Quick question for those of you lucky enough to score early copies of the game:

When I played the demo at GenCon earlier this year, I found the game really fun but a little unbalanced. Every game I played in, the dark side completely dominated and the light side was little more than a speed bump (regardless of which side I was playing). I see that they've made a couple of changes to some of the dark side cards that were causing a good chunk of the problems (Darth Vader + Force Choke with Vader any number of times per turn and Force Choke hitting anything), but I just wanted to hear from some people who have had the chance to build some decks and try to play: is there good LS/DS balance? The asymmetric win conditions worry me in that regard…

It's gotten better. That specific imbalance that you mentioned is what made me hate the game initially when I played my Gen Con demos. Now a couple of games in, it's clear that the game is more balanced, but does snowball kind of badly until the climactic last turn that you basically win or lose on. It's a slightly annoying mechanic because come from behind wins are very, VERY common, especially if the Light Side catches the Dark Side with their pants down or committing too much to the attack. Granted, that's also what's resold me on the game.

The Dark Side definitely has the advantage to start, because they can start the balance battle and having the balance is HUGE. It tilts games into your favor quickly if your opponent doesn't do something to take it or cause it to start switching back and forth.

Step 1. Kill Tarkin

Step 5. Profit.

I haven't played the game. Using tactic icons looks like a great benefit to the LS, though.

Tactics is probably the strongest icon in the game right now. Even if it isn't taking them off the board, it at the very least keeps stuff tied up for far longer or can save your dude's lives. Just be glad you can't tactic resource enhancements or objectives.

I was wondering, after looking at card spoilers and the posted rulebook, if this was going to be the case. I personally believe that it may be like my experiences with Netrunner. Dark Side will have the advantage during early plays, like the Corp, because they just have to sit back and defend. It is up to the Light side (like the Runner) to get out there and do stuff in order to win. Hopefully, also like Netrunner, it will feel more balanced as the weeks progress.

I'm ok with games starting leaning one way at the beginning as long as the final outcome of the game is pretty even. What worries me most about the game was how easily the DS won every game I played at GenCon. I know that a ton of things could have factored into that: the composition of the demo decks, a few card tweaks that were needed (they even admitted to me while I was there that the Vader/Force Choke thing was being looked at), or the asymmetric win condition. I guess time will tell (and lots of fun games of Star Wars ).

My experience at GenCon was fantastic. It was an ultra close game. Jedi had 2 objectives destroyed, 1 heavily damaged. Sith were at 11 on the Dark Side Dial. It all came down to one turn. I saw a Vader, and I saw a Force Choke, but never the combo. Perhaps that's why we had a balanced game.

Yeah, I probably had horrible luck to have Vader come down turn 1 every game I played…

dbmeboy said:

Given that they admitted he needed to be fixed, and was changed, I'd say that would skew things a bit.

ScottieATF said:

Of course, which is why I started this thread. Since I can't test the fixes myself quite yet I have to rely on the experience of the lucky few out there. From the sounds of it, other people haven't been having the same trouble. That's good to hear. I'm looking forward to playing myself Soon.

What's the difference between the Vader at GenCon and the new/official one?

At GenCon his ability wasn't limited to once/turn. Also force choke could hit any unit. It was a brutal combo.

Meaxe said:

Old vader wasn't limited to once per turn.

I should also add that the GenCon demo started objectives non-randomly so that the DS player always started with the objective that made the first event each turn cost one less, making turn 1 Vader even more brutal. It probably says something about the game that I still really enjoyed it despite the balance issues of the demo.