Does it feel like X-Wing's become unimportant to FFG?

[Arkanta974 841]

After our Shadowed Paths stream, we’ll pause our streams for two weeks, but that’s not all for the month! As we recently announced, we are working with Gen Con Online to bring you the hottest new announcements and showcase what FFG has been working on. It all starts with the In-Flight Report on July 29, streaming at 7:00 PM Central Time, where we present a full suite of new announcements and upcoming expansions for some of our hottest game lines, including Star Wars™: Legion, KeyForge, Star Wars™: Armada, and Marvel Champions: The Card Game!

From : https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/7/1/ffg-live-in-july-1/

[Cloaker 1,719]

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

XWM's Achilles Heel has consistently been a lack of official alternate options for play.

Sure, there's Epic, and a Missions box, and now a Solo play option, but these have all felt like fire-and-forget projects rather than FFG attempting to truly diversify how folks can play the game.

When I would go to the FLGS (back in the old days, before the Emperor virus), I would ask about Epic, or Environments, or Missions, and no one wanted to do more than bang out 200-point games to practice a list.

Man, so much this. 

[feltipern1 630]

14 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

I think it was just oversight on their part, or perhaps it’s because we already know all the news even if it’s not officially confirmed.

If you think about it, distributor leaks has left us with what, 8 new products coming on top of the wave that got delayed?

xwing is still FFG’s bread and butter and the entry level minis game. No way it’s being deemed unimportant. 

See, I don't trust the leaks.  I haven't even bothered to check on them. Who knows if those are actually going to manifest or not?

12 hours ago, Mrk1984 said:

There has been a global Pandemic happening for 6 months, im sure this has caused many delays in their plans and production time lines.

Guaranteed.  I was thinking more about even a lack of news.  Ships will come when they come.  What I HAVE seen is announcement after announcement on KeyForge, Arkham Horror, and L5R.  That's what got me thinking that X-Wing's tanking.  That, plus not even a whisper on if anything's coming related to Episode IX or The Mandalorian, or even Season 2 of Resistance, which promised at least one new FO ship with that FO Bomber.

3 hours ago, Silver_leader said:

And I am pretty sure these spots were taken by Legion, Marvel Champions and Keyforge.

Marvel champions got a new hero / pack every month before covid, Legion got A TON of new stuff, and they have Maul and Anakin incoming (but not announced yet) (see Lion Rampant website), and Keyforge has their latest big release programmed for july 10.
 

I can understand new games being the focus right now - they've got to fill out some content there.

3 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

Two words:

Global.

 

Pandemic.

 

Actually, that's a tautology because the word Pandemic already implies widespread/global as opposed to endemic or epidemic. So just the one then:

 

P a n d e m i c.

Got that, thanks - I'm not one of those folks who complain that just because there are millions of cases of COVID worldwide, with many in the US, there's still no excuse for missing my regular X-Wing fix.  If you look at the original post, I was pretty clear that COVID's shot hobbies through the heart.  I'm coming at this more from the fact that there have been more regular updates for some of the other games (see above), even through the COVID carnage.  It seems to me like FFG's really pushing those, and putting more focus on them, which bothers me a little as a long-time X-Wing player.  Still, maybe the Armada players are getting their turn in the sun!

[svelok 6,485]

[Hippie Moosen 743]

Probably nothing to worry about. X-wing didn't get a mention on the newest article, but for as long as I've been paying attention to those reports, X-wing has been a big part of their showings. Leaks are popping up here and there so my guess is they've decided to just save official announcements for Gencon. Could be totally wrong. No way to know until that report actually happens, so I'm just gonna wait and see what happens.

[FTS Gecko 23,901]

3 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Sure, there's Epic, and a Missions box, and now a Solo play option, but these have all felt like they turned into fire-and-forget projects rather than FFG vigorously attempting to truly diversify how folks can play the game.

When I would go to the FLGS (back in the old days, before the Emperor virus), I would ask about Epic, or Environments, or Missions, and no one wanted to do more than bang out 200-point games to practice a list....

