Awesome!

One of the best things about Guardian is that when someone rolls a 1 damage for example, you can take that, instead of giving him an opportunity to re-roll or alter that to a higher damage result.  So in addition to protecting your main character, you can deny the opponent opportunities to re-roll and fix weaker results.
It is also goods in decks you want to stall.  Some decks are intentionally slow, designed around the "you finish your stuff and then I will own you after you have claimed".  Guardian sucks up an action so its really great in these sort of delay decks.
Its also great when dealing with blue boosters.  Aka someone rolls damage and + damage (blue result) and you remove the damage rendering the blue result useless.  This can really mess up a guys big move.
Finally they are great in dice removal decks.  Again similar to the above, you use your dice removal mechanics to get rid of dice that can affect you but these mechanics are usually very specific in how they are used.  For example the card will say "remove an ability die" or "remove a character die".  As such sometimes you can't use it because the hit the play needs was rolled on a type of die you don't have removal for in your hand, but with guardian you can still remove it and deny your opponent the blue combo's, later removing those with other removal die mechanics.
Its a very subtle ability, but many advanced strategies and deck building concepts, but its really great for breaking up combos and denying your opponent the opportunity to re-roll and adjust his dice.
Guardian decks work really well in combination with shield mechanics as well.  The common play is that you hit characters without shields, but with guardian you can have some control over where the damage goes (on your shielded guardian character).
Suffice to say, there is more to it than just what is on the surface, its actually one of the more diverse mechanics with a wide range of impact.

A game must always be good based the merits of what is currently released, the future of a games releases is always totally and absolutely irrelevant to the games present.  
Which leads to the question, is Armada a good game right now?  
Personally I think it is.  If the game went end of life today, it’s a booming success and a standard by which all future ffg releases will be judged.
i personally find that x-wing, legion and runewars are all sub-par compared to what Armada is as a strategic list building miniature game.  Anything that is added from this point is just iceing on a near perfect cake.

Werd!
Super glue is way more dangerous than any exact-o knife you will ever wield.  I've glued myself to more models than I can count and there is nothing quite like loosing a piece of your model, calling FFG and asking you to send a replacement part, only to find it later in the shower as it helplessly falls off your elbow where you glued it to yourself.   Yeah.. that happened.
On a more serious note.  I personally haven't had any issues with gap filling or warping with my Legion mini's, though from what I understand this is more a Rebel issue than a Imperial one, other than like Vaders sword for example that was a bit crooked and needed straightening. 
In terms of Armies I have put together over the years which includes Warhammer 40k, Warmachine, Runewars, Battletech, Warhammer Fantasy and Bolt Action, Legion was definitely on the easy side of the spectrum.   Each product had its own unique challenges of course from a modeling perspective as well as from a painting perspective.  Certainly Warhammer 40k was the most complex in large part due to the sheer amount of parts and awkwardly shaped pieces (Had a Necron Army).  There were certain models that not only required greenstuff but using a drill with metal pins to construct properly.  Warmachine which also does not come on sprus I think has the largest variety in quality, some models are super clean, others have more mold lines than details and you spend days getting it ready.  
Legion so far has been relatively simple and straightforward.  Most models require minimal prep and glued tight without any effort.  My biggest beef with Legion is that so far, I haven't managed to buy anything for the game that didn't come with some sort of issue in terms of missing items.  Getting the wrong arms, missing legs, that sort of thing. FFG is great at responding to these issues but it can be a bit frustrating non the less.  
From what I have read about Legion so far, the quality control seems to be kind of all over the place.  Some people complain about warping and gaps, others get clean models.... I think all of these experiences my explain why the spru-nonspru discussion takes place fairly frequently in the hobby.

That would be my guess as well.
I personally love the direction the game is taking.  One thing that makes Lord of the Rings LCG an awesome experience for Lord of the Rings fans is the way in which the expansions are so closely tied to the story of the setting.  Adding smegol as a playable character is a natural progression here and as has always been the case with this LCG, no matter how we speculate, everyone is always ultimately surprised with what FFG comes up with.  The game is taking a step into a new direction and while I can see that not everyone will love the direction, the important thing here is that we took another step forward.  The risk of Lord of the Rings LCG being canceled grows year after year as the game gets older so everytime a new deluxe expansion is announced I sigh in relief knowing that my favorite game lives on.  Do I love every expansion, every concept, every mechanic that they have introduced?  No I don't, but I love the fact that no matter how much I add to my collection there is always more to get.  
This is all great news for fans and I'm ecstatic!  Thank You FFG!!  My credit card is in the mail.

