With Max confirming revisiting Aces packs for 2.0 what are some packs you want to see? He confirmed new paint schemes for old ships, old/iconic pilots with new abilities, subtitles, and initiatives. The packs are going to be heavy on theme for a specific place/time period. This announcement is kind of exciting but could get frustrating having to buy more ships for the cards.

I, for one, want to see a fang fighter aces pack with an Old Teroch with a subtitle Young Teroch because that would be hilarious. Hera and Sabine in A-Wings would be cool. Hera in a B-wing. Basically Hera in any ship she has ever flown. What about an I6 Luke with Jedi Knight subtitle and 3 force and a different ability?

For the Rebels, I can see Hera in a Green Squadron X-Wing, or Antoc Merrick in a Blue Squadron X-Wing. I can see the Inferno Squad's TIE FIghter's finally coming out in the Imperial ones, along with Vult Skerris from Rebels making an appearance for the TIE Defender.

What I personally want though, is the Republic one to have two or three differing paint schemes for Delta 7s, such as Ashoka Tano's ship, Saesee Tiin, or Adi Gallia, especially since the last two were revered as superbly skilled pilots in the Jedi Order after Anakin and Plo Koon.

Wes Janson and Tycho both init 5 with 1.0 abilities or no balls

Rebels paint scheme Defender with the pilot from that show, plus Maarek Stele and a revised Tie/D configuration.

Interceptor with Rebels show scheme and new pilots.

Mace Windu piloting Vulture Droid

We'll almost definitely see a Phoenix Squadron pack. Most likely to have a B-Wing and Hera's A-Wing, though Sabine's Green A-Wing would be a plus in my book.

If there's a third ship it could be the Attack Shuttle (I hope not 😕 ) or a second A-Wing. ABA would look good.

I could easily see a K-Wing E-Wing combo and a TIE Phantom TIE Aggressor combo for the as-yet-Legends-only ships.

Skystrike Academy Interceptors and a TIE Defender Elite would be awesome (add Vult Skerris, Ciena Ree, 8th Brother, etc.).

But some of the most important ships we're still missing reprints for are the Lambda, HWK, Auzituck, Sheathipede, U-Wing, Rebel Z-95, YT-2400, TIE Bomber, and Star Wing, most of which don't slot that easily into a box unless you made the Legends Imps box a Star Wing and two TIE Aggressors (Escorts, eh? Actually I like this idea...). There's a decent stock for most of those though.

For Scum, a blue Slave I or Halo along with Xanadu Blood would be really cool. Hondo, Sugi, Embo, Jango, Cad Bane, etc. would make great Bounty Hunter additions.

Scum is still missing a fair few reprints, and most of the ones it's had weren't that necessary in the first place. They need their Y-Wing and HWK, plus the Scurrg, Aggressor, Mist Hunter, Quadjumper, Kimogila, Shadow Caster, and Starviper.

I wonder if the cross-faction ships (ARC, Y-Wing, HWK, TIE) will be getting their own releases anymore or if cards will come in one of these aces packs like they did for Most Wanted back in 1.0

The rollout of 2.0 has admittedly been a bit of a mess with conflicting promises and confusing purchase paths for new players. Probably not as bad as most games, but the SKU count is getting pretty ridiculous. I don't know how many more it will take before B&N has to stop carrying it. If you've been to one lately, it's literally falling off the shelves on both sides, crammed in and stacked up as tight as possible.

I'll take all the StarVipers they can give me. Thweek, Savan, Black Sun Vigos, or anything else they can think of.

Getting more pilots for the Kimogila, Scum Z-95 or Scum Y-Wing would be nice, but a Scum YT-2400 would be my second pick. Scum would be able to utilize it far better than Rebels could, with Han gunner providing the action economy the Rebel YTs lack, 4-LOM shutting down green tokens and making that potentially double modded 4-dice primary REALLY hurt, and would have the option to run SDV alongside 4-LOM to deal with high initiative ships that dare to dash into Range 1. Dash and Leebo were smugglers and wouldn't be out of place in Scum, Eaden Vrill could make a comeback, and there's new canon characters that they could use to add more canon pilots and titles .

I’m hoping for a Rogue Squadron pack with Corran’s green X-Wing and one from Rogue Squadron (and either an A-Wing, captured Lambda, or third X-Wing).

We’ll get all of the old pilots back with room for a second Wedge (Rogue Leader) with a support ability, and a Rogue Squadron title.

I'd like a Battle of Yavin/Scarif theme pack with the rest of the Gold Squadron trench run pilots, as well as the Blue Squadron pilots that were lost on Scarif.

Silly me, I almost forgot. Second Sister! I'd love to play a TIE Interceptor with force abilities!

1 hour ago, Shadowshand said:

Silly me, I almost forgot. Second Sister! I'd love to play a TIE Interceptor with force abilities!

