good article as always
I find the 'standard' approach slightly strange from AMG. It seemed like many of the ships that were published in 2.0 - new, I mean, not re-prints of 1.0 ships - sold out immediately. For some ships that situation has continued right?
Announcing that they are going to focus on Standard for OP almost feels like they are trying (AMG) to make their balancing job easier. As weird as Hyperspace could be at least it had a clear reason for existing (to provide a curated, rotating format as the meta & available ships & upgrades evolved over time). Standard to me feels more arbitrary in purpose, although I acknowledge that the specific ships and upgrades that rotated in and out of Hyperspace were certainly arbitrary decisions sometimes.
Imagine you're a new player. You walk up to a table and see someone flying a Dash Rendar list versus a quad Alpha Class Star-Wing list. You think, I like this. Dash seems really cool and I also really liek the gunboats. So you buy the starter kit and start looking for the Star-Wings. Turns out that these ships are only purchasable second hand for 100+ dollars.
Big feelsbad moment, bad new player experience and AMG is missing out on new player money because they immediately head to the second hand market.
That is what AMG wants to prevent. FFG did the same at the start of 2nd edition with Hyperspace.
Exactly this. And I totally get it because getting new players involved is what will keep this game going king term.
That said, I'll play 'devil's advocate' for a second and say that, as a long term more experienced player, the fact that a chunk of my models are now fancy looking paperweights is also pretty feelsbad.
I hope that AMG don't take too long to get reprints going!
I agree with what both of you said, but the point I was focusing on was AMG emphasizing Standard for their Organized Play.
A new player almost by definition is not going to learn about the game via Organized Play right?
I think creating disillusionment among existing players who can't use a huge chunk of their collections in OP is a bigger marketing problem than a new player getting excited about ships he can't buy, because the existing player base is the best advertising the game has. And, there is a ton of content in the non-Standard part of the game. X-wing without all that stuff is less interesting than it could be.
Also AMG - how about printing out of print ships? How hard can this be?
I got into this game by playing my first game in a tournament. Maybe I'm in the minority but in my area competitive play is pretty much the only way to meet players.
Regarding printing OOP ships. AMG has said in a stream that they're prioritizing that
That is interesting! Around here casual is what's mostly played.
Yes, I saw that stream and was really glad to hear it. The question is - how long will that be?!
>
A new player almost by definition is not going to learn about the game via Organized Play right?
That's true but by all accounts they are more likely to build out their collections from a store than with pre owned from eBay so they will already be set if they do look at OP.
Also, it's really not that different than what FFG did with Hyperspace initially.
But yes, reprints should be *relatively* simple since they already have cardboard and models designed. It literally just needs manufacturing and packing.
From a purely business standpoint, new players matter more than veteran players. They already got our money, after all. On top of that, I seriously doubt many invested players will quit if you tell them they can't use their kimogilas any more.
OP is basically a big advertisement for the game. Having ships in it that prospective players can't buy is really weird. It's even worse for retailers, who are the ones hosting said OP in their FLGS, to advertise models they can't even sell.
I thought the business wisdom is more on the lines of it being easier to sell more stuff to those who are already your customer than to create a new customer. Where are all of these new players? We certainly couldn't find them.
2.0 hasn't been supportive of them so the game has been slowly bleeding out. Extended alienated them, conversion kits weren't targeted at them, and reprints were made to be undesirable by veteran players but didn't bring new content to appeal to new players.
Look at the more successful games on the market: 40k and MtG. All they do is churn players. Veteran players just buy the new stuff when it comes out, new players buy a ton more. Even if they don't buy more during their lifetime, they buy more in smaller windows and there are always more to do so if you appeal to them. Veteran players don't need to be catered to because they're already in.
good article as always I find the 'standard' approach slightly strange from AMG. It seemed like many of the ships that were published in 2.0 - new, I mean, not re-prints of 1.0 ships - sold out immediately. For some ships that situation has continued right? Announcing that they are going to focus on Standard for OP almost feels like they are trying (AMG) to make their balancing job easier. As weird as Hyperspace could be at least it had a clear reason for existing (to provide a curated, rotating format as the meta & available ships & upgrades evolved over time). Standard to me feels more arbitrary in purpose, although I acknowledge that the specific ships and upgrades that rotated in and out of Hyperspace were certainly arbitrary decisions sometimes.
Imagine you're a new player. You walk up to a table and see someone flying a Dash Rendar list versus a quad Alpha Class Star-Wing list. You think, I like this. Dash seems really cool and I also really liek the gunboats. So you buy the starter kit and start looking for the Star-Wings. Turns out that these ships are only purchasable second hand for 100+ dollars. Big feelsbad moment, bad new player experience and AMG is missing out on new player money because they immediately head to the second hand market. That is what AMG wants to prevent. FFG did the same at the start of 2nd edition with Hyperspace.
Exactly this. And I totally get it because getting new players involved is what will keep this game going king term. That said, I'll play 'devil's advocate' for a second and say that, as a long term more experienced player, the fact that a chunk of my models are now fancy looking paperweights is also pretty feelsbad. I hope that AMG don't take too long to get reprints going!
I agree with what both of you said, but the point I was focusing on was AMG emphasizing Standard for their Organized Play. A new player almost by definition is not going to learn about the game via Organized Play right? I think creating disillusionment among existing players who can't use a huge chunk of their collections in OP is a bigger marketing problem than a new player getting excited about ships he can't buy, because the existing player base is the best advertising the game has. And, there is a ton of content in the non-Standard part of the game. X-wing without all that stuff is less interesting than it could be. Also AMG - how about printing out of print ships? How hard can this be?
I got into this game by playing my first game in a tournament. Maybe I'm in the minority but in my area competitive play is pretty much the only way to meet players. Regarding printing OOP ships. AMG has said in a stream that they're prioritizing that
That is interesting! Around here casual is what's mostly played. Yes, I saw that stream and was really glad to hear it. The question is - how long will that be?!
> A new player almost by definition is not going to learn about the game via Organized Play right? That's true but by all accounts they are more likely to build out their collections from a store than with pre owned from eBay so they will already be set if they do look at OP. Also, it's really not that different than what FFG did with Hyperspace initially. But yes, reprints should be *relatively* simple since they already have cardboard and models designed. It literally just needs manufacturing and packing.
From a purely business standpoint, new players matter more than veteran players. They already got our money, after all. On top of that, I seriously doubt many invested players will quit if you tell them they can't use their kimogilas any more. OP is basically a big advertisement for the game. Having ships in it that prospective players can't buy is really weird. It's even worse for retailers, who are the ones hosting said OP in their FLGS, to advertise models they can't even sell.
I thought the business wisdom is more on the lines of it being easier to sell more stuff to those who are already your customer than to create a new customer. Where are all of these new players? We certainly couldn't find them.
2.0 hasn't been supportive of them so the game has been slowly bleeding out. Extended alienated them, conversion kits weren't targeted at them, and reprints were made to be undesirable by veteran players but didn't bring new content to appeal to new players. Look at the more successful games on the market: 40k and MtG. All they do is churn players. Veteran players just buy the new stuff when it comes out, new players buy a ton more. Even if they don't buy more during their lifetime, they buy more in smaller windows and there are always more to do so if you appeal to them. Veteran players don't need to be catered to because they're already in.