That would be my guess as well.
I personally love the direction the game is taking.  One thing that makes Lord of the Rings LCG an awesome experience for Lord of the Rings fans is the way in which the expansions are so closely tied to the story of the setting.  Adding smegol as a playable character is a natural progression here and as has always been the case with this LCG, no matter how we speculate, everyone is always ultimately surprised with what FFG comes up with.  The game is taking a step into a new direction and while I can see that not everyone will love the direction, the important thing here is that we took another step forward.  The risk of Lord of the Rings LCG being canceled grows year after year as the game gets older so everytime a new deluxe expansion is announced I sigh in relief knowing that my favorite game lives on.  Do I love every expansion, every concept, every mechanic that they have introduced?  No I don't, but I love the fact that no matter how much I add to my collection there is always more to get.  
This is all great news for fans and I'm ecstatic!  Thank You FFG!!  My credit card is in the mail.

That would be my guess as well.
I personally love the direction the game is taking.  One thing that makes Lord of the Rings LCG an awesome experience for Lord of the Rings fans is the way in which the expansions are so closely tied to the story of the setting.  Adding smegol as a playable character is a natural progression here and as has always been the case with this LCG, no matter how we speculate, everyone is always ultimately surprised with what FFG comes up with.  The game is taking a step into a new direction and while I can see that not everyone will love the direction, the important thing here is that we took another step forward.  The risk of Lord of the Rings LCG being canceled grows year after year as the game gets older so everytime a new deluxe expansion is announced I sigh in relief knowing that my favorite game lives on.  Do I love every expansion, every concept, every mechanic that they have introduced?  No I don't, but I love the fact that no matter how much I add to my collection there is always more to get.  
This is all great news for fans and I'm ecstatic!  Thank You FFG!!  My credit card is in the mail.

Do people really care that much about this release?  I mean I understand the wow factor of this ship as a display piece but I honestly don't see how it is practical for actual gameplay in anyway shape or form.  Who is going to use this monstrosity?  Is it really going to be something people field in tournaments and events? To me this always seemed like hype release rather than something actually applicable, it's actually mechanically a terrible unit.

Do people really care that much about this release?  I mean I understand the wow factor of this ship as a display piece but I honestly don't see how it is practical for actual gameplay in anyway shape or form.  Who is going to use this monstrosity?  Is it really going to be something people field in tournaments and events? To me this always seemed like hype release rather than something actually applicable, it's actually mechanically a terrible unit.

Do people really care that much about this release?  I mean I understand the wow factor of this ship as a display piece but I honestly don't see how it is practical for actual gameplay in anyway shape or form.  Who is going to use this monstrosity?  Is it really going to be something people field in tournaments and events? To me this always seemed like hype release rather than something actually applicable, it's actually mechanically a terrible unit.

Do people really care that much about this release?  I mean I understand the wow factor of this ship as a display piece but I honestly don't see how it is practical for actual gameplay in anyway shape or form.  Who is going to use this monstrosity?  Is it really going to be something people field in tournaments and events? To me this always seemed like hype release rather than something actually applicable, it's actually mechanically a terrible unit.

While I agree with Okapi to a point, I don't believe that organizing tournaments and game nights and stuff like that makes sense if there is no interest in what you are organizing.  I could set up an X-Wing tournament in my local area where I offer free stuff, food, even pay you to show up and I will still get ZERO people in attendance.  At the same time I could post that there is a tournament for 40k starting in 10 minutes at the local game store with no other information and five minutes later a dozen people are going to be arriving on site to play.
Organization of events only has impact if there is an existing interest you cannot generate interest in something, especially if its not something new.  Like a new game that just released you could probobly get people to come down and try but X-Wing that has been around for several years and everyone knows... if there is no interest to play, no one will come.

