With a week to go until 2.0 I wanted to do something a bit different for this post, the last one that will give much heed to first edition. Anyone who has been following the blog for a while will be able to guess the things I’m hyped about. So a few weeks ago I invited a few of the friends I have made on my travels to put their thoughts down and take an international look at what changes X-Wing 2.0 is going to bring to our game.

We start with a brief introduction to my guest contributors. Firstly, representing France we have Nicolas Durand (ND), he has national championships and regional championships aplenty on his CV, captained Team France at this years European Team Championships, and has become a fierce devotee of the Firestorm Special, taking it further in competition than anyone else in the game has managed.

Next up we have Alessandro Marmorini (AM) of Italy. Another team captain from the European Team Championships, successful pilot and all round one of the nicest people you can ever play against in this game. Alessandro has a penchant for Rebels and he totally wrecked me when we played in the singles event at the ETC this year.

Our third guest is Derek Abendschein (DA), I have never met Derek in the flesh, mainly because he is busy playing X-Wing in New York. Derek got in touch with me over a year ago when I shared the blog in the States for the first time with a message inviting me to crash on his sofa anytime I fancy playing X-Wing in New York. Sadly I haven’t got to the Big Apple yet, but as yet but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk X-Wing! As a fellow lover of Firesprays we have a fair few similar lists in our catalogs.

Representing the UK we have the ginger voice of “reason” that is Lewis Witham (LW). Lewis is one of the UKs most consistent players, seemingly making cuts for fun, he’s also a big voice in the UK community and has had a real impact in increasing the popularity of the game in his home store of Harlequins and the North West in general. He has provided me with some of the most enjoyable loses I have endured!

Finally we have Bartosz “Ken” Wojcicki (BW) of Poland. A regular feature in their ETC team, devoted Rebel player, Italian Open Champion, 2017 runner up at the European Championship, 2018 Polish National Champion and a familiar face in international X-Wing. We’ve only played a couple of times, we’re 1-1. 100-0 both times, a record I am very happy with!

“What are you going to miss from 1.0?”

DA: There’s plenty I think I’m going to miss, but until we’re actually a few months into 2.0 it’s hard to say exactly what they are. X-Wing was my first ever table top game and one of the things I love is that you can sit there, pull out all your cards and just look at what might work. We won’t be able to do that in 2.0, the app is going to be great for fluidity (I am concerned that I might wake up one day to find my favourite ship has disappeared over night) but I’m going to miss that “old school” way of actually building a list. I’m a little sad that you won’t even be able to line up the cards with the ships cause the App tells you what upgrades you can have! I know it’s a small thing but I’m going to miss it. I’m also not a fan of the new size on the upgrade cards (Phil – with you on this one) I like the little cards, they just feel tidier than what we’re going to have going forward. As far as ships go, I’m REALLY going to miss 1.0 Kath.

BW: The thing I’ll miss the most from 1.0 is the list I flew at the ETC and then won Polish Nationals with, Phil has mentioned it in the blog before (Wes, Wedge, Snap Cavern, Determined Cavern). It bought back the feeling I had when I tried X-Wing for the first time. I used to be a hardcore Warhammer 40k player, but I got fed up of what the lists looked like. Compared to some of the combos you can do there Ghost Fenn and Nymanda look tame. I went to one X-Wing tournament and sold my entire 40k collection the next day. Wave 14 restored some balance to the game, it bought back the joy of flying ships with arcs, trying to bluff your opponent and bait them into making a mistake.

AM: I will miss having a clear understanding of the meta game, competitive players have learned to use mechanics in the game to achieve a lot of things and that’s all going to change. Sure, 2.0 is going to offer it’s own evolution and dynamics, but it will take some time to work out what’s good. I think that there is a bit of a paradox because the changes bought in by wave 14 have put the game in a healthier place than it has been for years. Experienced players like Phil are able to take on some really tough lists with their weird lists because of their experience with what they fly (Phil – Aww, you’re too kind.) and a lot of those skills are going to have to be transferred. It’s a small thing but 100 points is so easy to work with, getting used to 200 will be strange.

ND: I almost want to say lobbing bombs with a B-Wing (the Firestorm Special) but no, I think I am probably going to miss the TIE/D with it’s double-tap (but maybe they’ll be back at some point?). I liked the flight sim games a lot (X-Wing/Tie Fighter etc) so I have a thing for the TIE Defender, it was the very first ship I flew in X-Wing, back when it was bad. Adding a dual shot with the Ion Cannon was the most thematic upgrade FFG could make to the chassis, and while I understand how broken it would be in 2.0 I’m still sad to see it go. I loved playing lists with 2 named TIE/Ds carrying Ion Cannons and a filler ship.

LW: I’m going to miss Intensity Poe. The game has come so far since the first core set and we’ve seen ships of every ilk. Crazy combos, some admittedly feeling overpowered seem to have slipped through the play-testing net, but for me Poe really hits the nail on the head about how X-Wing should feel. In the films we see him as this ace pilot who can take on multiple opponents, wriggling out of tight spots and taking ships down one at a time. It’s exactly how he feels in game. He’s super strong, but also so vulnerable. Positioning is what he’s all about, and it can take a few turns until you get the perfect engage you’ve been working towards, then you blank out… or get the perfect roll.

