| Games Workshop Should.......; How could our favourite (?) company improve? | ||
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| Tweet Topic Started: 11th February 2012 - 08:20 PM (931 Views) | ||
| hannanibal | 11th February 2012 - 08:20 PM Post #1 | |
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
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Imagine some GW Executives are reading this thread. What would you ASK them? What would you TELL them? What would you COMPLAIN about? Let it all out here. If you're like me this is your main hobby/pastime and I, personally, think it could be improved. A LOT. I'm gonna e-mail them with my "angry list of death" for the 100th time and I'll include any relevant points made here too. It probably won't make a difference but I have a lot of time on my hands so who cares? Don't hold back. I'll start-------- Finecast. It's been said before (and more articulately than I ever could) but finecast is terrible. It started terrible and has, in my eyes, remained terrible. Why do you continue to insult us with this dross? Please either get rid of it or improve the quality control in the factories. Also, asking us, YOUR customers to buy products to improve the finecast defects (superglue for bubbles, liquid greenstuff for larger bubbles and normal greenstuff for wholly missing parts) is an absolute insult. You should be making the product acceptable in the first place instead of shifting the blame onto the people who pay your wages. Edited by hannanibal, 11th February 2012 - 08:23 PM.
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| Sleboda | 11th February 2012 - 08:31 PM Post #2 | |
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Pensive Penguins Fan
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It would be easy to say price, but I won't. It would be simple to complain about their information control, but I won't. Hell, as much as I think Finecast is a major failure, I won't even go there. I think the biggest thing they could do is to re-evaluate their entire rules creation and distribution method. There should be tighter testing pre-release. The army books and main rule book should come with access to a digital version. The digital version should become a living rulebook with quarterly updates based on ongoing testing. Once every 4 years (I'd even accept every 2 years) a new book would be published. This book could be a new approach to the army or system or it could just be a physical publishing of the living book, perhaps with new art and hobby content. The books could be sold with subscriptions to allow GW to get some cost back and to encourage gamers to stay current. Make the game better and sales will go up, the player base will be happy (and spread positive vibes), and tournaments around the world could use a standardized set of rules. All this would come with no negative for those who don't care about better rules. They could still play loosely and focus on the hobby end of things. Both sides could be happy. A better rules management system has no downside. Edited by Sleboda, 11th February 2012 - 08:32 PM.
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True scholars have more than just one book to study.
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| Ratty Gnawtail | 11th February 2012 - 08:32 PM Post #3 | |
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Totally not a magpie
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You know I hate to make a stand like this, as I for one can easily have an axe or two to grind with GW, but rather than the constant moaning about what they are doing wrong should we at least at first put into mind what they are doing right? If it weren't for GW I doubt we'd be here right now complaining about it. Don't get me wrong though, there are many ways that we can say they need to improve in. It's just becoming a tad repetitive of late to me how we are using forum space to criticise the company. Who knows some person out there might find Finecast actually a positive change for one thing. Forgetting the ever so common defects, it is meant to be more gamer friendly to assemble, paint, and use. In my mind they haven't done a good job with it yet, but I can always try and be idealistic and hope that they can eventually fix these problems. |
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| hannanibal | 11th February 2012 - 08:45 PM Post #4 | |
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
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It's not making a stand dude! It's your opinion and you should voice it! I'll address some points though if I may? Maybe the complaining is tedious because it's an issue and is prevalent.I love GW but they could improve. If I wanted to praise GW for the advances they have made into this hobby the topic would have a different title but they do NEED improvement and finding out off their customers what that improvement should be can't hurt can it? Sure they make figures and games which I continue to buy but if they have faults it's my right, and yours, as paying customers to tell them what we don't like. If we don't ever complain NOTHING will change. As for the finecast-defects/all-part-of-the-hobby debate let me say something. Having to re-sculpt a whole face or a whole foot is a hell of a lot different from a modeller's responsibility to remove mould-lines. Sculptors are paid to sculpt. I PAY to buy miniatures and paint them to my satisfaction and I certainly shouldn't be told to buy a company product to fix a company defect. @Sleboda. When are me and you ever gonna disagree? It's coming though, I can feel it. Could you elaborate on the "living rulebook" and the subscription for it please beacause I like the drift of your point. Edited by hannanibal, 11th February 2012 - 08:47 PM.
