06.20.08

 

Force Upgrades

 

Today’s Article is from Starwarsfreak82:

 

I was just wondering with all the new force powers in the FU set that do high damage but also eat your force points, will the old force powers go out cause there inability to do heavy damage or will they stay because you can use them more often and spread the damage around more effectively.

 

This is a good question.  With every set we see new powers and new abilities, but I have to be honest.  I do not think old force powers ever go out of use, only the pieces they are on.  Figures are going to get dated.  There are no two ways around it, but the powers themselves can always be of use.  In fact there are some old force powers that I want to see more of. 

 

One old power that I want to see more of is Lightsaber Precision.  The ability for a Jedi to run up to someone and do 30 DAM is huge.  It can kill a lot of minor grunts, prevent people from moving away, or just give that extra damage to overcome things like crab armor and shields.  It also has the advantage of not being timing dependant like opportunist or cunning.  Shado Vao recently popped up with it, but he is the only jedi outside of the Clone Strike set. 

 

Force Absorb is also a very nice power that only two have – CS Qui-Gon and General Windu.  Granted this is a hard power to have as only a few are strong enough, but it is a power we really need to see more of.

 

Anticipation is the same.  For the longest time, only the worthless Ki-adi Mundi had it.  Now you have Qui-Gon, Jedi master with it.  Its one more, but it is about the only init control the Jedi have right now.  Surprise move is in the same boat.  It started with CS Qui-Gon and has only resurfaced recently with Kazdan.

 

Deflect/block are great powers.  Jedi must have one or the other if they don’t have some source of massive offensive damage, or they are about worthless; However, I think with the way the game has evolved we need to see Jedi start popping up with either parry or evade.  Evade is can be achieved through a Bith and stealth, but that adds so many more points and can be hard to synergize.  It could over run the game if not done right, but with select Jedi, parry could be fantastic.  I am thinking characters like Kenobi, Maul, Dooku, ect.

 

All of the new force powers that do massive damage are great.  Force push squads in my opinion are the best squads out there as there is no real way to stop them.  It is the same as lightning squads.  It can’t be blocked or deflected, and cancel only goes so far.  The lone Achilles heel to these squads that also keeps them in check because the failure is usually fatal is Force Immunity.  When Thrawn and Vong pop up, the teeth of force squads are effectively pulled and they fall hard. 

 

It is a balance of old force powers with new characters that will see a well-balanced future to the game.  There is plenty of room to bring back old force powers.  They are generally pretty cheap compared to the expensive new powers that you will generally use once, maybe twice at best.  There is plenty of room for both.

 

 

Thanks for the letter SF82.  I hope this addresses your question.  If you have any further questions drop me another line.  If anyone has any questions, just send me an email at sithdragon13@yahoo.com.  I will get to ALL emails, so if you have sent something be patient.  Believe it or not I am reaching the end of my stored emails. J