The big problem I see with bringing prequel content in is the inverted power dynamic: in the prequel era, the Light Side was the one in the position of power with the Dark desperately maneuvering to wrest it away.  Would a prequel-era Light Side faction come with a "Darth Sidious is exposed" countdown dial, and Dark factions with the destroy three objectives goal of classic era Light?

Other than that I'm fine with it; this game is already highly abstracted with little regard for continuity, and while I prefer the classic era I've never been one of those "the prequels raped my childhood" asshats.  This may all be a moot point though; I could have sworn when the deal was announced they explicitly said it only covered the classic era (and only card, miniature and role-playing games, very sadly not board games).

The Gas said:

I don't think that would be necessary. I think the Death Star dial would remain, although with perhaps a different appearance to reflect the fact that, well, it's not finished yet. Think of it this way: even though the Jedi are still active during the prequels, things are rapidly approaching the breaking point. Corruption plagues the Senate, the once-prosperous government now dominated by partisan bickering. Slavery is commonplace in the Outer Rim, and a former slave-turned-hero finds himself conflicted between loyalty to the Jedi Order and his personal friendship with the Chancellor. And all the while, a plot is in motion to destroy the Jedi, and institute a new Imperial regime. So you've still got the dark side operating with a countdown mechanism, because ultimately it's going to take a lot of careful steps for Palpatine's plan to come to fruition, control of the Senate being a political necessity, and if the Clone Wars are brought to an end too soon, it will screw up his schemes entirely.

MarthWMaster said:

I'm referring to Old Republic the era not Old Republic the video game which has nothing to do with this discussion since it is well before even the prequels. So again my point is you cannot tie an animal species to any one time era in which it exists.

That's a fair point, but beyond its inclusion in this game we have no canon source tying the icetromper to the Classic era either, as its only known appearance is during the Old Republic era. It might still exist by the time of the Rebellion, but whether or not it does has yet to be established. Either they got specific permission to use the icetromper creature in their game, or its appearance implies that FFG is at least allowed to explore other eras, where previously we were told their rights were restricted to the Original Trilogy and the Expanded Universe of that time period. Which the icetromper does not presently occupy, and won't until a canon source tells us differently, by showing the icetromper on Hoth at a time during or after the films. This could be anything, from a novel to a comic book to a videogame, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that card games fall outside the scope of canonicity. I could be wrong.

On the other hand, I believe the Decipher game was also known for introducing a few concepts into the Expanded Universe, such as establishing Shannon McRandle as the official Mara Jade model. This could be an example of the same thing happening in FFG's game.

I'd love to see prequel factions added to the current game.  Fingers crossed it happens sooner rather than later.

How I'd do it:

Keep Sith, Jedi, Scum and Villainy, and Smugglers and Spies. Add Republic and Separatist Confederacy. To avoid having too much disparity between the four "timeline neutral" affiliations and those introduced for the prequels, there could be a big ol' boxset with an emphasis on the latter, sort of like they're doing with SnV and SnS in the Edge of Darkness expansion. When they introduced the Order of the Silver Twilight faction to Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, when that game was already rich with material for its seven existing factions, they compensated by weighting the next cycle's content towards the new faction in order to bring it up to speed, along with the fact that a lot of the Silver Twilight's early content emphasized "splashability" that made it worthwhile to include in decks that focused on a different faction. They would likely need to do the same thing here, but the task is made trickier by the fact that the new affiliations would be divided from existing ones by the timeline itself. To keep the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Navy factions from falling behind, any Force Pack cycle that deals with prequel material should also visit the early days of Palpatine's New Order, as well as the first sparks of rebellion. Since the game already takes a relaxed stance on continuity, I personally would have no problem seeing material from the Rise of the Empire era alongside Rebellion era content in the same Force Pack, so long as each followed a consistent theme (in a given cycle, there could be a "Jedi Purge" pack followed by a "Declaration of Rebellion" pack, for example).

But none of this ought to be necessary right away. After all, the Classic era is where the money is, and without even deviating from the main saga aside from following the existing trend of slipping in subtle nods to the Expanded Universe, there is easily enough material to cover four more cycles of Force Packs after Hoth, by which time Episode VII will have made it into theaters. If FFG indeed has plans and permission to expand the game beyond the Classic era, the next place it is likely to go with the license is the new film.

So let's just hope it doesn't suck. :)

we are going to get EU and prequel stuff if the game is going to last. There is only so much we can get via the OT. 

If you guys want the game to last two years than ok no EU/Prequel stuff but odds are they will have to dip into that kind of stuff at some point.
Just saying.

Jonnyb815 said:

EU stuff is not up for debate, we already know for a fact we are getting EU stuff seeing as we have seen EU cards like:

Well, my concern is if it will have EU stuff like the Thrawn trilogy, the Yuuzhan Vong, etc., seeing as Disney might erase all that from continuity. So probably prequel stuff before EU stuff lentioned above.

cdgodin said:

The most likely order, for both the reason you mention as well as marketing logic given the timeframe, is Classic era → Sequel era → Classic-Sequel gap (which could either be the New Republic we know or whatever arises out of canon supercession) → Prequel era. How long FFG spends in each of these periods is up to them, and of course they could quite possibly mix-and-match from cycle to cycle.

As for the potential for the EU to remain as-is? Much like how the quality of EU works depends both on the skill of the writer and his or her dedication to established lore, the stability of the New Republic era as it currently stands, rests in the hands of whomever is writing the story for Episode VII. Also, never underestimate the power of retcons to explain away discrepancies. For example, from the earliest days of pre-Classic EU, the Republic was assumed to have existed for 25,000 years, based on Obi-Wan's reference in A New Hope to "over a thousand generations" of Jedi Knights promoting peace and justice in the Old Republic. So when the prequels came around and made references to a mere thousand-year-old Republic, the Ruusan Reformation was born.

I want the EU stuff more then prequels. From the way disney is going it looks like they might at least be respecting the EU enough to set the new movies far enough after that much shouldnt get changed. Plus like they did with boba fett im sure they will find a way to "fix" anything thats changed so it will fit with "most" of the EU stuff still out there. Timothy Zahn always says think of them as historical documents and sometimes historians get certain events, information ect wrong.

But im hoping we will get shadows of the empire block or at least a deluxe set in between the empire strikes back era sets and the return of the jedi sets. Then they can continue with truce at bakura, and begin going thru the EU. I think novels should get full force pack blocks, and comic story lines (except for the dark empire and crimson empire stuff perhaps) should get delux box releases.

Thats just how I would do it, im sure whatever they have planned will be cool. But so far im loving the EU that they are sneaking into the game.

Do FFG even have the rights to the preqeuls? I thought I read that they don't. I don't want the prequel triliogy included. I didn't like it in the SWCCG and I won't like it with the LCG. I think they have years of content without even getting to the EU (which I'd rather have). We have 6 months of Hoth, that doesn't even get to the other stuff from the original triliogy. If anything, I think they'll include stuff from the new movies before anything else because it will be timely. 

cdgodin said:

cooleo1c said:

Mara Jade exists during the Galactic Civil War, regardless of what happens afterward.

Ulairi said:

Probably. The Edge of Darkness page shows a Bail Organa card, whick looks exactly like Jimmy Smits. Bail may have appeared in EU, but not Jimmy Smits.