Was factions really needed for star wars lcg?
By Brandon Zimmer– January 19, 2013
I been playing some star wars this week wondering if i wanna invest in it like game of thrones (wont be quite as much but like look to go to the tournaments as well) and while i was playing and trying the different factions i relised that my vote would have been just for straight up the dark side and light side or empire and rebels, because game is going to be watered down by non unquies or important characters. I would understand more if they were going to include the new movies too but the sith only real important characters are vader and the emperor, the navy has just some of the generals and ships, and the scum and villainy is going to be just bobba and joba. on the light side jedi is just obi wan, yoda, and luke. rebels guess same boat as the navy few generals and ships, and the smugglers and spies are just solo and chewy. They will probably end up just mixing main characters into the other factions anyways since think they already spoiled a Vader for the navy in this next cycle. Idk to me seems like would make more sence that just one faction and can have different themes within each of the sides. Just my opinion curious to see if anyone fells the same.
just wanna comment real quick before some big star wars fan jumps on me yes there is alot more “main” characters in the shows, but for sake of a game feel be more enjoyable be with as little generic characters as possible, a problem with agot is that alot of decks have more non unquie characters which to me is a disapointment to anything with a theme like these.
I agree and disagree. I do think that the factions are somewhat diluted at the moment (i.e. populated mostly by Faceless Rebel Pilot #4, etc.). I think this may become less of an issue as more expansions come out; eventually, there will be Rebel versions of Han, Luke, Obi-Wan, and all of your favorites. I think you’ll be able to build a deck with a greater density of “big name” characters before too long.
One positive aspect of the factions pertains to balance and pod design. FFG can release powerful, faction-specific pods (like The Ultimate Power). By tying certain pods to a given faction, the designers don’t have to worry as much about potentially unbalanced synergies between those extra powerful sets. It gives them a little more freedom to push the design envelope without breaking the game.
that is a good point about the being able to balance the game out more, but believe the getting versions of characters for the other factions is a point for them being unneeded but i do see a point for splitting powers or else everyone would probably just play alot more of the same cards.
In addition to things like Rebel versions of Luke, there can (and probably will) also be other Jedi versions.
In general, the factions add some tactical depth in resource management as well as deck building. You can’t just indiscriminately add the “best” cards/objective sets, you also have to consider how your resources are going to work. On the other hand, it does have the side effect of my mostly Rebel deck using the Smugglers and Spies affiliation card because 2/10 objective sets are from that affiliation. That’s kinda strange, but workable.
I think the factions add a lot to the game and certainly help give depth to the game as well as interesting options.