WotC announced non-randomized minis

[Ismaul]

As far as the Rouse's post though, he was basically saying the exact same thing you just said about his post, only about the post he replied to. The flow was roughly:

Guy1: Hey WotC is finally putting out non-randomized packs of minis!
Guy2: Who cares, I already have all the minis I need. Oh, and this is totally irrelevant, but I'll never buy a WotC book again either.
Rouse: Let's just stop making minis and books then, yeah?

All told, that's pretty much the least offensive reply I can imagine him making.

Exactly. Plus, it's very clear that his comment is sarcastic and humorous. Honestly, I'm appalled at how much people try to see confrontational subtext in others' posts. It's as if you want to provoke a confrontation. Learn to laugh a little.

But honestly, the reason this simple comment made such a wave is because of Rouse's position. I think some people only see WotC when they see him and think he speaks in an official manner everywhere he goes. The guy's not a machine you know, he comes here to relax, be informed, and maybe give out some info while he's here. It's called communicating with the fans with a human touch. And I happen to like it, especially the sarcasm. Keep it up Rouse!

 

[Dimitris]

US-based people seem to love Auggies. I'm in the UK, so I don't have personal experiences...

Cheers, LT.

You could purchase minis from Auggies. Just send him an e-mail. Dimitris

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm sorry I started this.

It is not your fault what other make of a thread purely meant to share information. Don't let that stop you from sharing.

Exactly. Plus, it's very clear that his comment is sarcastic and humorous. Honestly, I'm appalled at how much people try to see confrontational subtext in others' posts. It's as if you want to provoke a confrontation. Learn to laugh a little.

We should know by now that sarcasmn and humor are totally inappropriate for the topic of role-playing games and D&D specifically. It is not a laughing matter. D&D is serious business.





After reading this page of the thread I really believed for a moment that The Rouse might have posted something more, something to add fuel to the fire or something. But apparently, he didn't. Making a mountain out of a molehill or making an elephant out of a gnat (as we'd say in German)

You know, I think the best thing to do is to ignore people that don't get the humor. The second best thing is to mock them for not getting it (humorously, without personal attack), and then ignore them.

---

For the real topic: Sounds interesting, but it depends entirely on what kind of minis they'll offer. We have used the randomized packages a lot - sure, you don't get what you might need all the time, but we've gotten our mileage out of them.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I'm curious how many people actually wanted randomized minis. I'm boggles that some one would even try to argue the point that most people did not want random. To me it is kind of like saying most people don't like getting groin kicked.

It depends on what you mean. You could say that I "wanted" random minis, because I wanted a large selection of different miniatures as a reasonable price. Randomization is what makes that possible. Since price and selection were more important to me than non-random distribution, I "wanted" random distribution.

(FWIW, I no longer want random distribution, because I have enough minis that "selection" isn't all that important to me any longer. So I've moved entirely to the secondary market to pick and choose the minis I want.)

About the only people I can see liking random minis are retailers

Retailers like random minis, but not for the reason you cite. Retailers want random minis because a box of boosters is one SKU. You effectively have 60 different miniatures occupying one shelf in your store and one spot on your inventory sheet. Retailers -- brick-and-mortar retailers, at least -- are going to have to devote many times the space and effort to stocking non-randomized DDM ... unless, of course, there's simply very little selection, which is actually pretty likely.

Merric's Law -- Non-random, large selection, cheap. Pick any two.

Me, I suspect -- just suspect, I have no inside information or anything -- that WotC is going this route because sales of DDM have significantly dropped off for the last two or three sets. This -- if true -- would be due to a few factors (a significant drop in paint and sculpt quality, a major change in the DDM game rules, and long-time collectors getting over-saturated), but the upshot is that they need to find another quick monetary shot-in-the-arm from DDM. Since they have the molds, and they know that (e.g.) a set of 15 different orcs will sell, why not?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Agreeing with Jeff Wilder mostly as for me personally, while I will buy more random minitures I would also like the option to buy prepainted minis grouped by type, e.g. Orcs, goblins, kobolds and so forth.

 

[El Mahdi]

. . . We should know by now that sarcasmn and humor are totally inappropriate for the topic of role-playing games and D&D specifically. It is not a laughing matter. D&D is serious business. . .

