One year, one release

[NebulonB 793]

thx for being the adult in the room!

one of us now is still feeling fine, the other will keep comparing service to different communities. 

and as much, and sincerly, as I am happy for you that your are happy, its beyond me which arguments you feel you have to use. the game is great, the game is fun, and certainly no one forces the company to cater to my wishes. anyone disputing that? airing my complaints, however, seems entirely acceptable, and certainly no one is forced to read them, let alone comment on them.

feedback is something that many companies seem to find useful, even if just for  gauging the mood. But I cede the point, they might not look here for it. If my ...dots have violated someones sense of civility and are the modern day equivalent of pitchforks, I will certainly take that into consideration.

[OlaphOfTheNorth 229]

Just putting this out there- it's nonsense to say "one release a year" here. Wave 5 dropped in Dec 2016, wave 6 in July 2017, wave 7 in, lets be pessimistic and say March 2018. By my count that's three releases in 15 months, or on average, 2.4 releases per year. It gets better if you start counting from wave two (6 releases in 28 months), coming in at 2.57 per year, without counting CC or new content like Take the Station (which, I agree, we could do with more of).

I also agree that, of course, finding out about manufacturing delays from a channel other than twitter would have been reassuring, but it's not like they've turned off the tap on releases by any stretch. The number of people who are following all this this closely (or even, registered on these boards) is a tiny fraction of the number of people who play the game, and we'd do well to recognize that FFG knows this and are not especially likely to be moved by our howls; by definition we're the people they can count on to buy Wave 7 multiple times over whenever it drops. That doesn't mean they owe us anything beyond good content. Good community relations would be nice, but it's very much a luxury for a company whose fundamental business model is, after all, design and manufacture.

[durandal343 418]

51 minutes ago, NebulonB said:

thx for being the adult in the room!

one of us now is still feeling fine, the other will keep comparing service to different communities. 

and as much, and sincerly, as I am happy for you that your are happy, its beyond me which arguments you feel you have to use. the game is great, the game is fun, and certainly no one forces the company to cater to my wishes. anyone disputing that? airing my complaints, however, seems entirely acceptable, and certainly no one is forced to read them, let alone comment on them.

feedback is something that many companies seem to find useful, even if just for  gauging the mood. But I cede the point, they might not look here for it. If my ...dots have violated someones sense of civility and are the modern day equivalent of pitchforks, I will certainly take that into consideration.

You’re welcome?

You are very right.  I’m not forced to read anything here and I think airing complaints is a useful exercise.  I am not nearly so easily offended so no worries there.  I have nothing against you personally since that would be ridiculous.. I don’t know you at all.

I also can’t tell you your feelings aren’t valid because they are your feelings, not mine.

I guess my thoughts come more from a place of confusion at the apparent juxtaposition of level of outrage to the perceived problem since I, too, feel like FFG could do much better.

I will not, however, apologize for my peasants and pitchforks analogy.  I enjoyed sending that off into the internet too much for that 

[slasher956 546]

5 minutes ago, OlaphOfTheNorth said:

Just putting this out there- it's nonsense to say "one release a year" here. Wave 5 dropped in Dec 2016, wave 6 in July 2017, wave 7 in, lets be pessimistic and say March 2018. By my count that's three releases in 15 months, or on average, 2.4 releases per year. It gets better if you start counting from wave two (6 releases in 28 months), coming in at 2.57 per year, without counting CC or new content like Take the Station (which, I agree, we could do with more of).

 

Whilst the statement of one release a year is incorrect, at time of posting the statement one release  in the last year IS correct.

Take the station.... a web article released April 2016

CC ... announced July 16, release Sept 16

So in the last 12 months there has been one release..... in the Calendar year of 2017 there has been one release... in the Financal year of 2017-2018 there has been one, with a 2nd slated for the final quarter.

 

[OlaphOfTheNorth 229]

You're right only about the calendar and financial year; the last 12 months saw 2 releases, since wave V dropped December 22, 2016 and wave 6 in July of this year. If this is ever going to be accurate, it won't be until Dec 22, and it will only remain accurate for the few weeks until the release of Wave 7, which I doubt will actually be as late as March. The point is it's hyperbole however you measure it.

Edited to add: the title implies we're going 12 months between releases, which isn't even close to right, and that's what's got my dander up.

Edited November 9, 2017 by OlaphOfTheNorth

[moodswing5537 1,415]

34 minutes ago, OlaphOfTheNorth said:

Just putting this out there- it's nonsense to say "one release a year" here. Wave 5 dropped in Dec 2016, wave 6 in July 2017, wave 7 in, lets be pessimistic and say March 2018. By my count that's three releases in 15 months, or on average, 2.4 releases per year. It gets better if you start counting from wave two (6 releases in 28 months), coming in at 2.57 per year, without counting CC or new content like Take the Station (which, I agree, we could do with more of).

