GOWK dominated the scene in 2009, until he was breifly banned and then errata'd to effective only against non-melee.

Cut to the 2012 competitive season when SSM was changed back to the card text (effective against all attacks), and he races to the top - winning several regionals and ultimately the world championship.

I argued vehemently against using the card text again, and I will again put forth the motion that SSM needs to be changed back to 2010-2011 definition permanently.

GOWK is clearly dominant, but that's not even my biggest issue. My issue is that luck is such a big part of the piece. Now don't misinterpret this please. Good players use him well. Trevor is without question one of the greatest players in our game, and he used him perfectly. That being said - a 50/50 chance of negating ANY attack is ridiculous. And that's without even a force point. Anything that increases the luck factor vs the skill factor in this game (where it is increasing too much IMO anyway) is a bad thing.

Do we really want to have our game be opening up a pack of quarters and seeing who flips more heads? That's what it feels like. In games with evenly skilled opponents and evenly matched squads it's always been true that luck can be the difference. That will never change. What I don't like is when mismatched skill and mismatched squads can be overcome by dumb luck. And not insane luck like "I rolled 13 1's in a row and he rolled fifteen 20s!", but he rolled over ten 3/4 of the time, and when he rolled under, he FPd and made the save. That's not that dramatic of luck but it's a huge swing in the game. With figures that are less skill pieces and more luck dependent (once again, don't misinterpret this - skilled players can use these pieces even more insanely well), this game is moving in a bad direction. With Avoid defeat being thrown around like candy and Mace LotLS killing full health 140pt figures from a riposte, we need to make a stand.

GOWK is the best place to start. Republic is without question dominant. Now they have a new piece that unless facing MT, virtually assures them winning a key init (why did we make that again?).

We need to go back to this:

Soresu Style Mastery:
When hit by a non-melee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11

Just reposting to get feedback on both sites. Many people don't use both.

+1

This may seem inelegant, but if GOWK or Mace or the Naboo anyone else is a problem, I would favor the SWCCG response: a direct named counter that Lobot could bring in. Not a ban, not an errata, just a total nerf on the competitive level. Or if it's SSM, a direct named counter to that ability that can be brought in via Lobot.

I would especially vote against GOWK getting yet another errata. Right now it's what the card says, which is great. The original glossary said only melee... the first errata said go with the card over the glossary (all attacks)... then it was only non-melee (directly contradicting the original glossary)... now it's back to all attacks.

Nerfing is easy, clean, and doesn't cause any confusion. The only problem is that it's an inelegant blunt force solution. (Another possible problem is that it takes up a slot in a Vset that designers would probably rather use on something more fun.) See, it's easy:

On a Fringe Force User with cost 14:
Makashi Style Training: Enemy characters [or even just GOWK if you prefer] get -4 on Soresu Style saves and may not reroll saves made with Soresu Style, including Soresu Style Mastery (Note: This is a boardwide effect.)

OR Makashi Style Training: Enemy characters [or even just GOWK if you prefer] get -4 on Soresu Style Mastery saves and may not use Soresu Style Mastery versus Melee Attacks(Note: This is a boardwide effect.)

On a Fringe character with cost 11:
Critical Armor: Unique allies gain Resilient (Note: This is a boardwide effect.)

On a Fringe character with cost 11:
Naboo Spy: Enemy characters whose name contains Naboo may not be affected by Commander Effects (Again, a boardwide effect)

I don't know that I'd vote for any of the above. The meta seems pretty good right now. GOWK/Mace is strong (tier 1, but that's another discussion). However, I don't think it calls for a ban or errata. If it ever got to that point, as mentioned above, I'd vote for nerfing it with a "silver bullet counter" instead of a ban or errata.

==
(Deja Vu... my opinion cross-posted from gamers.)

She is not broken. Shes a pain, but so is Fett Merc, Exar Kun, Grievous and his droid love, Ventress and Mas Ameda!!!
I have beaten with her and lost with her. Her force powers arnt infinite and my dice is weighted when I try to role a save. Direct damage is the settler for all jedi/sith and problem characters.
Loda plus friends is epic against her. That was a match I over estimated her abilities, great fun it was though, ended up hide and seek while i tried to store up some force points, but I lost the init and failed the save.

[quote=FlyingArrow] if GOWK or Mace or ...... anyone else is a problem, I would favor.... a direct named counter that Lobot could bring in. ...................... I'd vote for nerfing it with a "silver bullet counter" instead of a ban or errata.

==[quote]
I agree
we have "overwehlming power" already.with Malakili (20 pts, fringe) any "savage"in the squad would gain "overwelming power".

instead of more new SA,CE,and/or FA
maybe "overwelming power" could be the "silver bullet" added to additional future characters.

Overwhelming power has general applicability. Hurts anyone with parry, LSD, even Evade if it's on someone who is non-melee. I was suggesting a targeted focus on GOWK (or whatever the 'problem' piece may be).

Thanks for reposting here. You are right, many people do not use both sites. I go to gamers when I have to get my vSets, but I like it here better for a variety of reasons (I don't mean anything bad by this, just a few personal preferences make this a better option for me). So, once again, I appreciate the opportunity to see at least some of the discussion.

Your version is basically evade

I was always so frustrated that WotC changed the way SSM worked... the thing that made GOWK hard to hit was always MOTF 2 and Mettle (and continues to be) in addition to his SSM.