How dependent has the game become on the v-sets. Are they generally better cards then the original SWM by WOTC. I feel like I'm hearing here that they are a necessity in today's game to have a chance at doing well or am I wrong. Also, what does errata'ed, DCI and SSM all stand for?

You do not have to use the V-sets if you do not want to. I think they are fun and they have opened up the game a lot. It isn't necesarrily that they are better, they offer balance to the game. The way WotC left the game only a few factions and squad types were competetive, it stagnated the game and made it unfun at times (at least to me.) The V-sets allow pretty much any faction to compete with generally a few different great squads per faction. If you want to you can still do well with the old comptetive WotC Sqauds. You don't have to play withe V-sets if you don't want to, I don't think they are a necessity, and most squads have a good mix of WotC and V-set pieces.

Erratted means changed for game play purposes

DCI was the old governing body that made SWM tournament rules

SSM is Soresu Style Mastery

GOWK is General Obi-Wan Kenobi, the banned Obi-Wan you were talking about

That sounds great. I still need to wrap my head around the WOTC pieces fully before I explore the V-sets, but I definitely understand what you mean by only a few squads being competitive. If the v-sets allow more squads to be competitive then great and it will give me much more fun in the future. Also, WOTC was great, but they first and foremost had to make money. I have no doubt that the people making the v-sets are attention to detail people and are creating the v-sets for fun and competition mainly. I am quite sure they have made the game much more competitive and enjoyable. That's how it appears to me from hearing from all of you anyway.

Most of WotC's pieces weren't competitive to begin with, and most of the rest became outdated through powercreep. WotC left us with probably 150 or so competitive pieces. Probably half of the Vset pieces are competitive, and the rest are still stronger than most of the WotC pieces. After 5 vsets, that's another 150+ competitive pieces from the Vsets. So if you look at a handful of random WotC pieces and a handful of random Vset pieces, the Vset pieces will look *far* superior. That's because the Vsets are balanced to WotC's competitive pieces, not to the rest of the weaker WotC pieces. For that reason, some people have complained because the Vsets are not necessarily friendly for a casual game if players expect the Vsets to blend in seamlessly with the weaker WotC pieces.

Power creep is the belief that as a game progresses newer figures overpower and obsolete older figures.

I think power creep was rampant in SWM from 2004 to 2007/8 - since then it's levelled out quite a bit - there's enough to change the "meta" each set, but not really a whole lot of new obsolescence going on. On the other hand, some pieces have been bought back from obsolescence, like Universe Kyle Katarn winning a Regional this year with Jan Ors. Only a small handful of pieces from early sets still see competitive play (eg General Veers, R2-D2 Astromech, Mon Mothma, Darth Sidious) while a lot of pieces from 2007-2008 sets like Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy of the Force are still good.

A lot of the pieces from earlier sets were good when they were released, but have since been replaced by more modern pieces - eg Boba Fett Bounty Hunter and Clone Strike Aurra Sing were strong shooters back in their day, but the GMA, double, twin pieces Dash Renegade Smuggler, Captain Rex, and Cad Bane superseded them.

According to http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75862/19476462/The_Evolution_of_the_Star_Wars_Miniatures_Metagame?pg=1 this squad was a solid option in after Rebel Storm in 2004:
60 Darth Vader Sith Lord
40 Emperor Palpatine

There's no way it would stand up to something like General Grievous, Droid Army Commander/IG-88, Assassin Droid (both Wizards pieces). Not that two piece squads are normal at 100 points, but it seemed like a convenient comparison.

Sorry for the oversight... I don't listen to the podcasts. Maybe I should. SWMiniverse is a podcast. SHNN = Sith Holo Network News, which is another podcast. Someone will likely soon post the link for that one as well.

Political joke incoming:

Powercreep: See Anthony Wiener

/End Political Joke.

Sorry for a deviation from the actual useful meat of this thread. It seemed a fitting punch line. Anyway, back to the helpful dialogue already in progress.

Common acronyms and nicknames to be aware of:
Doombot: R2 Astromech, Revenge of the Sith WotC
GARY: Grand Admiral Rulf Yage, VSet
Black and Blue: Any squad featuring any Vader (Black) and any Thrawn (Blue)
Hate Squad: Squad utilized for the sole purpose of beating a specific squad type.
CritDu: Mace Windu, Legacy of the Lightside V-Set: named due to his ability to score crits at a 15% chance per Attack among other things
Just a few other things to add to your growing knowledge.

These are all very helpful, thanks.