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| Sleboda | 11th February 2012 - 09:05 PM Post #5 | |
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Pensive Penguins Fan
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I'd have to think it through better, but here's a stab at it. Let's just take the Skaven army book, for instance. A new comes out in July of 2013 (made that up, but go with it...). It's a lovely hard cover book that sells for $40 USD. When I make my purchase, I can go online and register my copy. This entitles me to own a secure PDF of the rules. Just the rules. I also get a quarterly update to my PDF that fixes actual errors in the book and adjusts rules and point values per the review process I alluded to previously. This keeps all players on the same page. When the new book comes out four years later, my updates cease unless I buy that new book. I also have the option to pay for a subscription to the Skaven Army book. This gets me a digital version of the entire book, including all art and fluff. Maybe it even includes some bonus pages that didn't make the cut for the final printed book - like a sheet of banners I can print out and attach to models, or some hobby and painting articles for Skaven. When the quarterly updates come, they also include commentary about the testing that led to the changes, plus a tactics article on how to make good use of the changes. When the new printed book comes out after 4 years, I get it at a reduced cost if I renew my subscription. Really, if we are willing to spend $40 + $9 per month on a crap shoot hobby magazine that only occasionally touches on topics we care about, why not $40 for the book and $20 for the subscription, plus a $10 off incentive on the next book? They could even offer bundles- Get a rulebook + 2 army books + digital White Dwarf package and save 10% on the whole. There are a ton of possibilities. |
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True scholars have more than just one book to study.
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| WillQueek | 11th February 2012 - 09:20 PM Post #6 | |
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Got Nerfed
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I have 5 things to say: 1: UPDATE THOSE DAMN TREEHUGGERS AND LOOK AT WHICH ARMY NEEDS UPDATES! (vamps clearly did not need them..... now there are rumors about Chaos & Empire o_O ) 2: SCREW FINECAST! ![]() 3: PRICE DROP! 4: LESS FREAGGIN SKULLS! 5: Go on with producing are awesome hobby, your models are very very nice and i enjoy playing warhammer and making/painting your sets.
Edited by WillQueek, 11th February 2012 - 09:22 PM.
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FOR THE GLORY OF THE HORNED RAT OF COURSE!
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| Hotdogg | 11th February 2012 - 09:21 PM Post #7 | |
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Clanrat
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stop doing one army at a time. rackham had something going when they did constant releases of all different army stuff. stop giving us 1 army every 4 months or so, give us 1 new army book and trickle out the new models over 3 months. while also giving us new models for old shitty scuplts. screw thanquol, ikit, skrolk AND the pre-isle of blood lords & heroes (spinetail is cool) all suck, we could be buying awesome new replacements ever few months until we do get our new rules. i personally have some serious anxiety issues about dec 2012 being the end, and i dont get to see the new rules. at least let me die having seen a new badass (and cheaper points) lord skrolk, all epic plague and doodoo,.... then i could die happy (with no eyeballs cuz i ripped them out at how aesome the skrolk model was) |
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| hannanibal | 11th February 2012 - 09:22 PM Post #8 | |
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
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@Sleboda That's a good idea but do you think it could be open to corporate corruption? Or piracy? If the subscription linked you to a webpage where only subscribers could view the book then the problem is a web page differs so much from a physical book that it could be open to abuse by the company. With a solid, tangiable, copy of an army book the rules, points cost and army building layout is there in your hand. What's to stop GW from massively changing the army rules to force you to buy more miniatures, and ripping up your well made/painted army because, suddenly, it's not legal, or a troop type has dissapeared or whatever? At least if you have the actual copy of the book you HAVE IT. An errata doesn't stop you from having it (yeah it kinda forces you to change pre-conceived rules but if they ever changed them so much they destroyed your army you would at least have the old rules for reference to play the old way). If however the subscription just let you download a PDF you could just e-mail it to your friends and I bet any company would be pissed off with their intellectual porperty being replicated so easily. I agree with most of this post. Let us discuss the "2012 apocalpyse" and why you shouldn't have ANY anxiety about it on the "off topic" thread if you want to make a topic there
Edited by hannanibal, 11th February 2012 - 09:26 PM.
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| SkavenDan | 11th February 2012 - 09:38 PM Post #9 | |
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Doomwheel Fanatic
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Screw that idea I want all the models to be available for an army the minute it is released. What they should add is the "dogs of war" again and have those come out steadily. With different align mercs for each empire. They should also stop changing the paints it feks me of. |
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| hannanibal | 11th February 2012 - 09:41 PM Post #10 | |
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
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The annoying thing about GW changing paints is people tend to paint an army using certain colours and then these colours dissapear and you're left with working out which mixes work best to acheive the same effect. Imagine trying to get the terracotta colour perfect? I'm glad I didn't use it as a main colour in my past armies. |
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| scratchydoom | 11th February 2012 - 10:01 PM Post #11 | |
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Seer
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Once again I don't understand complaints against finecast. Just return the model for a better one if you get one with bubbles/cracks etc.... Why the hell would you try to fix a broken newly purchased product? | |
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Scratch the enganuative My Army Diary Painting List Magnetising Miniatures | ||
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| Beregond | 11th February 2012 - 10:08 PM Post #12 | |
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Rah! Beastie!
