Thursday, February 28, 2013

Breaking the compact with the gamer

Games Workshop has gone and done it again.  No, not raising their prices, but I'm sure we're in for that again soon (insert sarcasm here).  This time I propose that they have done the unforgiveable.  GW has broken the sacred compact with the gamer, they have changed rules explicitely to make sales.

What's that you say?  Everyone does this?  Well, I will agree that this is not uncommon when versions of a game are released, but there is an unspoken agreement between the gamer and GW that a new codex or new edition with shake thing sup and then you (the gamer) can expect a slow decline in the ability of your highly priced models over the course of a few years before they become good again.

A few months back GW released new Flamer and Screamer models in plastic and a White Dwarf rules update.  What is truly amazing is that from reading the updates and the new codex at the same time you can tell that GW already had the codex done.  The WD update made flamers and screamers too good to pass up (thus selling losts of models) and then turned around a few months later once the models were sold and reduced their ability by an order of magnitude (100% worse or more).

I'm not upset that the new rules are underpowered.  I think they're a little more realistic now, but I am upset that we see such a blatant change of rules once they made their sales (and in such a short order).

4 comments:

  1. i would say its time for 3d printers, after readings much if not almost anything fo the new rules (im german, so heeey i can read the original leaks of sperm whale jizz gw gave to their honoroured 'customeres') i cant really see how to bring anyone to this army anymore. its a sell-tastic fest of horde-playstyle and fast dying vehicles, so you have to play multiple of them if you want them to see action. you are actually discouraged from taking the greater daemons which where somewhat of the point for daemons, like carnifexes where for nids. i as a player feel absolutley unable to buy something from gw for a looooong period of time for dealing with me as a secondary ressource instead of a guy who loves his army and cherishes the system ...

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  2. Oh my. I am very thankful that you posted the rumors you did, they were informative, entertaining and gratifying to see. I actually think this was a good thing for us in the community see transpire (although I think this only happened to flamers, screamers are the same as far as I know and now get to re-roll 1s for saves).

    It gives us perspective on our game. Sure we all like to win (and be merciless in the process), but if we buy our models solely for the purpose of designing a killer list we will almost always get duped by this business strategy in the long or short term. Fact is we need to embrace our personal tastes and buy the models we like. If we buy what we like stylistically first and foremost rather than what we know is going to own our buddies on the table then we will almost always be safe from this cycle. This is the main reason I never purchased the flamers or screamers when they came out in plastic, I smelled a fish right away and instead got the more realistic slaanesh exalted chariot. Let this be a word to the wise, if it smells fishy, it probably is.

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  3. According to the leaks screamers got nerfed. Their base attacks are now s4 ap- which they can exchange for one s5 ap2 attack. Screamers and flamers were too good - I hope they've fixed them now. As for misleading people with rules they won't stick to, I don't feel sorry at all for all the people who bought the minis en masse (an army with 27 of each for example). When I don't try to compare them with what they used to do they still seem good to me - screamers can munch hordes of geqs with their slashing attack and then assaulting and still blow the occasional tank. Flamers are still not bad at burning meqs (warpfire) but got better at burning t3 stuff - a local guard player used to say that regular flamers are far better than the breath of chaos vs t3 sv3+ or 4+. So all in all they still remain useful and people who bought reasonable quantities of them will find that they weren't cheated after all (not to mention the troops in the codex became better than before with their reduced point costs).

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  4. Aside from "warpfire" which can potentially provide your opponent with a 2+ FNP by the end of the game (if it stacks), I'm okay with most of the rest of the rules... I think. It is the unabashed profiteering and deceptive sales approach to the flamers and screamers that aggravates me. My daemon army is almost entirely metal. In fact I only purchased a squad of plastic flamers to use as pyrocasters for my metal flamers and I won 2 boxes of screamers after a team tournament, but I already own 27 metal screamers. My outrage is not because I feel tricked personally, but because of what it feels that GW has devolved to int his regard.

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