Star Wars: Is X-Wing Pay-to-Win?
Numbers don’t lie – from a certain point of view. Check out this break down of the top 8 from Worlds…
Hey BoLS Readers, AdamHarry with a quick breakdown for the top 8 lists from the X-Wing World Championships. For those of you who might not be keeping up Fantasy Flight hosts the World Champs for many of their competitive game systems every year. That happened in early November this year and, after entering the fray with ~270 players gunning for victory, Paul Heaver walked away as the World Champ!
But something funny happened hours after the winners were announced as their games were broken down, play styles analyzed and ship selection was scrutinized. One investigative Star Wars X-Wing enthusiast ran their lists comp through a friendly little web app called “Han Shopped First” and the results are a little surprising…
via user randolph, FFG Forums
Before jumping to any conclusions with respect to the numbers, remember that these players displayed exceptional skill at piloting their lists; merely purchasing the components offers very little to the would-be competitor without a good deal of time, dedication, and talent.
Champion: Paul Heaver ($294.50)
Poe Dameron + R2‑D2 + Veteran Instincts + Autothrusters
Gold Squadron Pilot + R3‑A2 + BTL‑A4 Y‑wing + Twin Laser Turret
Gold Squadron Pilot + Twin Laser Turret
Bandit Squadron PilotRunner-Up: Nathan Eide ($264.55)
Corran Horn + R2-D2 + Engine Upgrade + Push The Limit + Fire Control Systems;
Poe Dameron + Veteran Instincts + Autothrusters + R5-P9
Prototype Pilot + Chardaan RefitTop 4:
Phillip Booth ($189.65)
IG-88A + Heavy Laser Cannon + Autothrusters + Glitterstim + Crackshot + Fire Control Systems + IG-2000
IG-88B + Heavy Laser Cannon + Autothrusters + Glitterstim + Crackshot + Fire Control Systems + IG-2000AdvertisementJeremy Howard ($254.60)
Fel + PtL + Royal Guard Title + Stealth + Autothrusters
Vader + Lone Wolf + title + ATC
Omicron Group Shuttle + Palpatine + Sensor JammerTop 8:
Aaron Bonar ($104.70)
Miranda Doni + Tactician + Twin Laser Turret;
Warden Squadron Pilot + Tactician + Twin Laser Turret
Warden Squadron Pilot + Tactician + Twin Laser TurretFrancisco Berna Menendez ($224.65)
Carnor Jax + Stealth Device + Push The Limit + Royal Guard TIE + Autothrusters
Omicron Group Pilot + Sensor Jammer + Emperor Palpatine
Darth Vader + Predator + Adv. Targeting Computer + TIE/x1Przemyslaw Talach ($149.70)
Thug + TLT + Unhinged
Thug + TLT + Unhinged
Thug + TLT + Unhinged
Thug + TLT + UnhingedTravis Foss ($174.65)
Dash Rendar + Engine Upgrade + Heavy Laser Cannon + Push The Limit + Kyle Katarn + Outrider
Corran Horn + R2-D2 + Veteran Instincts + Fire Control SystemsAdvertisement
Interesting, no? 4 lists out of the top 8 cost over $220 (retail) to build and the top list also happens to be just shy of $300 to own! That’s a little shocking at first glance – but when you think about it, I don’t think Star Wars X-Wing is actually a pay-to-win game at all. Why? Good question. Lets break this down even further.
The Business Model
Looking at the business model of X-Wing it’s easy to see how this works. Fantasy Flight Games releases a ship for $XXX. That ship is not just a cool, new model, but also comes with additional upgrade cards which are (mostly) faction agnostic. As long as your other ships have the slot and there isn’t another requirement to meet, you can equip that card. Those same cards are required for organized play at the higher end tournament level. You MUST* have the cards to use them in game. This is no different than sanctioned tournaments for other games like Magic:The Gathering or Clix tournaments. Basically it’s an industry standard practice – only X-Wing isn’t random packs, you actually know what you’re getting which leads me to my next point:
The Collection and Hobby Factor
X-Wing is a collectible game. As I said when you purchase a ship, you don’t just get the ship you get the cards. But the inverse is true! So all those players above that were running the Twin-Laser Turrets on their Y-Wings also have the K-Wing ships to go with those cards. Those ships don’t magically disappear just because you’re not running them in a particular list!
Basically, the larger your collection gets, the more cards you’re going to end-up with – shocking, I know. And seeing as how most players that get serious about X-Wing usually pick-up at least 1 copy of every ship (most of them buy 2) you’re going to end up with a TON of “extra” cards and ships that you don’t use every game. It’s the way most hobbies work: Start small, get into the hobby and end up with boxes of stuff that you’re not sure where they came from!
This is also a great reason to diversify your fighter pool and play all three factions. It doesn’t matter if you bought a pack just for that ONE card – You’ve already got the ships, you might as well take them out for a spin, right? This also improves your knowledge of how other ships works or what I like to call…
The Player Skill Factor
“Knowing the game inside and out will help you become a better player. The more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the better you are.” ~John Madden
Okay, he might not have said that – but it sounds like something he would have said. The point is at it’s core X-Wing is a competitive game. If you want to compete you’re going to have to get good enough to hold your own in competition. I’m sure there were probably a few “baby seal” players at Worlds – in a player pool of ~270, there are some good odds that a couple of them may have just showed-up to play. But even if you bought and brought the same list as The Champ – there can only be ONE champ. This is where luck (dice are rolled after all) and player skill separate the wheat from the chaff.
Magic, Clix and every other competitive collectible game player knows this: Just because you spent a ton of money doesn’t mean you’re going to win. Having a “top tier” deck/list/army will only take you so far on auto pilot. You might have paid the most for the latest “Net-Deck hawtness” but you’ve still got to get lucky and play smart. Or play smart and hope you get lucky…I always get that part mixed up.
Final Thoughts
In a Pay-to-Win game – by the definition – the player who spends the most money should win. And if you look at JUST the dollar amount next to The Champ’s name and go solely based on that assumption, then yes, you’re right in thinking that way. But I would argue the sample size of 1 is too small AND you’re ignoring all the other factors, the two biggest are Player Skill and Luck.
But if you want to play the number game lets do the reverse:
- 4 players out the top 8 spent less than 2/3 than The Champ
- The majority of those ships are from wave 4 or earlier
- Several Lists in the Top 16/32 could be purchased for less than 1/2 of what The Champ paid
- The cheapest list I found in the top 32 had a retail value of $74.75
- Two of the list in the Top 8 were still using Dash Rendar
See how easy it is to make numbers say what you want them to say when you’re only looking at pieces of the data. You can’t ignore what randolph said at the start of his post:
Before jumping to any conclusions with respect to the numbers, remember that these players displayed exceptional skill at piloting their lists;
“I don’t trust numbers – there are too many of them.” ~Andrew Jackson, the guy on the $20.
What do you think? Is X-Wing Pay-to-Win or Not? I’d love to hear from someone who thinks it IS Pay-to-Win and why! Let us know in the comments below, AdamHarry – OUT!
*You can use proxy cards outside of a sanctioned events or when playing with friends.
