2 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

I think one could make a perfectly good case Armada is ideal for a focus on growth over retention. I've played this game for 4 years. Most of people still here have done a lot of waiting in radio silence, for a very long time. In doing this, FFG has selected for a consumer base that may whine, but will wait.

That just means FFG is complacent and takes their loyal customers for granted. They're unworthy of such loyalty and devotion.

2 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

And apparently, that approach hasn't prevented it from being one of their big three Star Wars games.

Sadly though, Armada is a distant third of FFG's "big three Star Wars games".

2 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

This has never been the situation, much as we all would like it. Even if FFG intended to change that, the cons aren't happening this year and they might not even have models in hand. That avenue isn't open to them (I think they would have tried to take it in a normal year, assuming production lined up well enough.)

I do not understand the point in defending FFG's failure of imagination or innovation. I don't know if Asmodee is stymying FFG's creativity or, as I said, they've grown complacent.

The fact that most of the Cons are cancelled this years is all the more reason for FFG to shake things up and do something different, new, and exciting.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. In the past 3 years, FFG has announced one Armada Wave* at GenCon and released it sometime the next year. (* Technically the SSD wasn't a Wave, but we also got Rebellion in the Rim in 2019, so I'm counting it.) That's pathetic compared to Legion and X-Wing.

The lack of Armada products, year-long waits between Waves, and abysmal rate of restocks are the leading contributors to Armada's declining popularity. But instead of doing something to change that, FFG just keeps quiet about their plans for Armada.

2 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

It is a major blunder to have only the announcement, but no content presented. We can all agree that's the worst case scenario, regardless of what resources are lined up. But under the circumstances, if they save the flashy stuff for closer to release date it may yet make an impact - provided they can somehow find a better platform to reveal it than their livestream.

FFG has been sending us mixed messages. Less than a month ago, they claimed that Clone Wars Armada is still on-track for its scheduled Q4 2020 release window -- despite all of the understandable delays caused by the COVID-19 crisis. But they might not have any CWA products to show at GenCon 2020... assuming that GenCon isn't cancelled this year? That doesn't make sense.

I don't need FFG to have CWA plastic miniatures in-hand at their headquarters in Minnesota to show us in one of their preview videos. But they should have near-finished versions of the ship/upgrade cards and cardboard ship bases. FFG should be able to show us those at this point, if they chose to. I believe they are choosing not to, because they're stubbornly clinging to outdated marketing beliefs and/or are compelled to withhold everything by Asmodee. I'll gladly start criticizing Asmodee if that makes Armada fans more comfortable .

As I've said before, consumers desire transparency today. Communication is king! Sadly, FFG is terrible at it, and they're making zero effort to improve.

FFG could do any number of things to shake things up. For example, many board game developers today offer Print-&-Play Kits to backers of their games. (For example, my friends and I played the Underworld Expansion of Root for months before I finally received the game two weeks ago.) Why hasn't FFG ever tried that? Then we could "beta test" new ships and upgrade cards before they're released, and provide feedback to FFG. Even if FFG only provided only one of the two ship variants and omitted some of the upgrade cards in the Print-&-Play Kit, that would be acceptable. And that seems like an ideal way to generate hype for new Armada releases.

Instead, FFG does the opposite: They don't reveal anything about the upcoming ship expansions until a few weeks before release, and any promo pics of the new expansions, they deliberately obscure most of the upgrade cards so they're unreadable.

What, does FFG think that we're going to try competing in Organized Play competitions with paper cards and hand-carved ships? Where's the trust? 😞

1 hour ago, Reavern said:

There are points I agree with and disagree with in there.

But I'm gonna make things simpler.

Earlier, you referenced "battered wife syndrome." That's not what we have. What we have is a long distance relationship.

A long distance relationship is not acceptable for everyone, and very few people prefer it.

What do you do if you're in a long distance relationship where your partner is unwilling to make a change and you, for whatever reason, can't? You either have to accept it, or start something new.

Getting drunk and complaining to your buddies strangers at the pub doesn't solve the problem and is annoying.

FFG is clearly not in line with your expectations (entirely reasonable and fair.) Which leaves re-framing those expectations, expecting them to change for you, finding another company/game that meets them, or being continually frustrated and disappointed.

Please don't choose the last one. It makes the forums a less enjoyable place to be.

