Hey guys! Its been so long since I've been on here to voice my opinion, (note this is not to start a riot, just voicing concerns) and after reading various posts, and seeing results of this years Gencon, which was won by Bobba Fett, (predictable? Yes.) I decided I should share with you guys some ideas to fix the state of the game.

1. Why not just start making Melee guys Beefier? Sure some of the older guys will get outclassed, but aren't they already? I don't see many people running Nihl squads, Or Nihilus, Sion didn't have any impact, Caedus has 1 squad type, Zannah doesn't get much playing time (and she just might be the most defensive piece in the game) You have to run 2/3 Force Spirits ( that can't do ANYTHING other than boost a SINGLE person, so 40 some odd points are jumbled up on making a piece better while not even being able to open a door) Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow buried in the Valley of the Sith Lords, not even playable in the game. If your wanting to use these Spirits to give us SPirits to boost a piece, make a piece worth boosting.

HP 180, D,23, SA Soresu,Sith Lord +4 against non melee attacks, Dark Armor. That should scare the piss out of Bobba, Imp/Naboo Swarms, but would have a heck of a fight against a Melee guy.

Other abilities to help specifically for shooters(only definitions)

- This character gets +4 to saves if 1 or less enemies are within 6 squares
- Non-Uniques may not have their base attack raised against this character
Give someone a 27 base D and an ability that "Gives adjacent enemies +4 attack"


Rock squads need a firm spot in this game. Otherwise, Out act and shoot will never go away.

Activation control to me only slows the game down. I understand it is part of the Standard game, and probably will be, so I think you would just need to out-class it, or just give out super easy Anti-Act control ( if it hasn't already been introduced) This would also discourage others to run these long acts and then shoot.
More "Filler Killer" pieces. The Vong had the best one with the quednak, fantastic honestly in this current meta, but do we really want to see a Vong squad T 1? Give us a Fringe piece that can do 10 damage and take out Mice/Uggie/Brutes. Give it deep striking and no swap ability.

Is getting to 200 points still an issue? I forgot honestly if many people got 200 or not in the top 8, if not... Then that is certainly an issue, if the "best" 8 players can't even complete a game without time running up. I'm not sure if others enjoy just counting time and points in all their games, but I never did.

Last point, that just relates to my first one, Shooters are just way to good. 5 of the 8 were Bobba at Gencon, he won NZ, he has changed the identity of this game. Its time for a Melee Revolution, Sub-Set. 10 Characters to redefine the game and set it on a new path!

May we find a Peaceful Soulution,
The Prophet

What if a full blown blanket effect took place to help force users. a LS deflect-ish ability should be a built in ABILITY (not FP) that all characters with a LS should have. Or simply just say all melee force users have evade. That would make the melee guys a little tougher. Thoughts. I also think all LS wielding pieces should be able to use a FP to cut a door down too. might make force users more attractive.

What if there was a limit to the amount of pieces in a squad OR a limit to the number of activations in a phase? Then being out numbered by 20 mice wouldn't matter if you could only use 10 (arbitrary #) activations per turn.

high activations will remain a part of the game forever. what I have learned from legends, and this meta (Mainly from tj's squad) is that low acts can work, if they have the tools necessary to compete, the problem is only a few low activation squads have those tools. look at his squad it has crazy movement with SBM, crazy defense with draw fire, soresu, force attuned, crab armor, makashi, heal, master illusion, it even has sever force, on top of that it has great damage output (granted it is mainly though mines) but it just has so much going for it that even when out acted it can handle a lot of what high act squads can throw at it. Legends work in much the same way, sure you can outact me, but most squads have a way of dealing with being outacted.

an ability like:

prepared defenses: if this character is activated it and all adjacent allies gain difficult target/evade/something along those lines could help

maybe even an extended disruptive would help keep the double swap from being so devastating.

I have found, at least in my games, that sometimes melee doesn't necessarily need more defense against shooters some times it is just a matter of speed. if melee could move fast enough to actually make it to shooters before they die it would go along way to fixing the issue, the problem with this is that most people just think giving them evade or lightsaber defense or deflect is enough, but with swap and act control, who cares most people will still be able to swap around and your defense means nothing because you can never track down the shooter in the first place.

so things like:
Force Dash (Force 3, Replaces turn, this character may move up to double speed and then make every attack against a single target.)

Mandalorian Charge (Replaces turn, this character can run 12 squares and make all of it's attacks against an enemy who has not yet been activated.)

force powers that can help with clusters or mass acts such as:

Telekinetic Throw 4 (Force 4, replaces turn: Target enemy within 6 squares takes 40 damage. Huge or smaller characters are considered activated this round; save 16. All characters adjacent to the target take 20 damage)

Force Whirlwind 2 (Force 3, replaces attacks: range 8; 30 damage to target and each character adjacent to that target; save 16)

I disagree with this. This I feel is an initial thought process when you think of shooters dominating the game. We don't want to take shooters out of the game, they should still have a role in this game. The core mechanic of the game favors shooters because there never was a limit/restriction to how far they can shoot. If I can shoot your melee guy from 3-6 away and shoot at him from 23-26 away, with the same stats, then I am inclined to take advantage of that. I will stay as far away and shoot until I can't anymore.

Something to restrict the guns from shooting far away makes them want to get up near you, opening the door for you to get to them.
-additional saves when targeted from further than 6
-shooters get no bonus's when shooting from further than 6
- +4 defense when targeted from further than 6
- when hit by an attack from further than 6, move up to your speed.

These are all ideas that would encourage guns to get closer while not taking them out of the game. IMO, all of these are better than a blanket effect for all melee/force users and moves the game in a way that encourages engagement.

I totally agree, but I would like to add:
.....which is caused by the dominant squad (high activation double swap) being able to win consistently when it can outactivate.

I don't think anyone enjoys Mouse Droid spamming, but full credit to Deri and Jim for figuring out the meta and bringing something that could beat it.

My squad had 25 acts and one mouse... Gha-nakt isn't the only issue.

I think boba AFH is an issue. He is just one of several under costed pieces that makes double swap possible. He is at bare minimum 10 points to cheap. That is equal to 3 activations... It isn't much, but once you start to accurately cost the power pieces it brings the NPE in check.

strategies sure, but nothing like him at all. cad bane was easy to kill if you could hunt him down, boba not so much. Cad also had to target whatever was closest making mouse droids an effective shield, against boba, nope not so much, boba also has higher attack against non uniques which cad could fail to hit, boba also has triple which in this meta is better then double/twin. Fenn shysa would just die to boba in like round 2 since you have accurate and can just shoot him.

how are you damaging him when he has evade? and i could potentially use wrist cable make it to where mandalore cant move then move 6 to where you can't even see me.

Wrist Cable is only usable at the END of your turn...so you can't use it and then move. If you use Wrist Cable and the target makes the save, Boba is likely gonna get based and smacked right afterward. It's one of those last-ditch abilities that you hope you never have to use.