Inherently all miniature games share a general balance problem as a result of being asymmetrical that causes the "group think" that we call the meta, which is ultimately as the OP pointed out about optimizing the crap out of armies and exposing the weaknesses of the mechanic.
Its an unsolvable weakness inherent to this type of game and its part of why I always say that miniature games make for extremely pour competitive games.  I will say that games like Legion and really most FFG products make for far better competitive games then say Warhammer 40k where the rules are so unclear and based on estimations and "eye balling it", that its almost silly to try to regulate that into a tournament format. 
In the same token you have to ask yourself the question, why play Legion or any miniatures game?  Is it really for the game?   I ask because when you really think about the hobby of Assemble/Paint miniature games like Warhammer or Warmachine, the average player spends the overwhelming majority with the game preparing to play.  Maybe its less true about Legion since the units are kind of straightforward in most cases, but still, for me personally I find that the joy of the hobby and the game is really reading about, thinking about, assembling, painting, theorycrafting and so on.  The amount of time you actually sit down to play is by comparison extremely limited. 
As such I think one of the problems FFG has with their miniature games like X-Wing, Armada and Legion is that there really isn't that much to dive into between games.  All of these games only have a couple of factions, pretty limited amount of units, very limited amount of possible configurations and a setting that is exhaustive to the point that I doubt most Legion players spend any time reading and enjoying its atmosphere.  In a sense, Legion like many of FFG games are directly and very exclusively about playing and not really about the hobby part of the game which traditionally in the world of miniature game is the primary activity for most players.
In a way, Legion is a board game.  There are very limited walls (2 factions, limited units, limited upgrades), fairly directly formulated rules and there is virtually no eyeballing of anything.  Its far closer to a board game then an asymmetrical miniature game.  Which makes the unbalances far more noticeable and can very quickly tire out a community.  I think this is in large part why Runewars is on the bargain bin and has lost support so heavily and ultimately will be the case for Legion as well.  
 

Inherently all miniature games share a general balance problem as a result of being asymmetrical that causes the "group think" that we call the meta, which is ultimately as the OP pointed out about optimizing the crap out of armies and exposing the weaknesses of the mechanic.
Its an unsolvable weakness inherent to this type of game and its part of why I always say that miniature games make for extremely pour competitive games.  I will say that games like Legion and really most FFG products make for far better competitive games then say Warhammer 40k where the rules are so unclear and based on estimations and "eye balling it", that its almost silly to try to regulate that into a tournament format. 
In the same token you have to ask yourself the question, why play Legion or any miniatures game?  Is it really for the game?   I ask because when you really think about the hobby of Assemble/Paint miniature games like Warhammer or Warmachine, the average player spends the overwhelming majority with the game preparing to play.  Maybe its less true about Legion since the units are kind of straightforward in most cases, but still, for me personally I find that the joy of the hobby and the game is really reading about, thinking about, assembling, painting, theorycrafting and so on.  The amount of time you actually sit down to play is by comparison extremely limited. 
As such I think one of the problems FFG has with their miniature games like X-Wing, Armada and Legion is that there really isn't that much to dive into between games.  All of these games only have a couple of factions, pretty limited amount of units, very limited amount of possible configurations and a setting that is exhaustive to the point that I doubt most Legion players spend any time reading and enjoying its atmosphere.  In a sense, Legion like many of FFG games are directly and very exclusively about playing and not really about the hobby part of the game which traditionally in the world of miniature game is the primary activity for most players.
In a way, Legion is a board game.  There are very limited walls (2 factions, limited units, limited upgrades), fairly directly formulated rules and there is virtually no eyeballing of anything.  Its far closer to a board game then an asymmetrical miniature game.  Which makes the unbalances far more noticeable and can very quickly tire out a community.  I think this is in large part why Runewars is on the bargain bin and has lost support so heavily and ultimately will be the case for Legion as well.  
 

While I agree with Okapi to a point, I don't believe that organizing tournaments and game nights and stuff like that makes sense if there is no interest in what you are organizing.  I could set up an X-Wing tournament in my local area where I offer free stuff, food, even pay you to show up and I will still get ZERO people in attendance.  At the same time I could post that there is a tournament for 40k starting in 10 minutes at the local game store with no other information and five minutes later a dozen people are going to be arriving on site to play.
Organization of events only has impact if there is an existing interest you cannot generate interest in something, especially if its not something new.  Like a new game that just released you could probobly get people to come down and try but X-Wing that has been around for several years and everyone knows... if there is no interest to play, no one will come.

While I agree with Okapi to a point, I don't believe that organizing tournaments and game nights and stuff like that makes sense if there is no interest in what you are organizing.  I could set up an X-Wing tournament in my local area where I offer free stuff, food, even pay you to show up and I will still get ZERO people in attendance.  At the same time I could post that there is a tournament for 40k starting in 10 minutes at the local game store with no other information and five minutes later a dozen people are going to be arriving on site to play.
Organization of events only has impact if there is an existing interest you cannot generate interest in something, especially if its not something new.  Like a new game that just released you could probobly get people to come down and try but X-Wing that has been around for several years and everyone knows... if there is no interest to play, no one will come.