“What are you not going to miss from 1.0?”

ND: Twin Laser Turrets. Now that every turret is going to be a mobile arc that gives range bonuses I don’t think I’d mind a range three turret as much. But the TLT made so many things un-viable, whilst managing to be the most widely accepted example of a negative play experience. It really wasn’t future proofed for abuse, as Ghost Fenn proved when it turned up. On paper I understand the intent on mitigating dice variance a bit, which I believe was the intended spirit of the upgrade, but in practice it made flying feel almost irrelevant, as did many of the other 360 turret mechanics. I never played competitive turrets before practicing with Dash/Nym for French Nationals last year and I remember thinking I was playing a totally different game to my opponents who were running arc-reliant ships. So I won’t miss turrets.

AM: I’m a Rebel player, but it can only be one thing: Miranda.

BW: I definitely won’t miss the moments where the game was becoming brainless, like when Genius worked with Trajectory Simulator on Nym. It ruined the game for so many people, those who cherished the skill behind the game suddenly felt unchallenged but the “I have everything lists”. 360 degree firing, passive mods, double repositions, it was in danger of becoming like 40k was before I left it: it doesn’t matter if you out play someone, if they have “that” list, they still win in the end.

DA: I love flying two big base ships, which in the current game is a guaranteed way of bleeding MoV, so I’m really excited about half points on everything. There’s not a lot more frustrating than losing a game because your 60 point big base ship has lost half it’s health, and your opponents 31 points small base ship has one health left. Palp Defenders and Miranda have been the bane of my competitive life! They take so much effort to get down to one health anyway, and then they still count as being worth full points. I can’t count how many games I’ve been edged out of by this rule.

LW: There’s been a lot of strong combos since the game debuted, but it’s not any one of them I’m going to be really happy to see the back of. Rather its the often over the top reaction to that that I will be happy to see leave (hopefully for a long time if they nail how 2.0 points work). We all know the story, something gets released, someone figures out how to make it crazy strong, it spreads about, dominates events, it’s annoying. But seeing people belittling each other or arguing about it online has been so frustrating. Hopefully this fresh start can leave some of that behind, and we’ll get a bunch of new and returning players joining our community and finding out just how awesome a place it can be.

“What are you most excited about for 2.0?”

AM: We’re going to see B-Wings and TIE Swarms again! So many ships from the original movies that we haven’t see for ages will be back. You shouldn’t have a Star Wars Space Ship game without the TIE Swarm! (Phil – If only one of the worlds top Swarm players had written an article on how to fly them…) One of the things I love is talking about the old times, sitting around with friends remembering when TIE Swarms, or Double IGs were the thing to beat, and it’ll be fun to find out what those things are going to be in 2.0.

LW: For me this is dead simple, the App. All my X-Wing dreams came true when they announced that they’d be able to control points and upgrades on ships. It’s not going to be perfect straight away, it’ll take some getting used to for the devs and for us, but give it time to settle and it will offer so much, especially in the competitive aspect of the game. The most basic function of allowing ongoing control of points/upgrades should make the whole thing I talked about in the last question a thing of the past, and give people a really interesting challenge in their list building which can change from week to week. If the other rumoured features are true, like tournament tracking, list submission and things then it really should be a massive, positive game changer.

BW: Pretty sure you can guess my answer. From what it looks like 2.0 is going to be about the joy of dogfighting that was lost waves ago in 1.0. Like Lewis I’m excited that the App will let them control power creep, that is just huge. But the game mechanic I am most excited about is the changes to turrets – Position better, point your guns at the right target, that’s what I think it should be all about.

DA: All ships are going to be worth Half Points, I bet you didn’t see that coming. Personally I would prefer the original rules that you only get points on destruction, but I can accept an even playing field where all ships are worth half points. I’m also incredibly excited for the addition of a medium base! It was sorely needed and I’ve been asking for it since the K-wing and the Punisher dropped. And finally one last thing: Native boost on the Firespray! Marauder! Ah! Excited! Sorry, lol. (Phil – pretty sure that was 2, but I’m not going to argue that too hard…)

ND: As Bartosz said, dogfighting will come back, because everything is about position now. That means that options in list building get opened up again while everyone tries to figure out the strongest combos. As everything feels a little weaker overall, like FCS, or requires better flying to take advantage of, like Predator, the list building side of the game is looking a lot more fun, less things that are obviously the right choice mean that we can focus on flying the things that suit us, the players, the best.

And Back to Phil

I really want to thank the guys for taking the time to look back at the game we love an share their thoughts. I know from my travelling around and speaking to people since the announcement of 2.0 that there’s a lot of excitement, but there are also a lot of concerns. FFG have bought us this far I have faith that they will continue to take the game forward.

People are the key here; The people you play against on a regular basis, that guy you meet for the first time at a big event and you just click, your squad-mates… They are what X-Wing is about, every win and every loss fades in memory over time (though some take far longer to fade that I would like) but the people you meet and stay in touch with are what make the game so special. In the words of one of the best friends I have made through the game “One Love”.

Thank you 1.0, you were great.

Next Time: BOBA GURI IN 2.0

Just because it’s no longer 1.0 doesn’t mean Organised Play is stopping, the 186th Tournament Calendar is still a great place to be looking for events going on near you.