So I've decided to re-write this one after much thinking and viewing new opinions. It's no surprise that I got upset by it, given that I only have a few things that I love and have interest in and they keep getting screwed over (Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics anyone).
Clear thinking, it does partially make sense from a business perspective in that I agree that the game was becoming stagnet and too much focus is on 40K (because Space Marines so fuck Fantasy). I say partially because when you screw over a majority fanbase by messing with 25-30 years of lore, going from square bases or round and basically saying nearly 90% of your army will be invalid in the latest army rules isn't good for public opinion. And public opinion does count cause the company shuns social media, where as their customers (or soon to be former customers) don't. The only way they can calm people down and encourage growth is to be out explaining all this to the potential customers. Your selling a product, you have to actually convince customers why they should buy from you, particularly when the only thing people will find while searching up on you is mass negative feedback with no response. It's hard to convince new customers how great you are when you shoot yourself in the foot and then pin the blame on your current customers.
The new business model of having some base core units and possible hero or two available at all times with extra stuff coming in limited waves with out of box rules is a nice idea. It's only flaw is the same as End Times, people mass buying and then selling it back at a higher price on Ebay. If they can make enough within the first few months then I guess it'll be OK. They've now gone from claiming to be an amazing miniatures company (which is debatable) to being a collectibles company. My only though on hearing the words 'collectables' was the words 'price increase', after all, collectibles are expensive for a reason.
Then there's the lore. The idea is all these factions stuck in bubbles of reality fighting to survive and then a collision occurs between a couple of them. Thing is, are each faction in their own bubble (so 6 bubbles) or are there remnants of factions in each bubble (so a few in each bubble represent your usual play group with collisions being in-game store events). Thing is, not everyone will be in the same bubble and so if two hit and your force isn't in it, how do you explain the group suddenly getting new units if they weren't in that collision?
This is what I mean by the company coming out and talking, explaining to Warhammer fans how this new vision is good, but doing it in a way that answers many of their fans fears and making them want to buy this new version. I don't mind making a small force for small games from a warband/Mordheim style to a small 500-750pt roaming force, but give me a reason to. It'll be hard to explain the leap of 100+ years for my force, considering your asking me to kill off a number of my named characters, something that's painful for me to do (Skith would be fine, he's not really from their world and was over 1000 years old, but with some like the Trio of Terror it's going to be a lot harder to explain how they're still alive or to kill them off).
Some might say just don't buy it, keep playing 8th edition. The problem with that is that GW is fully supporting 9th and eventually 8th will fade away and it'll be 9th or nothing. As a hobbyist, this is a difficult decision, especially given that we don't know how much things will cost (given that it's GW, most know a price drop to encourage sales is out of the question). They are trying to sell this stuff to kids, but one has to remember that kids get their money from parents and as it stands with the cost of living, parents don't have as much money these days. If these rumours are true, then I might give it a go, but I feel the costs will stop me from starting in the first place. I may still get the occasionally single Skaven mini to paint, but I doubt I'll stick to getting much more beyond that.
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