...that sounds like an issue with the community.  A large percentage of the players want to focus purely on the (most) competitive format.  FFG has to give the people what they want/

Certainly FFG has attempted to push more modes of play.  I played Team Epic at the European Championships two years in a row, and it was hella fun, despite not getting the same number of participants as Hangar Bays.  Worlds last year saw Epic (sans big ships, because it was a pre-release) and Aces High, and both modes were set to be featured in this year's big Organised Play events.  As side events obviously, because as you pointed out yourself, most players seem to want to focus on the main competitive format.

As for the question in the topic... short answer, yes, it feels that way.

Long answer, yes, but a lot of things have become unimportant to a lot of people this year.  We should have just been coming out of an intensive season of System Open events, and looking forward to Contintentals, Grand Championships and Worlds.  We are not, because the entire world is in an entirely abnormal time.

[Stay OT Leader 781]

6 hours ago, gamblertuba said:

It's July now.  Where my new points at?

No mention of X-Wing in the upcoming stream schedule for first half of July.  I’d get ready for a long wait.

[Sithborg 11,624]

5 minutes ago, Stay OT Leader said:

No mention of X-Wing in the upcoming stream schedule for first half of July.  I’d get ready for a long wait.

Yeah, just card and board games. Something a bit easier to play/present when the people are separated. 

[martini74 205]

Yes

[Burius1981 559]

Not having any tournaments to prepare for has really sucked the life out of X-Wing for me.  I've been playing for a long time and there aren't any ships I haven't put on the table a few times.  Before anyone mentions online tournaments, that doesn't work for me.  My 6y/o can't help but bug me if I'm at my PC and my 6m/o is.... a 6m/o and if I'm home, then I'm helping.  No time to sit at the PC for an hour and a half and concentrate.

It doesn't help that FFG hasn't been hot on putting out interesting articles like previews or announcements(interesting to me anyway.)

Occam's razor: FFG has had some slow down in production and information due to the pandemic and it's no one's fault, they aren't ignoring X-Wing on purpose.

[CoffeeMinion 809]

20 minutes ago, Burius1981 said:

Before anyone mentions online tournaments, that doesn't work for me.  My 6y/o can't help but bug me if I'm at my PC and my 6m/o is.... a 6m/o and if I'm home, then I'm helping.  No time to sit at the PC for an hour and a half and concentrate.

Right. There. With ya.

[clockworkspider 110]

6 hours ago, Skitch_ said:

It feels that way but that's just because FFG has had so many releases and articles and updates for X-Wing compared to literally every other game they make.

This isn't true anymore, FFG employees said as much. While still important, it isn't their bread and butter, whether from circumstance or from FFG actively moving in a different direction. I think they saw something on the horizon and want to put more effort into their other miniatures games.

This is what has happened. FFG employees essentially said they want to focus more on Legion and Armada. Legion has been performing really well for them and Armada as always has been there and a surprise to them with it's performance. They want to lean into those two games more.

Also, bad reprint choices in some cases.

TTS is a great substitute for this. It simulates actual games well, although nothing makes up for the tactile feel of actually holding plastic ships and joking in person with buddies.

How has that been?

Every time I open the Steam Workshop page for TTS, I see a whole raft of X-wing related things by different authors and I honestly can't tell which ones I actually need to get something that will work correctly.

[Skitch_ 694]

3 minutes ago, clockworkspider said:

Every time I open the Steam Workshop page for TTS, I see a whole raft of X-wing related things by different authors and I honestly can't tell which ones I actually need to get something that will work correctly.

Grab the X-Wing Unified 2.0 mod from the workshop, it's the only thing you need. You can join the official discord and somebody in the lfg channel would most likely be willing to show you how it works. There are tons of resources from the devs to help. It's actually quite intuitive and straightforward.

[joemasilotti 20]

18 hours ago, feltipern1 said:

The title pretty much says it all, but I thought I'd offer some context.  We haven't really had any news about anything for several months, and with the Gen-Con announcement today (no mention of X-Wing, where it's usually prominent), does it feel to anyone else like X-Wing's been left on the back burner for a long time?  I mean, I understand that COVID's basically shot most hobbies through the heart, particularly in the US, but I would have thought that something would have been forthcoming by now.