I suppose the real question is- why do FFG act so strangely in relation to Armada & not their other properties? This certainly isn’t an isolated incident or one-off behaviour.

Sure, xwing is more popular but if anything that’s an argument to be even more forthcoming with Armada news not less.

Actually, what has been happening to the less popular games lately is to shut them down. Them focusing on Armada may not bring about the results you want. It sounds like Armada will be getting new content and continuing. That right there is great news.

10 hours ago, ISD Avenger said:

I suppose the real question is- why do FFG act so strangely in relation to Armada & not their other properties? This certainly isn’t an isolated incident or one-off behaviour.

That is the real puzzler. The company does have marketing teams that write articles about upcoming products. Many of them! I’ve seen them with my own eyes. So why is it so bloody difficult to get them to pay any attention to Armada?

So they laid off a bunch of marketing people... whose fault is that? Management’s. Hire some more marketing people, or maybe, y’know, don’t fire your team to begin with? So there’s definitely some highly questionable decisions being made by management.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t really begin to explain the lack of communication FFG has given Armada players for years now. Maybe this is how the marketing people got themselves fired in the first place? I don’t know. I really don’t understand how this company even runs, because from this end, it looks like a giant quagmire of dysfunction that, against all odds, still makes fantastic games, but has no coherent strategy for marketing and distributing them reliably. And it is very frustrating.

Design the game, test the game, produce the game, sell the game. In the meantime, have a community manager whose job it is to interact with customers on the forums, apologize for and explain delays, answer questions and give interim rulings, and write a once or twice per month puff piece article, to make the customers feel seen and heard and appreciated. This is not difficult, and FFG’s management just don’t seem to get it. And that they don’t understand such basic concepts worries me.

I mean, we DID get spoilers yesterday...

3 hours ago, geek19 said:

I mean, we DID get spoilers yesterday...

The proverbial drop in the bucket.

X-Wing and Legion's buckets are near-overflowing by comparison.

All we want is for FFG to share the love . For example, SW Legion was released August 2017 and by August 2018 Legion had 22 unit expansions (not even counting the accessory kits). By my count, Armada has had 22 ship/squadron expansions total in 5 years, and only 3 ship expansions in the past 2 years.

It would be great if FFG fixed that discrepancy with Clone Wars Armada and released Waves 2 thru 4, with at least a dozen ship/squadron expansions, all in 2021 . And had another dozen expansions lined up for 2022.

I believe that would satisfy the Armada community and quickly establish the Republic and Separatists factions so they are competitive and diversified enough for tournament play.

BTW: Did anyone else realize that Friday March 27th, 2020 was the 5th anniversary of Star Wars Armada? Because apparently FFG forgot . Not even an news article posted on FFG's website. Nada. Nothing! 😖

3 hours ago, geek19 said:

I mean, we DID get spoilers yesterday...

Oh, wait, were you serious? I really can’t tell.

They could be doing monthly Developer’s Diaries, talking about design, and the process of making each faction feel unique. Examining what they learned from GCW design, talking about failed iterations and rejected ideas. And if they’re truly too busy to do that, well... that‘s what your marketing team is for! Oh, you fired all of those people? Um, thanks for coming to work today, FFG management. You’re doing a Pretty Good Job.

So instead, we get three cards in a vacuum, no context, no commentary. Zero effort applied.

Better than nothing. At least nobody over at FFG had to think too hard about loyal customers who spend thousands of dollars on their products.

I could respond or whatever, butttttt, I'm drunk, so....

:eyeroll emoji:

5 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Oh, wait, were you serious? I really can’t tell.

They could be doing monthly Developer’s Diaries, talking about design, and the process of making each faction feel unique. Examining what they learned from GCW design, talking about failed iterations and rejected ideas. And if they’re truly too busy to do that, well... that‘s what your marketing team is for! Oh, you fired all of those people? Um, thanks for coming to work today, FFG management. You’re doing a Pretty Good Job.

So instead, we get three cards in a vacuum, no context, no commentary. Zero effort applied.

Better than nothing. At least nobody over at FFG had to think too hard about loyal customers who spend thousands of dollars on their products.

4.

4 Cards.

And I’m sure with appreciation responses like that, they’ll be really changing at the bit to give us more later! 😁