I also agree that, of course, finding out about manufacturing delays from a channel other than twitter would have been reassuring, but it's not like they've turned off the tap on releases by any stretch. The number of people who are following all this this closely (or even, registered on these boards) is a tiny fraction of the number of people who play the game, and we'd do well to recognize that FFG knows this and are not especially likely to be moved by our howls; by definition we're the people they can count on to buy Wave 7 multiple times over whenever it drops. That doesn't mean they owe us anything beyond good content. Good community relations would be nice, but it's very much a luxury for a company whose fundamental business model is, after all, design and manufacture.

I agree to parts of this. What ffg owes is is what we decide to pay for.  That's it. 

What a company does in order to sell more product is marketing. When a company says one thing, but does another  (i.e. promotes release dates and misses them) AND fails to explain themselves to the folks waiting for said product, faith in that company dwindles. And while I love armada more than any other 3 games out there combined, I am getting the impression that ffg doesn't love it nearly as much as I do. I see that they love lot5r (2+ articles a week) , x wing (multiple articles plus wave updates this month), Destiny  ( 2 articles YESTERDAY). At this point, I don't want more ships. I want clarification on waves current to the competition season in place right now, or at least SOMEONE that works for ffg to communicate with the loyal fanbase that is literally the sales force behind their product, outside of Twitter replies. THIS IS THEIR FORUM, AND THE ONLY THING THEY DO IS KICK @Ginkapo OFF WHEN HE TELLS THE TRUTH!

[Undeadguy 5,749]

Oh no. Moodswing is mad again.

[ThatRobHuman 1,794]

10 minutes ago, moodswing5537 said:

THE ONLY THING THEY DO IS KICK @Ginkapo OFF

wait what?

[Green Knight 9,731]

6 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

Oh no. Moodswing is mad again.

It's that time of month...

[Megatronrex 2,867]

37 minutes ago, moodswing5537 said:

I agree to parts of this. What ffg owes is is what we decide to pay for.  That's it. 

What a company does in order to sell more product is marketing. When a company says one thing, but does another  (i.e. promotes release dates and misses them) AND fails to explain themselves to the folks waiting for said product, faith in that company dwindles. And while I love armada more than any other 3 games out there combined, I am getting the impression that ffg doesn't love it nearly as much as I do. I see that they love lot5r (2+ articles a week) , x wing (multiple articles plus wave updates this month), Destiny  ( 2 articles YESTERDAY). At this point, I don't want more ships. I want clarification on waves current to the competition season in place right now, or at least SOMEONE that works for ffg to communicate with the loyal fanbase that is literally the sales force behind their product, outside of Twitter replies. THIS IS THEIR FORUM, AND THE ONLY THING THEY DO IS KICK @Ginkapo OFF WHEN HE TELLS THE TRUTH!

I approve and agree with all of this and with your avatar change, good choice.

I've never understood the lack of communication from FFG. Surely by now someone at FFG has noticed that they managed to p*** off a large portion of their Armada player base. I've certainly noticed the lack of attention they pay to us. I love Armada more than any other game and will continue to play it with or without their support but things like this make me very reluctant to buy into more of their games. I was all in for Legion but now I'm reconsidering based on the lack of support they give to Armada.  Is this same lack of communication going to be standard operating procedure for that game too? If it is then I'll spend my money elsewhere.

 

[ninclouse2000 1,049]

12 hours ago, durandal343 said:

Ummm.. yes.  I’m sorry my hyperbole got the best of me.  My point is valid though.  I don’t want new ships upon new ships as too much too fast is hard to keep up with.  It also runs the risk of making obsolete the older ships.  I still want to be able to use my X-wings and Neb-Bs etc forever.

I don’t think tons of new ships is an indication of a clear path forward.  I think communication and clarification are much more valuable in that regard.

To sum up:

- very excited for mc75 etc.

- lack of new ships isn’t the problem.. much prefer a slow trickle of well designed ships to a flood of junk

- lack of communication is the problem

The problem with a slow trickle is that it will cause people to leave the game which will sooner rather than later end this game.  This style of game requires new releases, not just for the players it already has but to also attract new players.  

Edited November 9, 2017 by ninclouse2000

[Animewarsdude 3,639]

23 minutes ago, ninclouse2000 said:

The problem with a slow trickle is that it will cause people to leave the game which will sooner rather than later end this game.  This style of game requires new releases, not just for the players it already has but to also attract new players.  

And this is nothing new for the game too, when it first came out the delay between the core and Wave 1 killed some momentum, then the large drought between wave 1 and wave 2 with no news aside from the announcement killed more of it. This has repeated time after time, communities for the game being dwindled down and surviving usually thanks to those of us who love the game. 

[durandal343 418]

14 minutes ago, ninclouse2000 said:

The problem with a slow trickle is that it will cause people to leave the game which will sooner rather than later end this game.  This style of game requires new releases, not just for the players it already has but to also attract new players.  

Does it though?  I mean maybe I'm not typical but I got in just last year and I feel like people will continue to pick it up as long as it's for sale.  Now I could be wrong, I fully admit that so that's why I ask.  If the game dies completely and is discontinued probably, but will people really stop playing/stop starting to play the game with slower updates?