*laughs in Star Wars: Destiny*

[Darth Meanie 15,363]

2 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

...that sounds like an issue with the community. 

You bet.  But my micro community is just a reflection of the larger community, as you point out.

Quote

FFG has to give the people what they want/

Hmm.

Quote

I played Team Epic at the European Championships two years in a row, and it was hella fun,

Are folks getting what they want, or are they only being allowed to want what they get the most/easiest?

Edited July 1 by Darth Meanie

[clockworkspider 110]

1 hour ago, Skitch_ said:

Grab the X-Wing Unified 2.0 mod from the workshop, it's the only thing you need. You can join the official discord and somebody in the lfg channel would most likely be willing to show you how it works. There are tons of resources from the devs to help. It's actually quite intuitive and straightforward.

X-Wing Unified 2.0.  Gotcha.

Thanks!

[FTS Gecko 23,901]

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

Are folks getting what they want, or are they only being allowed to want what they get the most/easiest?

[ScummyRebel 5,289]

3 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Are folks getting what they want, or are they only being allowed to want what they get the most/easiest?

Probably a bit of both? I wouldn’t mind playing more epic if I could find more opponents for it. But without advance notice, it’s much easier to pack a 200 point squad.

[rawbean 200]

7 hours ago, feltipern1 said:

That, plus not even a whisper on if anything's coming related to Episode IX or The Mandalorian

There have been whispers of both. X-Wing devs said to expect Poe's orange X-Wing in an aces pack at Adepticon and Steve Horvath told Team Covenant that Mandalorian content was coming for the minis games including X-Wing in this interview: 

 

[CoffeeMinion 809]

8 hours ago, clockworkspider said:

Every time I open the Steam Workshop page for TTS, I see a whole raft of X-wing related things by different authors and I honestly can't tell which ones I actually need to get something that will work correctly.

I struck out pretty badly with TTS myself, and found better success with VASSAL. IMO TTS feels like you’re playing a 3-D spinny-space that X-Wing is happening in... somewhere. Whereas VASSAL feels like you’re playing X-Wing, albeit locked-in at an overhead perspective.

[Flurpy 925]

Not to get overtly political but this is like a textbook example of privilege. We are so used to being the golden goose that someone else being treated equally ( Legion) feels like we are being neglected. 

[clockworkspider 110]

2 hours ago, CoffeeMinion said:

I struck out pretty badly with TTS myself, and found better success with VASSAL. IMO TTS feels like you’re playing a 3-D spinny-space that X-Wing is happening in... somewhere. Whereas VASSAL feels like you’re playing X-Wing, albeit locked-in at an overhead perspective.

I didn't have much luck getting the Vassal module working the last time I tried it, and I've found Vassal a little cumbersome with other games I've played on it.  Thanks for the input, though.

[Target_2.0 45]

I couldn't get TTS to load right.  Vassal felt clunky at first, but after a handful of games my local casual group can now play in equal or less time than our in person games. 

[GuacCousteau 1,964]

5 hours ago, CoffeeMinion said:

IMO TTS feels like you’re playing a 3-D spinny-space that X-Wing is happening in... somewhere. Whereas VASSAL feels like you’re playing X-Wing,

It's funny, I have the exact opposite reaction. 

Maybe it's because I'd already used TTS for a bunch of other boardgames first, but it just feels more 'real' to me. 

 

Vassal I found horribly clunky and unintuitive, and ultimately the forced top down 2D perspective just made it feel a bit too divorced from the reality of the game. I like being able to get my face in close and look across the table and pan around things. The way the TTS module uses actual range rulers for some things helps a lot with the feel too. 

Controlling everything through the dial is a bit weird, true. And Vassal is slightly better set up for some repositioning actions are extra abilities. I like the way it tracks what actions you've used. 

 

But TTS is still the winner for me in terms of ease of control. 

I actually prefer it to Fly Casual too, which I feel automates way too much and locks you into things a bit too much (for example, you can't easily measure range to multiple targets before deciding which one to attack - if you click an enemy ship that's in range, you're attacking it and that's that). 

[C3gorach 188]

Long story short, X-Wing will be present @ the In-flight Report with the next Wave announcement.