Some Eldar thought patterns

Some people just don't get it.

I don't know why I did, but I read through some Eldar wishlist threads the other day and my head nearly exploded.  I can't believe how delusional some people are.  It's almost as if they're incapable of logical thought, and they're unable to put together the pieces to better predict the future.  That's when I wonder if they're playing the right army in the first place!  It's just not very Eldar behavior.

The new Eldar book probably won't come until CSM, Dark Angles and Tau gets their books.  I'm predicting Eldar in the latter half of 2013, or maybe even 2014.  That means we've got a good amount of time to speculate what's going to happen with the army.

Here are my predictions for the Eldar book:

• A lot of things will be streamlined to fit with 6th Ed. USRs.  I'm talking about things like Holofields giving Shroud, Bladestorm giving Shred and War Shout giving Fear.  My prediction is that only a few Eldar abilities will retain any resemblance of what they currently are.  GW is huge on streamlining things according to their BRBs:  It happened to Fantasy, it's happening to 40K and it will happen to the Eldar codex.
• In terms of Exarchs and unit abilities, I think they'll still provide awesome benefits to the squad either in the form of superior weapon choices, abilities (possibly streamlined) and stat lines. If you look at the Dark Eldar Incubi, their "Exarch" still packs Exarch abilities and a buffed stat line.
• We'll probably see a points decrease across the board with mostly the same rules and functionality.  I do not think we'll see any stat increases aside from the universal BS4 on things that can shoot.  In the case of the Farseer, I can see them being bumped up in price for the ability to choose skills in the same way as SM Librarians.  Autarchs will probably not see a stats bump but will retain their Master Strategist rule.  The reasoning for this is that Dark Eldar is considered more martial prowess by fluff whereas Eldar kept their psychic disciplines.
• Another reason why I don't think Phoenix Lords will see a stats bump is because Drazhar did not.  He still shares the same 7s line that Eldar Phoenix Lords have and that's proof  to me that GW likes it there.
• Speaking of psychic disciplines, if you look on the BRB's chart for who can take what psychic abilities, it's pretty obvious that Eldar will have their own psychic abilities.  I think the Eldar will receive their own lore of psychic abilities, but even so it'll seem like that's on the small side considering Space Wolves can take 5 if you include their own book's lore.  That's a fairly tough one to analyze because the Divination tree from the current BRB looks like its written for the Eldar.  Who knows, maybe Farseers will be able to choose whatever they want as an extra bonus.  In fact, I'm pretty much banking on it.
• Eldrad will probably be some kind of epic psyker badass, and that might lead to the first Lv.4 Mastery Psyker in the game.  It would be fitting for sure.
• Some weapons might be tweaked:  Shuriken Catapults might see a range increase to 18" and Avenger Shuriken Catapults might see 24".  I think consistency plays a huge role on how certain things are designed, and this will only make sense for development.
• As for FOC changes, I don't think there's going to be a lot of moving from the units mentioned here.  Dedicated transports may allow the use of Falcons and War Walkers might move to Fast Attack slots.  Who knows?  The only one I think will happen is the Support Weapon Batteries being merged in with the Guardian squads somehow.
• Lastly, for new unit additions, I'm not sure if there's going to be room for a lot of expansion.  Eldar have a good amount of unit entries but there is room to grow.  They definitely need a Flyer (Nightwing and Phoenix are obvious answers), and they could incorporate more Corsair elements or even stuff from other Craftworlds.  I read through IA11 this weekend and they had some pretty juicy stuff going for them.

Well, that's all I have to say about that.  Just keep in mind that this is not a wishlist.  It's an educated guess to what could happen given GW's history, track record and design philosophies.