workers. There's a lot going on right now that trumps X-wing...

And the new process is up on the FFG Facebook site.

Attention Star Wars™: X-Wing pilots that have been on the lookout for information on the Limited Edition Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighter Expansion Pack. Thank you for waiting patiently while we made some improvements to the ordering process for this beautiful ship. Hit the link below for all the information on how you can have one of your very own.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffal.cn%2F37vUz%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3-C1JsZTXnOugUFmxpyefQKLaJ2urxXvNCu3d27gVFXCPZPKKoOcj8TBA&h=AT1TrvH82BYXWIYPJj3vWvDApXvsJKtCNtMaEyUC-OU-frvZl_ze5GJzBNBn4zjofntwH_19IPf-YdkcIE6J0gs48B8RxmBKKma3EesU_5QcYmpoV6Jm5GvjP4oKQeem1-b5Teuv8eh5CQGvRy3Tmtan-W1FTNCV6XTrln8cZl7sEvjVCkr9v-PQ_4ln5ChE9ELcuMayo6gcLye5AZoiZtaLxLYnBds6zO-oF2rOSx7CnkEGQlBOGCQjSb5ZHx9XrkKmva7sSpUOg51Hob_M2KSfAMTOEzk3g3eIyLsT2ZoLMTfjMpofDoS3I6BwNHVDZP9YAzPjzAmkExxKEmCDZ5rIyac6AuDG9bOot4TnX62xKIuS8Il60mxIvFsdcfQ9rYUsjRvlG8eJNj4dbBx9BWZrsUDZVjDldNNcW1Sj3i_UUySNf5uMhILl4QEb7V2Pr0zQ24ZxEWm4icxYVMd2hsmEKpOmsCVGyWS9iEH7-ZVxXsdzLKn4z2dgaurEZvyy6WfaN2TZHOr1GMaEQBghfqfMVHZ6mjRs8-W4kHowDyWJ2ieetJ7IBpIxyP0I1EBnTgHMye3j5GvayLIgIaGXHqjx08dqGnFk6UvPX10QA0Nhbm6LOXKY5ZFBRrgThFMTX1qx7dyJpwdXvOaM9QguAQOnQbsLq9nDvGs