The problem is, this new Hyperspace "Season" might promote creativity for some, but it doesn't do so for all. I tell people to look at what this format did to the CIS, but I don't feel like people have really done that, when the responses I get back are "You just got 3 new ships!" and "That type of thinking staunches creativity". Seriously, look at the CIS. Yes, we just got 3 new ships, but only one of those new ships may possibly bring a new playstyle or two to the faction (Or really revitalize old playstyles that have fallen out of favor). Only the HMP is really good for creativity, as it seems like it could work in so many different lists, but many of those lists are no longer possible with the removal of other pieces. In addition, I can no longer experiment with force powers and my only "option" to get a force point on my ships is Dooku Crew. Meanwhile, boring old Vulture Droid swarms, which have been in the meta as long as the CIS, are just getting better. Will the CIS have new lists? Sure. Will they be creative lists? No. The firespray will bring a temporary uptick in "Gang+ Leader" style lists and "Hammer and Anvil" style lists, before it finally goes the way of the Sith Infiltrator. The Tri-fighter is going to replace the Nantex for mini-swarm purposes. You'll see (very slightly) fewer Hyena Swarms, but more Vulture Swarms. All in all, it's the same old junk with a new name. Had Darth Maul been left in the format, we might have a seen a "Big ships" list do well in the format.. but he isn't, so we won't. Had targeting computer been left in, we might have seen a list with Gorgol supporting HMP's.. but alas, No. It's as if FFG saw where creativity might have had room to develop, and decided to kill it off before it got too frisky.

I would argue that FO Aces defines "Aces", and that's still workable. I think Imp Aces got removed because "Aces" is not meant to be Empire's bread and butter (as it is for FO). The reason rebels didn't get hit is because they weren't misbehaving. I think it has less to do with "does this seem good" and more to do with "Is this the way we want this faction to be played?". For example, look at the Seps. Vulture and Hyena swarms have always been part of the meta, certainly some players see them as "good", but they didn't get hit because they're doing what seps are supposed to be doing. As soon as that playstyle starts to get overshadowed in the faction, whatever is overshadowing goes away. Can we really say that 2x Sith Infiltrator lists or Grievous and gang lists were better than droid swarms? I don't think so. Can we say that they overshadowed droid swarms in the droid swarm faction? Yes. So they got a time out. Now those lists are back (to varying degrees) and the list that was most recently over-shadowing the droid swarms got removed. I don't get it either. Do people understand that not all factions are meant to be playing "Aces" all the time? Apart from "Aces" lists, there are also meant to be "Swarm" lists, but most lists should have some mixture of Uniques and Generics, probably skewing toward the generic side. So a 4, 5, or 6 ship list is likely to have a unique or 2 and be filled out with generics. I don't see that as problematic. I would also point out that, just because a list might have spent most of it's points on generics, doesn't really mean the list is "Generic-centric" in the way that it's played. If a CIS list has a 72pt. General Grievous and 6 vultures (for 120 pts.) Grievous is still the key player.

Just a quick thought, have you tried switching Jango/Zam? Taking Zam pilot, Jango crew is the same cost (right?), Zam has the same init as the tri-fighters. You get the better version of Zam's ability and Jango's ability is based on you having a lock instead of you limiting your manuevering options.

It's not about Zam. She's good and will almost certainly make her way into lists. I just recently got the Sith Infiltrator and was working on lists to use Darth Maul or Count Dooku in when I saw the Firespray spoilers. Zam has the same intitiative as Darth Maul, making them easier for a newb like me to control, and the fact that they both have (possible) extra attacks might have helped to counteract some of the problem of playing expensive pilots against swarms. I also figured it would be my opportunity to play a 2 or 3 ship list myself. So what I'm really annoyed with is losing the ability to play around with force points/powers and losing the ability to make a 2 or 3 ship list that might actually be decent. The thing that really disappoints me about this "rotation system" though, is that I had seen it as a way for factions with fewer ships to "catch-up". By this I mean that, if the point was to change the meta, it seems better to me to bring some of the older content back in to hyperspace, rather than removing current content from the format. "Rotating" generally means some stuff out, some stuff in, but we got a whole heck of a lot more rotated out than rotated in.

Personally I find these hyperspace changes to be truly disgusting. They literally put the kibosh on all of my lists, including the Darth Maul/ Zam Wessel list I was looking forward to. Also, from a CIS perspective, there's really nothing here that "promotes creativity". I was starting to think that CIS is really getting into a good place where it actually has a couple of playstyle options. this hyperspace change just undid all of that. More droid swarms I guess.