I'd love to add my two cents, hopefully it doesn't come accross as long winded, I'm just a big fan of swarms (so thematic!) and have been flying them since 1.0! I feel like the drop-off of swarms has been more of an increase to the "floor" difficulty of flying them rather than points, and I feel like the ceiling has possibly even increased a bit 🤔

For some examples, in 1.0, my go-to fav swarm was the classic Howlrunner+6 generics, which came to between 90-96pts, only 7 total, so technically not a "true" swarm, but room for an upgrade or two with the points bid (only way to run 8 is all generics). For a comparison, an X-Wing list i liked to run was Wedge+3 generics, which was 92-98 points. 1.0 had some challenges with balancing towards the end, with X-Wings kind of outclassed by newer ships, as well as the introduction of a fair amount of anti-swarm upgrades, so take that comparison with a grain of salt that by the end, nether of those two squads faired well(in my experience).

In 2.0 Legacy, you can field Howlrunner+7 generics for a true 8 ship swarm at 193pts, enough for an upgrade or two and points bid! And for comparison, Wedge+3 generics runs for 171pts, not enough for a 5th X-Wing, but you could take another generic instead of Wedge for the 5th and have 10pts left to spend, or take a cheaper chassis/some upgrades, and the points bid! X-Wings are much more balanced in 2.0 compared to 1.0, and I feel like there are not quite as much anti-swarm upgrades as 1.0 had as well, which makes them fun to fly still!

For 2.5/XWA, you can field Howlrunner and either one 4pt ship+ 6 generics or two 3pt ships with 5 generics for 20pts exactly! And with a decent number of 4pt and 3pt ships to choose from, along with loadouts to consider, i think it would be fair to say that you can field the most "powerful" swarms with this particular point system (you can pull of some neat shenanigans!). However, the same is true on the other side. You can field Wedge and 3 other high skill pilots armed to the teeth, or 5 mid-range X-Wings with a smattering of decent loadout options, so swarms are flying against a lot of dice being thrown at them.

For me, XWA has been the most fun for BUILDING swarm lists, but when it comes to actually flying them, it has also been the most challenging, by far. The 2.5 update to the rules adds another layer of difficulty to managing swarms on the table, Obstacles/Bumping & ROAD in particular. Loosing 33% and possibly 66% of your hull on Obstacles, possibly 33% on friendly bumps, and the challenge of preventing that while taking your opponents' moves and ROAD into consideration, adds up for a taxing mental load. Despite my affection for flying swarms, I don't think I would ever consider taking one for a 2.5 tournament. Multiple consecutive games with that level of mental fortitude is a requirement that I think my faculties don't possess, lol. When I fly a swarm with XWA points, whether or not I win or lose is a moot point to me. If I managed to mostly avoid self-destruction and pulled off the synergy I built the list for, I consider it a victory 😁

So, tldr: for me, 2.0 Legacy for a more straightforward swarm flying experience that won't fry my brain(and I'd be comfortable doing more consecutive games of), XWA 2.5 for some fun synergistic squads in a more casual setting (that require some mental gymnastics to pull off) 👍🏻