Kryptonite Kollectibles said:

I for one can't wait for a "Brakiss" card…I know it's a dream..I can always make a CUSTOM card. I'm almost done with BLANK templates if anybody is interested in making customs.

I sent them an email a while ago, thinking it can't hurt to just outright ask them, and they said they have "many planned items over numerous years", so I would imagine we're safe for a while yet. Also, given how astonishing the success of X-Wing has been, to say nothing of any other SW-related game from FFG, I think Disney would have to be certifiable to take the licence from them just to give it to a pet-company. The business of the DH licence being revoked in favour of Marvel was, the last I read, just a rumour too.

It was quite a while ago that the topic of what FFG could produce came up, and I think it was one of the artists involved in the card game who said they have licence to use original trilogy and EU images, but whether that was for the previous incarnation of card game or not, I can't remember now. Plus, how much of the deal would an artist be aware of? Well, anyway.

For what it's worth, it really wouldn't bother me seeing prequel-related cards pop into this game. I can't see it happening, but they have added in other factions to their games once they are suitably established (Order of the Silver Twilight), so we could perhaps see a Republic and Separatist expansion at some later date. But I doubt that. This game just feels so much like Warhammer Invasion to me, and based on that flimsy premise I think six factions is all we will see. But should the day come when Count Dooku and Poggle the Lesser go up against Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar, I'm not about to get the matches out. WotC's Star Wars Miniatures seemed to do pretty well for them, and you could have Darth Nihilus go up against Cade Skywalker in that game.

I think it is probably more likely that we'll get to see Grievous and Maul in a separate game, and I'd be all over that as I am with this. The films did tend a bit too much towards the silly at times (though were mostly parodies of the original trilogy), but I think, when handled sensibly (has anyone read James Luceno's excellent prequel work?) , they can be just as compelling. The sprawling tale of galactic conflict, (most of) the personalities involved, and the exotic battlegrounds and situations are all really very enjoyable. Skulking down the lower levels of Coruscant with Lorn Pavan and I-Five, hob-nobbing with Senators and Neimoidians, or on an adventure with a Jedi or three, I'd love to bring that back to the tabletop gaming arena!

The only reason I could see someone saying "Make it a different game!" is the fact certain cards/themes would not fit within the current affiliations, but I do not see anything to prevent them from increasing the number of affiliations.

superradjoe said:

Which affiliations could it be increased with, though? I cannot deny, I'd love to see a New Republic affiliation at some time, and I think this could fit in with the theme almost perfectly, as the NR still battled the Empire, the Sith, etc. The trouble is, there's nothing really easy that could be brought in to balance that. Yuuzhan Vong would be a natural choice, but most people would probably be a bit underwhelmed. Hm.

superradjoe said:

You mean OTHER than diluting the packs? We're only getting 5-6 objective sets per pack, split between 6 factions and neutral. Adding more factions is going to make it very difficult to keep a good balance between them all.

superradjoe said:

Or because it is ridiculous to feel the need to add more stuff already where the game is so new, or because it will just make it even harder to support each faction, or because it would also make sense theme and timeline wise to have a second game and thus prevent all of the flaming and hate mail that would arise from having Darth Maul and Darth Vader fighting on the same against little Anakin and Luke Skywalker. And because it would allow them to have another game, thus another product and more sales. And because as I said earlier they have a game for the Hobbit and a game for Lord of the Rings that are separate from each other as well as Hobbit expansion for LotR LCG.

I think FFG is smart enough to avoid the mistakes of previous license holders like WotC and their ridiculous mish mash of every faction and character ever seen in the SW universe in to one miniature game.

Also consider that FFG tends to have a fixed limit of factions in their other LCGs like AGoT, their biggest by far, has 6 factions and will never have more. Cthulhu is the only one that got a faction added to the game and I cannot speak to how successfully or unsuccessfully that went. I really don't see the need for more factions in this game beyond what we already have. Lots of design space already there.

To be fair, neither Decipher nor Wizards built affiliations into their respective card games as a fixed mechanic, let alone one that is so central to the game's gameplay as this is. It was therefore easier to introduce multi-era elements into them, continuity issues aside. Since FFG decided to go with their tried-and-true method of dividing cards into several factions, it would be very difficult for them to expand this game beyond the Classic era without each affiliation's playability becoming a balancing act. Unless they figure out a way to write themselves out of this corner, Star Wars: The Card Game should be considered a game specific to the Classic era.

Regardless of my feelings about the other publishing eras, both positive and negative, I would prefer that they stick to the Classic era for as long as it proves feasible, especially with Episode VII being slated for 2015. Assuming that film gets a May release, as all previous films in the saga have, that gives us time to see just under five Force Pack cycles. I think there's easily enough material to pull from the Classic era to cover that amount of content. I'm just hoping that new film leaves enough of the Expanded Universe intact to provide additional avenues for this game to explore. A lot of fans were turned off by the prequels, and the pressure is on for J.J. Abrams to give us a film that will evoke the feeling of the Original Trilogy, albeit in a different time period. If he succeeds, Star Wars will no longer be about the Original Trilogy vs. the Prequel Trilogy, but will become a series of films telling different chapters of a grand story. And so I think that that is the idea that FFG should proceed from, should they decide to make this game - or any of their games - expand into other eras.