...*whimpers as a Rebel player*

So should we take these aces packs as a revision of any sort of reprint strategy that had been in place? A sort of combo of reprints and the cardboard only packs?

Ibtisam B wing I3 with a good ability
More A1 pilots - especially the lady pilot.
Another Kwing
Leia Organa - rebel Z
Bail Organa - rebel Z or Sheathipede
Ben Solo - Ewing I4 2 force

Oh Heck yes, a force sensitive Second Sister Int? Ps 4? 1 Force? (I suspect 2 force makes it... a force to contend with)
Ciena Ree I5 Int
Carnor Jax as another I5 Int
Juno Eclipse I5 Adv
Darth Vader Tie Defender 3 force I6 maybe a different ability, (and maybe the only small ship above 100pts lol!)
Tie/D Config
Rae Sloane Decimator - I5
Iden Versio I4 Int

Jar Jar Binks N1
Darth Jar Jar Binks N1 - 5 Force, I5. While defending, when you roll 2 or more green dice and they are all blank, the attacker suffers 1 damage.

I4 Vulture
I5 Vulture

===

Eventually Padme with those Chrome ships

5 hours ago, Shadowshand said:

Silly me, I almost forgot. Second Sister! I'd love to play a TIE Interceptor with force abilities!

This. ^

And Ciena Ree.

Also, I wouldn't mind if some 1st edition EU characters were back... (even if just their abilities)

EDIT: dang, I forgot Vult Skerris! Here is the alternative painting:

Gideon Hask piloting a TIE/in Interceptor (and also as possible First Order Crew)

Thrawn piloting a Decimator (and maybe as Crew?)

9 minutes ago, Singulativ said:

Gideon Hask piloting a TIE/in Interceptor (and also as possible First Order Crew)

Thrawn piloting a Decimator (and maybe as Crew?)

Thrawn crew yes, please!!

But as pilot, he would fit better in a TIE Defender (or Gunboat, one can dream) .

Because they stressed the different initiative and ability so hard, I’m expecting a rebel ace pack with the Rebels show content including a younger wedge. What’s not clear will be if he is in an rz1 or t65. Hera in an RZ1 would be pretty fun too.

Truthfully, what I’m hoping most for is that they can use these to reprint ships at a slightly faster rate again. I really want to see Most Wanted 2: a new sculpt new paint Y and a new paint HWK, with the old pilots from the conversion for some players plus 3-4 new pilots. We can add some more ships in if they want a bigger box. Bonus if they add an extra generic to “convert” the rereleased rebel Y to a scum ship.

2 hours ago, Frimmel said:

So should we take these aces packs as a revision of any sort of reprint strategy that had been in place? A sort of combo of reprints and the cardboard only packs?

Absolutely that's what this is.

They've been told that the re-releases aren't selling enough and aren't making enough money, because people already have the ships and all the content people could want from them is in the conversion kits.

But FFG also said that returning 1e players won't ever need to buy re-releases of ships they already own to get new content. They can't just announce they're going back on that and will start adding new pilots and upgrades to rereleases because there'd be backlash.

So they've announced content packs for existing ships, with the very first of these hinting strongly that will include a ship that has not yet been re-released as part of the old strategy (the Resistance Falcon). So now new 2e Resistance players get access to the Falcon without going out of faction or buying 1e and a conversion kit, and returning 1e players have a reason to buy a ship they don't need to get new pilots.

It's genius, really. How to go back on your word without your audience realising it.

I'll be very curious to see what pilots come with this TRoS Resistance pack. If it does include the Falcon, as they seemed to suggest, will it include the current Rey, Chewie and Old Han pilots? Or will the only way to get them for new players still be to buy a conversion kit that includes a bunch of content they probably already have?

Don't get me wrong, I'm on board with the concept if it's the only way to get new Imperial and Rebel content. There should have been more RZ-1 and TIE Interceptor pilots at release, without doubt, but I'll buy aces packs if it gets me more pilots for them. I just also recognise that FFG have been particularly sly here in terms of the content they'll probably be providing and how they've marketed it.

7 hours ago, rhs2042 said:

I'd like a Battle of Yavin/Scarif theme pack with the rest of the Gold Squadron trench run pilots, as well as the Blue Squadron pilots that were lost on Scarif.

I'd be very in for this.

I've done some wishlisting in the past for what I'd like to see in a Yavin expansion. Frankly, it's criminal that Pops and Tiree aren't already in the game.

Oh, and as far as predictions of my own go, this is definitely how they're going to add Jango Fett to the game.

There will be a Scum squadron pack with a Jango Fett repaint of Slave One that comes with Jango, Aurra Sing and Hondo as pilots. Maybe a Jango's Slave One title too, though that doesn't really seem all that necessary.