Eh.. no
The word opinion by the dictionary means  "a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge." -The Dictionary.  Its synonyms include the word belief which is exclusively always a matter of preference and has absolutely nothing to do with logic, proof or an argument.
Besides its very clear that the OP intended for people to voice their personal opinions (In this case their presumed unpopular opinions), aka, their preferences.
 
 

Eh.. no
The word opinion by the dictionary means  "a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge." -The Dictionary.  Its synonyms include the word belief which is exclusively always a matter of preference and has absolutely nothing to do with logic, proof or an argument.
Besides its very clear that the OP intended for people to voice their personal opinions (In this case their presumed unpopular opinions), aka, their preferences.
 
 

Eh.. no
The word opinion by the dictionary means  "a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge." -The Dictionary.  Its synonyms include the word belief which is exclusively always a matter of preference and has absolutely nothing to do with logic, proof or an argument.
Besides its very clear that the OP intended for people to voice their personal opinions (In this case their presumed unpopular opinions), aka, their preferences.
 
 

To me personally (aka in my personal opinion), Tournaments should have a stronger connection to the theme of the game.  As they are today they are just "competitions" without any real concern with the setting or theme of the game, giving them a very "disconnected" feeling, where the story and theme of the game don't matter and its just about mechanic manipulation.  This is the biggest turn off for me in competitive play, the sort of exclusive focus on "winning", rather than just creating a fun reason for people to get together and play a Star Wars game.  I mean at tournaments, the fact that we are playing a Star Wars game isn't even a part of the experience, we may just as well skip the use of the models and use tokens to make the games more accurate and move faster as their aesthetics are a burden to tournaments in the way they are formatted.
I would personally like to see the tournaments be organized into a more "short campaign mode" where players are teamed up by faction, their is some sort of story to the tournament and their are strategic goals for the team and people can win together.  Make it a more social event and experience rather than a cut-throat competition.

It's my opinion that the color blue is my favorite color.
How do you expect someone to make an argument for that?
Opinions don't require arguments, reasons or logic, because they are based on preference and you can't argue preference to someone.  

To me personally (aka in my personal opinion), Tournaments should have a stronger connection to the theme of the game.  As they are today they are just "competitions" without any real concern with the setting or theme of the game, giving them a very "disconnected" feeling, where the story and theme of the game don't matter and its just about mechanic manipulation.  This is the biggest turn off for me in competitive play, the sort of exclusive focus on "winning", rather than just creating a fun reason for people to get together and play a Star Wars game.  I mean at tournaments, the fact that we are playing a Star Wars game isn't even a part of the experience, we may just as well skip the use of the models and use tokens to make the games more accurate and move faster as their aesthetics are a burden to tournaments in the way they are formatted.
I would personally like to see the tournaments be organized into a more "short campaign mode" where players are teamed up by faction, their is some sort of story to the tournament and their are strategic goals for the team and people can win together.  Make it a more social event and experience rather than a cut-throat competition.

It's my opinion that the color blue is my favorite color.
How do you expect someone to make an argument for that?
Opinions don't require arguments, reasons or logic, because they are based on preference and you can't argue preference to someone.  

To me personally (aka in my personal opinion), Tournaments should have a stronger connection to the theme of the game.  As they are today they are just "competitions" without any real concern with the setting or theme of the game, giving them a very "disconnected" feeling, where the story and theme of the game don't matter and its just about mechanic manipulation.  This is the biggest turn off for me in competitive play, the sort of exclusive focus on "winning", rather than just creating a fun reason for people to get together and play a Star Wars game.  I mean at tournaments, the fact that we are playing a Star Wars game isn't even a part of the experience, we may just as well skip the use of the models and use tokens to make the games more accurate and move faster as their aesthetics are a burden to tournaments in the way they are formatted.
I would personally like to see the tournaments be organized into a more "short campaign mode" where players are teamed up by faction, their is some sort of story to the tournament and their are strategic goals for the team and people can win together.  Make it a more social event and experience rather than a cut-throat competition.

It's my opinion that the color blue is my favorite color.
How do you expect someone to make an argument for that?
Opinions don't require arguments, reasons or logic, because they are based on preference and you can't argue preference to someone.