Also, I have no idea how the game is being marketed or if that has changed over the years.. ie are the articles the main marketing tool for FFG or do the advertise elsewhere?

[IronNerd 537]

13 minutes ago, durandal343 said:

Does it though?  I mean maybe I'm not typical but I got in just last year and I feel like people will continue to pick it up as long as it's for sale.  Now I could be wrong, I fully admit that so that's why I ask.  If the game dies completely and is discontinued probably, but will people really stop playing/stop starting to play the game with slower updates?

I know I'm risking sounding like a broken record, but I'm pretty confident that at least some portion of our loss of player base can be blamed on slow updates combined with FFG pushing other games much harder. I know for a fact that we lost a couple very dedicated players (heck, we lost one of the two Armada tournament organizers) because of Destiny and all the hype they continue to throw at that. We've lost 80%+ of our regular players over the last 6 months. I still see a lot of them in the game shops, they just aren't playing Armada.

[Norell 1,198]

Funnily my local store owner says they will be available after Christmas.

[durandal343 418]

12 minutes ago, IronNerd said:

I know I'm risking sounding like a broken record, but I'm pretty confident that at least some portion of our loss of player base can be blamed on slow updates combined with FFG pushing other games much harder. I know for a fact that we lost a couple very dedicated players (heck, we lost one of the two Armada tournament organizers) because of Destiny and all the hype they continue to throw at that. We've lost 80%+ of our regular players over the last 6 months. I still see a lot of them in the game shops, they just aren't playing Armada.

That's really interesting and thanks for sharing.  Things like this are much more productive, IMO, than generic rants at FFG.

Is there a tangible loss of player base?  Is it widespread?

Edited November 9, 2017 by durandal343

[Darth Sanguis 6,324]

3 minutes ago, durandal343 said:

Is there a tangible loss of player base?  Is it widespread?

There's 2 or 3 people in the Ohio area that are talking about leaving for some of the reasons listed above.... when they saw the delay on wave 7 they started talking about the lack of interaction...

[Sybreed 1,110]

where I live we used to have a store tourney every other month, but we're getting tourneys at half the rate now because less people show up.

[Tearscream 35]

FFG just replied again on Twitter.

[Darth Veggie 995]

4 minutes ago, Tearscream said:

FFG just replied again on Twitter.

Yes, it was unforseen that they had to push hard to get TWO (!) X-Wing waves out before holidays!

[Sybreed 1,110]

unforeseen circumstances... I hate that kind of empty talk...

[Green Knight 9,731]

I have cash I want to spend - on Armada... now I'll have to spend it on something else 

[kmanweiss 1,502]

2 hours ago, OlaphOfTheNorth said:

You're right only about the calendar and financial year; the last 12 months saw 2 releases, since wave V dropped December 22, 2016 and wave 6 in July of this year. If this is ever going to be accurate, it won't be until Dec 22, and it will only remain accurate for the few weeks until the release of Wave 7, which I doubt will actually be as late as March. The point is it's hyperbole however you measure it.

Edited to add: the title implies we're going 12 months between releases, which isn't even close to right, and that's what's got my dander up.

Core - 3 ships, 2 squad types - 3/15

Wave 1 - 5 ships, 2 squad packs - 5/15 - 2 month gap

Wave 2 - 4 ships, 1 squad pack - 11/15 - 6 month gap

Wave 3 - 2 ships - 8/16 - 9 month gap

Wave 4 - 2 ships - 8/16 - no gap

Wave 5 - 2 ships, 2 squad pack - 12/16 - 4 month gap

Wave 6 - 2 ships - 7/17 - 7 month gap

Wave 7 - 2 ships - 1st quarter 18 - 6-8 month gap

 

2015 saw the core, 9 ship expansions and 3 squad expansions.  2016 saw 6 ships and 2 squad packs.  2017 saw 2 ships.

You're not wrong in that it won't be a 12 month gap, but you can see a pretty serious trend here.

 

I don't mind the delay.  I understand it's possibly of their control (although it may very well be a self inflicted wound).  But if you can't deliver on new content, perhaps support the community in other ways.  Be a little more prompt in answering questions, updating the FAQ, etc.  Give us some articles about the game.  Session reports on major events or even local tournaments with pictures.  How about content on par with some of the fan blogs about building fleets or identifying good synergies.  That kind of stuff can go a long way towards helping out with stagnant metas.

The fact of the matter is that if Armada every does fail and die, it's not due to a lack of fan interest.  It's not due to a poor product (it's honestly one of FFGs most solid products).  It will be because they simply didn't support the product well.  Long delays in waves and poor community support does a lot to drive people to other products that appear to have more life.

[GhostofNobodyInParticular 2,493]

8 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

I have cash I want to spend - on Armada... now I'll have to spend it on something else 

I never understood this. You have money you wish to spend on Armada. That spending is delayed for a couple of months, and so you now wish to find something else? Why must you spend it now? What's wrong with saving it?

[BiggsIRL 6,717]

My thoughts.

Edited November 9, 2017 by BiggsIRL