Do all "active" weapon qualities require the use of [advantages] on the dice to activate even if they do not mention their use in the quality description?

In the Weapon Qualities section (page 105) it states "Active qualities must be triggered by the user, often by spending [advantage] to activate the effect."

In the next paragraph it states "Qualities require [advantage x2] results to activate unless otherwise stated in their description."

However, several "active" qualities don't state one way or the other. Is this to imply that, if it is unstated, it is automatically activated even if no [advantage] is obtained?

I'm figuring that unless the weapon quality in question says otherwise, like it does with Defensive (maneuver to activate) or Auto-Fire or Sunder (each lists a different cost than the standard), then the default text of "two advantage to activate" is applied.

Reading over the various qualities again, I'd have to say you're right. I think what struck me initially was that Burn and Blast would need to be activated (there is no cost specification so, by the way the rules seem to be written, the cost is two by default). I mean, it would seem they would just happen with every shot. But reading the implied wording of both of these qualities, it does seem to make sense in the end that the expectation is that they need to be activated.

GoblynByte said:

The book mentions that in a situation where you don't activate Blast on a grenade or whatever, it basically still exploded, but no one else was injured by it, either due to getting out of the way, being on the other side of the target, or whatever. Same with Burn--they still get burned, they just don't catch on fire.

Inksplat said:

In the case of Burn, it makes sense, but in the case of grenades and Blast, it strikes me as a little too random when I think about it. If you toss a grenade into a room, you have to both target one individual and you're not even certain the whole room is affected. For all my love for the dice system, certain activations don't make a whole lot of sense really.

In the case of the grenade, it's like an inverse of the old reflex save. If you fail, you didn't hit anyone. If you succed, you hit someone, which a chance of hitting more depending on how well you tossed it, and how poorly they got out of the way. If your enemies are in a small room, I'd grant at least 2 boost dice, one for enclosed spaces and one for clustered enemy. That should help you net the advantages you need.

Quicksilver said:

That's what I'd do too.

Northman said:

It could just be that the Blast rules are a reaction to just how devastatingly useful grenades could be in Saga Edition, since you were pretty much assured to be doing at least some damage so long as your attack roll wasn't utter crap.

And with how deadly combat can be, especially to a cluster of minions, being able to deal damage to a group of them all at once is incredibly useful. Maybe this will be something changed in between the Beta and the final product if our feedback comes to prove that really isn't the case, or that the current rules for Blast make them much less useful in application than they appeared to be when the rules for Blast were devised.

But also remember that the lack of auto-area damage applies to attacks against the PCs too. If a random mook gets the drop on them while they're all clustered together, one half-way decent attack with a frag grenade could leave several PCs badly wounded given how generally low most character's starting wound thresholds are going to be (Wookiees being a notable exception). So there's some give and take between making Blast useful without making it a potential TPK in the making.

That's a good point about the TPK, actually. While not usually something I would give much concern given a system with detailed blast radius, one would assume in this system that the characters start out "engaged" with each other 9 times out of 10 in combat. In that respect it should warrant some attention.

The boost dice is also a good point, although that would be specifics related to each GM rather than the weapon itself. Thus it is a valid thing to discuss if such circumstances should be covered by the ruletext or not.

I've yet to play the game, but our first session is next week and my character got grenades and other weapons with activations to test. Looking forward to it.