I'm betting you couldn't keep a straight face while typing this, let alone saying it out loud.

This thread has kind of turned into the same thing the thread about the Red Dragon cartoon did. Too bad. (however it's still fun to watch)

And also, back to the topic for me: I've bought a couple of randomized boxes, but since I only use them for RP'ing I usually pick a mini I want from looking at the galleries at WoTC, then find the cheapest price for that mini as a single on any of the various internet stores that sell them. Except for the really expensive rares, I haven't paid more than a couple of bucks per mini. Probably about the same, or even maybe cheaper, than a Reaper mini (and they aren't painted). But don't get me wrong, I really like Reaper minis also. They have some really kick ass sculpts (especially Sandra Garrity - my fave).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm betting you couldn't keep a straight face while typing this, let alone saying it out loud.

I could write *ding ding ding*, but I hate that. Suffice to say that you are entirely correct.

I hope that the next cartoon mocks those that can't take humour. (But only if there are aren't any better ideas out there. )

 

[SteveC]

I think that this is good news, as I've been looking for non random pre-painted minis for a long time. I'm currently going with the Reaper line, but they don't have all of the bases covered, so I hope to be able to put together some basic bad guys for my players to deal with.

I've been talking about this for a long time, and I find it incredibly ironic that I heard all sorts of reasons why something like this could never happen. I'm just glad that it has.

--Steve

 

[mac1504]

I've been talking about this for a long time, and I find it incredibly ironic that I heard all sorts of reasons why something like this could never happen. I'm just glad that it has.

--Steve

Although I agree that it is ridiculous to ever claim that this couldn't happen- for the record (and I believe calrified by Thalmin at one point in this discussion) WOTC has not stated that non-randomized minis are a reality yet. I believe they are simply looking into the possibility at this point, probably watching for market reaction to this news. And to that, I thank Thalmin for starting this thread and sharing his insider knowledge (as he is always done) with the rest of us.

As to the plan to market non-randomized minis, I am a rather fanatic mini collector (started with lead and have never regretted my decision to move to pre-painted plastics), I would love to see a set of orcs or goblins but please include one or two unique figures with these sets. If WOTC releases a set of say 10 orcs, all from previously released figures, they probably won't get a dime from me. If they included, say 2 new figures (that can't be had in any other product), that would get my money. Some complain of WOTC's repetition of figures, but I enjoy having that bit of variety.

On the topic of the randomized strategy WOTC employed, I believe it was a necessary evil to ensure retailer support and at first, as stated by Jeff Wilder previously, it served its function for me when I first started collecting in that it provided me with a variety of figures to start off with. I also believe many underestimate the secondary market in order to obtain the minis you want, in the quantity that you want.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

In an attempt to bring the discussion back to the topic on hand, here´s some examples of non-random mini packs I would buy (2 of each, even!):

Kobolds pack 1:
4 Kobold minions, 2 Kobold Skirmishers, 2 Kobold Slingers

Kobolds pack 2:
4 Kobold minions, 2 Kobold Dragonshields, 1 Kobold Slyblade, 1 Kobold Wyrmpriest

Goblins pack 1:
4 Goblin Cutters, 2 Goblin Warriors, 1 Goblin Blackblade, 1 Goblin Skullcleaver

Goblins pack 2:
4 Goblin Cutters, 2 Goblin Sharpshooters, 1 Goblin Hexer, 1 Goblin Underboss

Goblin pack 3:
4 Hobgoblin Grunts/Warriors, 2 Hobgoblin Soldiers, 1 Hobgoblin Archer, 1 Hobgoblin Warcaster

Goblin pack 4:
2 Hobgoblin Soldiers, 2 Bugbear Warriors, 1 Bugbear Strangler, 1 Hobgoblin Commander, 1 Hobgoblin Hand of Bane

Undead pack 1: Zombies!
4 Zombies, 1 Corruption Corpse, 1 Gravehound, 1 Rotwing Zombie, 1 Zombie Hulk

Undead pack 2: Skeletons!
4 Skeletons, 1 Blazing Skeleton, 1 Boneshard Skeleton, 1 Skeletal Tomb Guardian

And so on...