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Because you get a replacement and it has all the same problems, really. So you get a replacement for that... and it has more problems. No matter what you seem to end up having to fix SOMETHING with finecast, or you spend so long getting a decent replacement you may as well have just fixed it in the first place... So, my griefs - something a little different for finecast. Actually bring out the damned important models in it! Don't just take all metals off of the shelves and not put something up to replace it. The only thing I've got to lead my Beastmen at the moment is a Malagor model used as a bray-shaman, and tbh that's just... not good enough XD it's really starting to get on my nerves. The skulls galore approach is really starting to get annoying... some terrain, okay... some decorative skulls on minis, okay... but as many skulls as you can fit on every inch of a mini possible is going too damn far, as is producing a gaming board with built-in skulls. The completely daft release system. It took a VERY long time for the Beastman army to get it's rares, for 40k the Tyranid second wave is only just being rumoured... it's unbelievable. Add to that the fact that they choose updates by throwing darts at a board while blindfolded and using their off-hand, seemingly and well... you get this. All in all I do like the company, I like a lot of what they do, but they're missing out on some very important things. Like common sense and a logical business plan... |
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| Kimzi | 11th February 2012 - 10:11 PM Post #13 | |
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The one and only.
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Here is my list in no specific order. Dear GW, 1) Continue supporting those other epic games you create. I enjoy playing Mordheim and Necromunda more than I enjoy playing Fantasy or 40k. Maybe update the rules to fit in with the latest rules for the main games? I keep getting confused... 2) Stop putting those giant skulls on towers! I'll buy them if they have no giant skulls. I mean it. 3) Put some decent quality control on Finecast please. The first few batches being bad I can understand but they still having big problems is just taking it too far. I'm really afraid of buying the stuff. 4) Stop trying to sell only the latest products and have a little respect for customers' choices to play another army if they want to. My Tyranids are still waiting for some creatures that were supposedly coming out ages ago..? 5) Focus some more on the hobby. Use that giant webshop you call a website of yours to show some nice ways to convert epic kits into even more epic stuff. Painting tutorials! Scenery tips! Don't just try to make me buy a tower filled with skulls. 6) This goes for all successful businesses. Go back to your roots. I am sure GW once was a company that wanted to create fun games for gamers that like to game. Not a company that wanted to make millions off gamers because they will buy your stuff anyway. Treat your customers with respect and they will happily sell their mothers to fund a new battalion or two. |
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| ,,,^_^,,, Proud owner of Clan Yersinia Pestis ,,,^.^,,, | >-- Possessed Mordheim Warband --< | ||
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| hannanibal | 11th February 2012 - 10:12 PM Post #14 | |
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The bread that satisfies all hunger... the peanut that reverses time...
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The complaint is we HAVE to return so many models on such a regular basis because the QC is so bad. Also that GW are shifting the blame to try and profit from their mistakes by asking us to buy other products to fix broken miniatures instead of acknowledging a massive problem and fixing it at the source thus making money rather than losing it. If any other company released such a shoddy product the customer base wouldn't buy it and the company would be forced to recall and rethink. But GW has a lot of fans who are willing to have a turd dropped on their head and say "thanks for the hat!" |
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| Clanlord Trask | 12th February 2012 - 12:29 AM Post #15 | |
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Quiet, I'm plotting.
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I think Sleboda is on the right track. One of the things that irks me is that GW hasn't capatilised on the increased digital media options. For instance, Army Builder is great, so why doesn't GW have its own version? As for your points Hannibal, all that can be addressed. Digital security can be ensured using a number of methods. Yes, there will be some piracy, but that happens in the printed form too. It is just a par for the course, and frankly, companies are being nieve if they think they can stamp half of it out, if not entirely. Better to consolidate on the honest consumer base and offer them better deals, then sink money into the futile attempt of locking everyone out. As for corporate corruption, constant changes to the lists, this seems unlikely. I doubt the money spent paying for the constant new rule development and implementation would offset the profit of the miniatures sold. And even if it did, if they tried this tactic, unsubscribe. No subscribers means the service is now a liability. In fact, that is my complaint. Not that there are price rises, less consistent quality, or whatever, it is that we keep complaining and yet still shill our money out. For some reason we have developed the habit of sitting back and waiting for change to just happen, or for someone else to do it. My other complaint, the one on topic, is the seemingly poor level of writing creeping into the core GW products. Things written by GW satallites like Black Library are fantastic to read, but some of the latest army books are a mess of sloppy prose and unoriginal ideas. Edited by Clanlord Trask, 12th February 2012 - 12:30 AM.
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