12 hours ago, Skitch_ said:

old/iconic pilots with new abilities, subtitles, and initiatives.

I've got to say, I'm far less keen on this aspect.

I'm okay with it in the few specific cases where it makes sense. Baby Anakin in the N-1 is easily the best example of this, it would have been weird to have the N-1 without Anakin but equally weird to have full fledged Jedi Knight level Anakin at the stick.

Changing taglines and abilities across factions also makes sense, if nothing else from a game balance perspective.

But I don't like throwing the same old names back into the game just for the sake of it. I liked the idea that Wedge in 1e could be representative of him at Endor, at Yavin or during the Bacta War. And even though his tagline in 2e says Red 2, that high initiative and excellent ability mean he still makes sense as the Endor Red Leader version. I still come into this game with a sense of dreaming up my own Star Wars stories, and I don't need the game to limit that by telling me the name on a pilot card is as of a specific year in the timeline.

I don't see the value of adding younger Wedge as a Phoenix Squadron A-Wing pilot with a lower initiative, for example. If you're changing everything about how he behaves as a pilot, why not just make that a different pilot? It's more confusing than it needs to be to have to qualify which version of Wedge you're talking about, and I think the game is healthier with a variety of characters. If young Wedge or Hera costs Shara Bey her rightful place in an A-Wing, or kept Tycho out of the game, or Wyl Lark from Alphabet Squadron if we're rigidly sticking to canon, is it really worth it?

Who else are they looking at for this? Is a 3xForce Jedi Master Luke not either going to be overcosted and unplayable or just straight up supercede current Luke? Is there any real difference between Battle of Yavin Han and Battle of Jakku Han?

Can anyone give me an example of where a different version of an existing pilot within the same faction would make sense and would be good for the game? Genuine question.

and as always everyone just wants more aces and more force users...

43 minutes ago, svelok said:

and as always everyone just wants more aces and more force users...

To be fair, these are described as “aces” packs. I for one wouldn’t be opposed to a couple more of the existing generics on the reverse sides.

13 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

To be fair, these are described as “aces” packs. I for one wouldn’t be opposed to a couple more of the existing generics on the reverse sides.

Technically, "aces-style Squadron Packs", as in the style of 1.0 aces boxes, as in hopefully it is self-evident why doing the same things as 1.0 is a dark road; but in naming being Squadron Packs ala GoR/SoS

It's not just #genericslifestyle, though - its just that the most common requests are always "more i5/6, with force, ideally on double reposition ships"

Whereas my ideal new stuff is a Boba/Slave 1 that's less degenerate and soft-replaces the current Boba, maybe some cheeky i3/i4s... like I get that some ships crave new pilots (I play the faction that has the Nantex in it...), but it's super clear that when people say "give us Hera in an RZ1!" they're asking for not just an i5, with stupid amounts of dial-changing, but also they're very specifically asking to receive a ship that's a flat power-level-upgrade over the current options

4 minutes ago, svelok said:

but it's super clear that when people say "give us Hera in an RZ1!" they're asking for not just an i5, with stupid amounts of dial-changing, but also they're very specifically asking to receive a ship that's a flat power-level-upgrade over the current options

True!

I have a few more thoughts:

I would love to see an Ace Squadron pack for Resistance with all 5 different ships/pilots from the Star Wars Resistance show. The whole squadron could have some sort of synergy which would make it thematic like what Max said FFG wants to do.

Also, I think FFG introducing campaign scenarios via aces packs would be a cool way to test the waters.

27 minutes ago, Skitch_ said:

Also, I think FFG introducing campaign scenarios via aces packs would be a cool way to test the waters.

They did this in 1.0, the mission weren’t very good because they didn’t dedicate the time to make them good because the rest of the pack took priority and it showed. I think keeping campaigns separate like the epic battles is best, so the campaigns can take more of a priority since it’s in its own box.

2 hours ago, svelok said:

and as always everyone just wants more aces and more force users...

Not everyone, the StarViper pilots I asked for would likely all be in the I3-I4 range, and Scum YT-2400 would come mostly with low initiative pilots outside of Dash, and there wouldn't be any force users for either the Viper or 2400.

I think the problem with everybody wanting aces or force users is everyone here understands that competitively, force-less named pilots at I4 or lower tend to be on the bottom end of competitive viability. How many Garvens or Jeks do you see compared to generics, Wedges, Lukes and Thanes? Or Turrs vs. Soontirs? Zertiks and Veds vs. Maareks and Vaders? People want viable pilots for ships they love, and I5+ or force practically guarantees that. Otherwise they have to hope the pilot is aggressively costed or has a strong enough ability to make up for middling initiative. I4 can be pretty nice when the meta has lots of I3s, but paying for I4 can easily be wasted if the other side brings all low initiative generics or I5+ aces, and that uncertainty and potential waste will make players question their value.