OK... hehhehe, although I can't speak for jd3 (who designed the Eldar, I was his assistant, so I do have a pretty good idea of the way he operates.
Here we go!
Basic Design: On any Squads, MANY things are designed, and then cut... put on the cooler. A good example was the IG Engineseer and Sanctioned Psyker (which one day will make a comeback as a Hired Gun!) Some of the other Aspects were removed because they did not fit the current
model. Details...
War Spiders: At the time, we broke the proposed teleportation rules in around 35 seconds (Dozer was getting a soda, it took him that long to get to ear-shot!) We were completely puzzled on how to avoid the abuse and exploitation that the Warp Spiders could do. But the idea planted the seed of
Flight. We created the rules (they are in TLRB v0.4.4) and the first units who would take advantage of them will be the Kroot Vultures. Once we polish them, we would allow other Squads to get 'flyers'... so the Eldars could get either Swooping Hawks or Warp Spiders (but not both). This is NOT a high priority... as LGW mentioned, we have LOTS of things to do before the summer... in which time, all development will stop and all the satff will be commissioned to PLAY!!!
Swooping Hawks: See above.
Fire Dragons: They are anti-tank and anti-structure specialists. They have no business in a skirmish level game... if you can have a melta-gun, you would be evaporating EVERYONE. Putting a Fire Dragon with a Flamer would be the same as arming a Devastator Space Marine with an auto-pistol. Sorry... no Fire Dragons, because they are elements for a different (larger scale)
Dark Reapers: They are long-range support specialists. They are in such grey area for our scale that is a problem. You see, they are armed with Reaper Launchers. The Reaper Launcher is a
fast firing heavy weapon which launches a
barrage of armour-piercing rockets to devastate the enemy, similar to the Missile Launcher used by Imperial forces. So... this would mean that we HAVE to make a new weapon, that needs to do justice to this signature weapon. So, the Dark Reapers may appear in a future, but don't hold your breath.
I'm NOT trying to put the Eldar or your observations down. I'm just being honest. down. The list of things to do is VERY big (actually so HUGE, that my personal requests have been waiting almost 2 years... and they will not be started until at least this Fall!). The Eldar are playable, fair AND fun as they are right now... so having them wait some time will not break 'em. We do need to finish and release the Chaos Cultists, the Kroot and Space Marine Scouts before we can tackle other projects. Right now there are LOTS of positive energy for the Arbites and Rogue Traders, so their design would naturally follow... delay other Squads tweaks and design.
Hehehe... you can have a chair besides me on the Death Squad's Request Waiting Room... it is almost my 2nd home!
OHHH... and I love the Striking Scorpions. I had a war between jd3's Striking Scorpion and my Ork Warboss. Read all about it on this Campaign Battle Report!!!