It‘s been a time, when I checked the old forums several times a day. It‘s been the time when I tried to seduce my friends into a game of Armada twice a week. It was then, when I sometimes went down to my hobby room just to take a look at my ships. There were these days when I worked more then 10 hours every week to keep the Armada-wiki nice and up-to-date.
Then came wave 9 and I didn‘t like the ugly Starhawk at all. Not only the design of the model but the whole idea of a 14-hull-low-speed-brick for the rebels. I finally bought it for about 70€ but it was the first time I did regret to pay so much money for a ship.
Then they decided to change the size of the upgrade and ship cards and I thought, that‘s stupid but not bothering me.
When the Clone Wars boxes came out I didn‘t want to start two new factions, but then I saw this beautifully designed new models. So I ordered a box for each faction. They didn‘t arrive. I collect the english Armada stuff although I live in Germany and I sometimes payed around 10% more for my dislike of the translation. Sometimes I had to wait several months while my friends were already playing with the new toys. Sometimes I had been lucky. But now all the shops seemed to dry out the english version and at least I had to order my stuff in Britain.
Then Brexit meant Brexit. And I had to pay an additional fee for importing ships.
My CW boxes arrived and they made me happy for a little while. I liked the larger damage deck. I‘m impressed by the quality of the minis. But it didn‘t feel new or exciting to play them. At least not for me.
Then I tried to order the four new ships. But english is hard to get and it is about 25% more than for the german version. I would have to pay about 40€ for a Pelta, which is the price I never payed for an ISD. And I would have to pay 60€ and more for one of the other ships. And then it made *snap* and I decided: no. Not with my money.
And I don‘t like some of the new upgrade cards, most of them, but I really have a problem with „Thermal Shields“. An upgrade, that‘s so crazy good after they nerfed ECM, that I don‘t get the design idea, if not: „Play the new factions, pal, to play the best Defensive Retrofit in the game“?
And now, the love grew cold and my interest has drowned. I look at my Armada ships and think: Let‘s play Legion or Blood and Plunder.
It‘s just sad.
(Please respect my grief and don‘t answer, telling me how happy you are with the new stuff. I just want to tell how sad I feel. Thank you.)
Personally I don't think Thermal Shields are all that overpowered, it's ECM that got way over-nerfed and most other defensive upgrades that are overcosted.
TS makes your Brace immue to Accuracy/Intel Officer, but it also reduces its efficiency. Not only do the attacker get to add dice after halving, you have to commit before you know if the roll was good or not (first time I used them my opponent forgot to remove the dice and rolled IIRC 2 hits on 5 dice. Rerolled for 3 hits on 3 dice...).
But in general I agree there is a LOT of very weird balancing.
I was in this rut for a bit myself. Especially after what they did to Avenger.
Things are tough for getting product overseas too it seems. The States have been hit with massive delays, we still don't have actual confirmation when the Venators and Recusant class ships will get to us. (Some speculating as far out as July). Right now Armada is competing with Legion and 40k but Armada is actually picking back up at out LGS. We have a couple new players and teaching them with the older stuff rekindled me. I'm hoping to get back into the full swing of it. I hope you too can recapture the Armada passion friend.