Why are any pieces made? To keep the game fresh.
Why these Vong pieces? To promote unique Vong use.

Follow-up to juice man's response... non-Unique Vong are very powerful. Warrior Caste Subcommander handing out Blastbugs is one of the top squads around. But a squad with Unique Vong is not very powerful. Or at least it wasn't before the Eighth Cortex Shaper. Probably still isn't a top squad even with it.

Now you have the option of using a mix of both and having (possibly) the power creep of the meta go higher?

Yep it is a question, as again ive never played much with the Vong, but appreciate their existence. Im not opposed to playing with or against them either.

With this said, (maybe this should be a separate thread) but where do the factions stand in the meta and etc?
(What im looking for is: X Faction is mediocre, with mostly shooters and no force characters, not competitive. Y faction can counter just about any other squad out there with their mix, strong melee and ranged characters etc etc etc)

I also agree with Darth Bane's comment.

@blemelisk:
On the idea of mixing both Uniques and non-Uniques for something more powerful. That's generally not how it works. If you pay for commanders, you want to get the most out of them. Many commanders are exclusively for Uniques or non-Uniques. If your squad mixes non-Uniques and Uniques, you generally don't get the most out of your commanders.

For example, the Warrior Caste Subcommander costs 23 points. It hands out Blastbugs (and other stuff). You want to have as many recipients as possible to get as many people Blastbugging as possible. That pushes for lots of cheap non-Uniques. Every Unique you add to the squad means fewer Blastbuggers, even if the Unique is itself eligible to benefit from the CE.

Cool! So we now have a NEW option of squad building for the Vong. Great. Fantastic.

Do you think you guys can work on the Sith faction now? Maybe give them a 19 point piece who hands out 3 Special Abilities for Unique Sith Only? Like Evade and Willing to Serve and something else? OH! And maybe that same piece can bring in another piece that costs 18!?

Or maybe we should just release more Vong, and give them more and more options? Jesus Christ and Mary. I wish someone could just take the time and explain the logic of all this to me. I would appreciate that almost as much as spending time desigining within the Sith Faction.

Disclaimer ^^the above^^ is a joke

Sith are pretty competitive and have been competitive in some form or other.

I don't know though. from a flavor stand point all the defense is Sith makes them playable. Amanoa, Zannah, Aleema, Plageuis, Cognus, Caedus (greek theology with all the 'us's)

Your attack pieces like Bane and .... um.... Exar Kun? have no defense.

I think Lightsaber Defense is warranted on a lot of sith masters I mean, they do have to defend as well.

I would like to see a Sith master that costs 65 or so that has good moving attack (assault or GMA or Charging Asssault with twin) good damage and like Shien Style.

Something simple.

What about Anakin when he turns Darth Vader before the legs and arm getting hacked?
That guy would be a fun build, very mobile, very defense, very charge at you, has some force push 3 going on and some choke of some kind maybe even that new uber powerful one Kylo Ren has.

absolutely not. lightsaber trainer cannot ever be in Sith. it will change the faction forever.

but that specialization is something to look into

Could also give him rival for characters with a lightsaber style? Or just drop it and make him give one person SSM? Could change it slightly so it only affects commanders? Or best option just make him cost 48. And then boom no Zannah.

FYI - Sith have made the GenCon top eight almost every year since set 2 was released.
Jaq'ed Up, Krayt/Revan, Dance of Death, etc. (I don't even think Malgus ever made top 8, but he was frequently right there.)


Vong only finally made it in, and the breaking point was the Yun Ne'shell Priest. The Lah Warriors were out the GenCon before, and the Subcommander (blast bugs) the year before that. It took the combo of all 3 broken pieces to finally get them in.


There has never been a truly competitive Song squad featuring uniques and attacking as primary damage dealing.


Sith - that has almost always been the case.


Sith have one of the best shooters in the game (Jaq), one of the bestsellers swappers (Revan), one of the best movement manipulators (Caedus) - and still some great cheap tech that Long don't have access to.



Vong have so many disadvantages, ESPECIALLY in terms of Uniques.



Having a Vong squad where the focus is on Uniques and Attacks is something we really haven't seen in the competitive realm.

Ever.

So this is new. This cannot realistically be stacked with blast bugs. This cannot realistically be combined with Lah warriors. This cannot be realistically stacked with the Yun Ne'shell priest (at least not the avoid defeat aspect).



This is a whole new way to build with Vong. It's back to basics.

It FEELS very Vong when playing it. You rush in and attacks start flying everywhere.


I play tested this piece, and honestly - I lost to a sith squad (Darth Baras coincidentally), but it was very close, and it was VERY FUN! We had an absolute blast playing it.


And it is not my playstyle, not my faction, not my cup of tea. But I had to admit it was fun.




Try it out before you condemn it.



It's not broken. It's not the crazy NPE that blast bugs, Lah Warriors, and avoid defeat Yun Neshell silliness are.



It's lots of attacks, lots of damage, lots of killing, and no cat-and-mouse/hide-and-seek crap.




It's exactly what most people have been begging for.