Perhaps I didn't differentiate well enough when I stated my personal feeling on SSM and why I started the thread.
I do have strong opinions (I know everyone is shocked by this), and I am generally vocal about them. That being said, I still don't want to promote moves for the community that will ultimately make it suffer.
This part seems to have been overlooked:
TimmerB123 wrote:
There was a precedence for SSM being changed. And it was actually brought upto me by the powers who rule the floor rules that it is conceivable that it could change back. This is why I started the thread, to promote conversation about it.
So to tell the truth this thread has been very successful in promoting conversation about it. Frankly I am a little surprised that I seem to be in the minority on this - but I can admit that it seems that I am.
I have a
personal issue with SSM in that it makes games less fun for me (to play with or against).
I brought it up in this thread to see what the community thought about it. This is something that could conceivably be changed back. I actually have a bigger issue with Mace, but Mace won't realistically get changed. There was no prior change to Mace, and it wasn't brought to me as an option to change. SSM changing back was brought up to me.
Not that anything really gets voted on by the community as a whole, but I think promoting conversation about it is always good.
This game has gone through quite a metamorphosis. The player base has as well.
As for NPEs, believe it or not most of mine match the list above. Notice I didn't play the lancer once all year? It's been hated on a bunch but it's still competitive. I actually think it would have faired well in this meta (backed by geonosian bombs of course), but it's a headache to play, or to play against. I've always disliked Yodabuck. Atton Rand is ridiculous in having both avoid defeat and override on top of great stats and force points. The Naboo are ridiculous now - everyone focuses on the pilots or the troopers as the issue - but the new Panaka is the problem (they'd be fine without easy board-wide twin). I didn't even bring a squad with an activation control piece in the base to any regional or GenCon this year. I did have Pellaeon in ONE regional squad, but I only swapped in Ozzel against ONE opponent (played him twice). I also happened to use that squad in the champs, where again I swapped in Ozzel only once. So in all 50+ competitive games I played this year I only used activation control about 3 times. I won a regional with Vong and I won one with Sith. So I like a variety of things, and I too enjoy the overall meta where I think a lot can compete.
Problem is this now: I fear the pendulum swinging in the other direction. GOWK/Mace winning the World Championship is the heralding call of this.
As for people hopping on the bandwagon - Bastila is an excellent point. Count the number of Bastila squads last year, and count them this year. There were a VAST number more. I don't have an exact count but I'd guess that it tripled or quadrupled the number of players using Bastila in the championship. And many people consider Mace GOWK even easier to use - so yes I think we will see a TON of it in the next year.
I've never called for a figure to be banned. I still hope we never do. I think this has been misinterpreted. I don't want GOWK banned. I simply think the change should have never gone back. As it was explained to me, when the change was made back to SSM as it reads on the card, it was on the basis of: "We'll see if it works. If it turns out to be a problem we'll change it back." So this conversation needed to happen no matter what. SSM just happen to be key in a squad that won the world championship. That weighs in on this discussion.
It looks to me like SSM will likely not change back and that is fine. I got a lot out of this thread.
I am still concerned about this game slipping too fast towards more luck and less skill, but that conversation is for another thread. The best players can of COURSE use these tactics and do even better (Josh and Trevor are clearly top notch), but it's a slippery slope.
I believe that the core of this game is ATTACKS, and always should be. Direct damage is great, and should always be around as an option - but I don't think it should be a MUST in every squad to win. Any ability that has the potential to negate EVERY SINGLE ATTACK is bad for the game, in my opinion. Free to use, never having to worry about a finite amount of FPs to use it or Ysalamiri to nerf it. Not having to worry about an opponent basing you to negate it or use the other kind of attack (melee vs non-melee) to get around it. This is a bad thing. It makes games go on too long, and it makes hot rolling insurmountable. Luck will always (and should be) a part of this game - but it must be kept in check. It must be balanced with a greater portion of skill.