DDM SKirmish has ended

[El Mahdi]

Monster packs will be mostly random for ease of DMs to fill encounters with.

So players get to hand pick what they want and DMs who already must buy more figures, have to buy the random distribution minis to hope to get the monsters they need for encounters?

Yeah, I see. I went and read the anouncement from the Rouse and the Q&A. It seems like they looked at every possible sales model, found that none was perfect, and decided to kind of run the middle with randomized monsters and non-random PC's. We'll see how it all works out. I guess if someone doesn't want to buy their minis randomly, they can still get them from the secondary market (keeping the secondary distributors in the game also, although I doubt this was a concern of WoTC).

Personally, this all sounds very optimistic to me. And those two minis (goliath and troll king) look absolutely awesome. If those minis are indicative of the sculpt and paint qualities, I think they will really be worth the money.


Rouse, if you are listening, thanks for the great explanation of what went into this decision. It's greatly appreciated.

 

[Zaukrie]

The skirmish game was a competitive game, not an RPG. The rules may have converged somewhat, but they remain different games.

Alas, this thread has already degenerated into the CCG complaining realm....

 

[doctorhook]

I never said there was anything wrong with it. Its a perfectly fine way to do market research for D&D 5E...............the CCG. Its all good.

You've been trolling this point in the other thread too, and I don't understand it. So there's a few new powers in the nonrandom Player packs? They'll be on DDI. How does this make powers any more "collectible" than when published in a book? Is it the thin piece of cardboard that offends you?

My point is, the logical extension of your logic is, "Splatbooks are turning D&D into '5E the CCG'!! You've gotta collect 'em all to have all the powerz!!" In fact, this is not at all different from how new material has been distributed in the past. The advantage now is that IF a player is interested in the power but not the source-product of that power, THEN they have another means of acquiring it: DDI, which provides access to all powers, ever.

Because I'm only summing up previous responses to your ridiculous premise, I can only assume that you're deliberately baiting/trolling, ExploderWizard. Either grow up, or get reported.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

The card powers are pretty BS.

 

[doctorhook]

So I am learning it said to be, however the ones I have gotten have all been relatively the same quality or painting...mostly poor.

Some of the better painted ones have been of varying degrees of rarity. So they flawed their own concept or could not maintain quality control over the painting of the minis. Which means it will likely continue with lack of quality control over to this new line of D&D/Dungeon Delve Miniatures Game.

Well, theory and practice do not always align.

I'm mildly bummed that the price is increasing per mini, but OTOH, I feel vindicated by The Rouse's post, which to me, nods to the fact that there has been a visible decline in paintjob quality (IMO, since Night Below, which fits his timeline). So, I'm happy that this means potentially higher quality minis in the future!

(Now to scrape together some money to buy them... )

Lastly, I don't suppose this bodes well for those of us hoping for the return of the D&D Icons line, does it?

 

[Remathilis]

Why have a miniatures skirmish game when 4E is already exactly that?

To seriously answer a Facetious question...

Currently, the 4e Stat Blocks and D&D Dungeons Tiles (along with the random dungeon rules in the DMG and/or Dungeon Delve book) has all but eliminated the need for a separate skirmish game.

I foresee the general push of the game (and it seems to have started as such) is to move the game from time-encompassing hobby and into the realm of "game we play on a Sat Night", more aligned with getting everyone together for Monopoly than Warhammer.

There is no real need to continue competitive play (and thus, all that can go toward RPGA play) and D&D can continue to sell minis to RPG players rather than flood the market to compete against Mage Knight.

I think "skirmish" will be replaced by "casual game/dungeon delve" as the quick-play du jour.

 

[JoeGKushner]

The people deciding the miniatures to include still need to get off the crack.

P1 is already out. So a figure for that set is coming out in how many months? Won't there be adventurers freshly coming out at about the same time?

WoTC's ability to cordinate the miniature releases with the adventurers released at a similiar time continues to be less than impressive.

 

[MerricB]

So I am learning it said to be, however the ones I have gotten have all been relatively the same quality or painting...mostly poor.

If you pick up a common figure, you'll find that it has relatively few colours and "paint steps" - the detailing on the figure is much less than you see in the uncommons and the rares.

There are basically three factors that go into how expensive a figure is:

* How big it is
* How many paint steps
* How many parts need to be assembled

The more materials in a figure, the more expensive. The more time that has to be spend on a figure, the more expensive.

Imagine that it takes $1 to make a common figure, $2 to make an uncommon figure, and $5 to make a rare figure. I'm making up those values, but they'll do for the demonstration.

If a pack contains 4 commons figures, 3 uncommon figures and 1 rare figure, the cost of the pack is $15. If the pack contains 8 rare figures, we're talking about $40. Hmm.

The point with these miniatures is they aren't high art; they're never going to be as good as professionally painted minis. However, they don't need to be. For the most part, these are game pieces made to be used, not to be admired (although some look pretty good).

For those who want really nice looking minis, there are other places to go. The DDM line found its niche as providing a cheap, plentiful source of D&D minis.

Cheers!

 

[JoeGKushner]

Was Merric.

Was.

# of figures going down.

Price going up.

It's the opposite of your pick any two.

 

[Gruns]

Don't look now, but...

Unique would be less produced than rare so if they existed in Magic (they do in Yugioh, and other CCGs, but I know little about those games)

Not quite on topic, but just thought you'd like to know that as of the most recent set, "unique" DO now exist in Magic, known as Mythic Rares. You get 1 in every 8 packs.

Later
Gruns