WotC changes how D&D mini's are going to be sold.

[Boggs]

I think this is a good thing ... for me at least. I haven't played the actual mini game in a very long time. I do however collect the minis to use in D&D gaming. This move will make getting what I want or need a bit easier.

 

[Aluvial]

Arrrgggghhhh! More change!!! I detest change!!!!

Damn, I've already bought cases from a supplier for 2009... How are they going to come?

Aluvial

 

[justanobody]

I think the focus on classes rather misses the point in this instance. For me, a mini's usefulnes isn't determined by the class it's intended to represent, but rather by the equipment it's carrying. For instance, a human fighter with heavy-ish armor, a weapon, and a shield could as easily represent a paladin.

While I understand (and to an extent, share) your conernces about the variety of minis available to represent any given character concept, I think I'll wait until I know what the minis will look like before deciding if WotC has done enough to represent a wide-enough variety of characters.

Now this is something that has always dumbfounded me. The weapons are the last thing you will see proper combinations of for YOR character, unless you use just generic. set-ups.

Cleric's all get maces, rangers/bows, fighters/swords, etc.....

While race should be a no brainer, the class isn't too hard to represent either.

As long as yuu say there is a weapon usable by the class and the armor is correct, there is a look to most classes.

Take older editions where a cleric couldn't use bladed weapons. You didn't want a sword in the hand of your cleric mini, because new people couldn't just pick up and tell which was what, and the DM could even forget. Just like the minis games themselves the mini is WYSIWYG in a manner to let know what the thing is going to do. Monsters are probably smart enough to know as well for tactical reasons. Yeah it is metagaming to say the least, but when using minis over say M&Ms there is a reason to use the best class representation.

I remember old minis that had no weapons, and you just bought packs and plug in what you wanted into the hands.

With plastics this would be easier to do, but maybe no as easy to mold and package.

So the armor I agree with needing to look right, but there is give depending on feats, that is making the classes hard to detail which would represent which in 4th that translates to the minis as I looked it over during the day today.

It is going to be a tough call to see what it is, and will take a hands on look at them.

I seriously think the old class groups will come into play. Fighter looking, rogue looking, mage looking, and priest looking, will make the minis Heroes and probably provide enough minis to represent all class combinations.

Fighter #1 could be the paladin for the group, and fighter #2 could be the fighter. Females may get lucky in this as that they will not have to fight over which mini they get to use.

Seeing them will be important.

@ Star Wars minis customizing.

I love that Games workshop Citadel Colour laying there in supplies needed. That was the laugh I needed for the day considering Games Workshop master painters ('EAVY METAL) suggest using Reaper or Vallejo paints!

 

[Pseudopsyche]

We have a sense of how common, uncommon, and rare minis differ, but what will the visible minis in the monster packs be like? I'm optimistic that WotC will take the sensible route and make the visible face of the product attractive, closer to a rare than to a common. I might not spend $15 for a rare and four other minis, but I would spend $15 for an iconic rare-quality monster, a random rare, and three other minis. Why not make the visible minis dragons, beholders, and giants (the visible faces of the brand), and leave the rares to exotic monsters that are actually, you know, rare?

 

[justanobody]

The visible minis will of course be common, because the rate at which you can get them is 100% per package bought. They are gauranteed like the wood elf ranger and orc mauler included in the starter set. They would be your ultra commons because everyone can instantly get all the heroes, unless they are made in a limited edition format, and that would defeat the purpose of non-random minis in order to allow people to purchase what they need as you would still have to try and rush out to buy them before they run out or go out of print. Meaning more popular hero packs will be harder to come buy creating a false rarity of them due to scarcity rather than an inteded rarity in the production.

 

[darjr]

Wot?

I think he meant they should be of a quality as if they were very rare's.

I agree. They should.

 

[doctorhook]

I like minis! I'm not sure how I feel about this, though. Not good, because the price has gone up per mini, but not bad, because I will likely spend less overall to get the minis I want.

Regardless, I'll be switching to tokens soon. (Printed pictures glued to wooden circles from the craft store.) I love minis, but it's just so expensive to get the ones I need! I spent nearly $100 buying all the minis I needed for KotS from the eBay secondary market, including shipping. Worse, other adventures I plan to run sometimes call for multiple large or out-of-print rares.

Hence tokens. Thanks to the abundance of free artwork, creating tokens of exactly the creatures I need will be super cheap. (A bag of wooden circles for backing is about $5.)

I'll probably still buy minis when I see ones I really like, not to mention for PCs, but it's too expensive to justify spending $50 or more dollars per adventure just representing the monsters your players encounter.

 

[justanobody]

Wot?

I think he meant they should be of a quality as if they were very rare's.

I agree. They should.

I don't think any mini should purposefully be any better or less quality than any other. Be they rare or common, they should be of equal quality sculpt and paint quality. Those are the standards that will make or break any miniature product.

 

[darjr]

I don't think any mini should purposefully be any better or less quality than any other. Be they rare or common, they should be of equal quality sculpt and paint quality. Those are the standards that will make or break any miniature product.

Ah! This too I agree with!

 

[MerricB]

I don't think any mini should purposefully be any better or less quality than any other. Be they rare or common, they should be of equal quality sculpt and paint quality. Those are the standards that will make or break any miniature product.

Unfortunately, DDM have proven you terribly wrong. People want good enough, not perfect.

Do people who paint miniatures put the same effort into painting their PC as one of a hundred orcs? I rather doubt it!

Cheers!