UPDATE: Award card has been confirmed for Badges of War set. Looks like it had to do with Approvals as guessed below. Great to hear that this is figured out.

Right now, there are a lot of upset individuals who have put together the Badges of War set, only to find out there will likely be no award card, only a 10k coin bonus for completing the base set. It has led to a relative losing of everyone’s collective mind, which includes a lot of people trying to dump the set in anger. If this is the way things are going to turn out, they have a legitimate gripe.

Being that this situation has turned one of the more valuable non-insert set into a flaming wreck, is it safe to say that a crappy award can, in fact, damage set value? In this case, it obviously has, but what if we knew ahead of time that this would be the way the set is paid out? Would it have impacted the value as severely?

I think that for a set like this, if we had been notified up front, the situation would not have played out the way it is playing out at the moment. Although the reward of 10k coins is less than 1% of the cost that many spent just to complete it, the cards are freaking awesome looking. It was one of the main reasons why the set was so popular! That being said, everyone and their mother expected this set to have a card attached to it – and if it ends up being that no award card is given out, you can see why people are freaking out. On the other hand, I dont think Badgeghazi Scandal would be Badgeghazi Scandal if things were clear from the beginning. At that point, we only have ourselves to blame.

For a set that doesnt have the cool factor and widespread appeal that Badges of War, a low level award can kill the collectability of a set. Dont get me wrong, cool factor is subjective, and there will always be a handful of people who collect everything. At the same time, this game isnt about marketing for a small group, so the reward becomes a huge factor in value.

Bottom line, the most important thing is clarity. I commented about how much appreciation would be given if things were clear from the get go, and how many revolts could be avoided if things had just been communicated. Im all for sets that are all about the cards on the checklist themselves, and not an award. However, you cant spring that on people without warning – especially if every set previously has had a card. If an expectation is set, and is about to change, you gotta let people know.

Considering that an award card can still be built and delivered, I hope this is just a matter of making that decision. This isnt a time to take a stand and say, “well you shouldnt have expected every set to have an award card!” It will literally do nothing but make people more upset. Instead I would say, “Although not every set moving forward will have a card attached, we will be providing an award for this set after the situation that has come to light. We will be more clear in the future.”

EDIT: After considering some reasons why the set award for Badges is the way it is, Im curious if there was other submissions for the set that were declined by Lucasfilms for some reason. They may have submitted Maul and/or Captain Rex, only to have them rejected. If this was the case, I think a coin reward can be done, but it has to be more than 10k. There still hasnt been a formal response quite yet, so things could change quickly. Im not giving up yet.

This also speaks to the value attached to the reward, and how it CAN in fact be a helper or hurt factor to any set. Rewards are the reason many collect, even though there are still people who just like the cards. Badges to me would have been a set worth collecting regardless, but I am naive to say that the reward delivery method has hurt things this time around.