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

[Uzzy]

I've never played the Minis game, never used Minis and don't even play 4th Edition, but this change does appeal to me. While the power cards and dungeon delve stats would be useless, a big mass of monsters are nice. I just hope they box them by monster type, so we get a box of orcs, a box of goblins, a box of generic human thugs etc.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Wow, I didn't think I'd have anything to contribute to this thread!

While I don't work with polymers directly, several people in my (academic) department do, and we actually have a pretty famous polymer guy on staff. One of the things that is being looked into is 3D printing, and I've had opportunity to talk with a lot of researchers on the topic.

3D Printing is pretty easy to buy into - the positioning systems are relatively inexpensive, even for high-"resolution" ones. Honestly, I don't think you'd need quite the same resolution on a mini as you would for some of the aspects they're being utilized for.

The biggest hurdle for 3D printing would be the sheer numbers of inputs you would have. I'm thinking it would probably be easier to do one nozzle per color. Computers can handle multiple inputs pretty easily, but the increased number of inputs becomes a bear to manage; especially on the supply line. Most stuff I've heard about or read only uses a couple of inputs.

On the other hand, is this really economically feasible? My gut instinct is to say not particularly. It's much faster to injection mold miniatures in a base color, and have them painted by hand factory-style. 3D-printing is pretty slow, relative to injection molding. You can't (that I know of) simply paint with 3D-printing; the process requires it to be built up in layers.

I think 3D-printing, for the time being, would just raise prices.

 

[darjr]

I think 3D-printing, for the time being, would just raise prices.

Well yea, I just don't think it's in the flying car realm, and thanks for that.

I'm not sure the price is that big a deal or me. Sure I wish they were cheaper, but I think I'd want higher quality for my buck at this point. And something more focused for my use, the rpg.

 

[SavageRobby]

Well, this is the nail in the coffin for me, not that I was all that far away anyways. The paint job quality has steadily retarded the last two years (Oh joy - new promises of increased QC? Been there, done that.), the recent selection has been questionable, the prices keep going up as the quality goes down, and I despise the folks running the (dis)organized play. The last set was the first one I didn't collect at least two full sets of (no full sets, in fact), and I don't think I could name a single mini in the upcoming set, and haven't looked for any spoilers for it.

So, what are we getting now? Higher cost per mini for ... what exactly? Most folks could already get any mini easily enough from secondary sources. Increased quality? Well, I'll believe that when I see it (having seen similar previous claims).


RIP, DDM. It was a ton of fun, and a great ride ... for a little while.

 

[CharlesRyan]

A lot of people are unhappy about the price increase, but I wonder if they're really paying attention to what things cost these days.

I generally use prepainted plastic minis (mostly D&D minis), but I paint metal minis as needed for specific PCs, NPCs, and monsters for which I want something special or can't get what I need from DDM.

This year I took a shopping list of half a dozen or so items to Gen Con. Most decent-quality, unpainted metal minis cost me at least $5 each; some were $10 or even more. Unpainted. Single minis.

Prices go up. Nothing costs the same as it did five or ten years ago. These new DDM prices may be more per mini (I suspect they're actually a better deal for most of us, on the basis of how much we're paying per mini that we actually want, but that's a separate issue), but they're still a pretty good deal in the grand scheme of minis pricing.

 

[Nebulous]

I buy just from the secondary market after being disappointed several times by the random case approach (i do not need four fiendish huge spiders). I'm wondering if the higher price but significantly fewer minis per set will mean that i end up paying about the same thing when buying in bulk?

 

[mac1504]

A lot of people are unhappy about the price increase, but I wonder if they're really paying attention to what things cost these days.

I generally use prepainted plastic minis (mostly D&D minis), but I paint metal minis as needed for specific PCs, NPCs, and monsters for which I want something special or can't get what I need from DDM.

This year I took a shopping list of half a dozen or so items to Gen Con. Most decent-quality, unpainted metal minis cost me at least $5 each; some were $10 or even more. Unpainted. Single minis.

Prices go up. Nothing costs the same as it did five or ten years ago. These new DDM prices may be more per mini (I suspect they're actually a better deal for most of us, on the basis of how much we're paying per mini that we actually want, but that's a separate issue), but they're still a pretty good deal in the grand scheme of minis pricing.

Agreed. The cost of the lead free alloys that are used by most metal-mini manufacturing companies has been steadily going up in the last few years. It's obviously a concern when companies like Reaper are going back to lead-based pewters (P-65 line), which will lower their costs but there's the obvious health concerns with doing that.

 

[El Mahdi]

Agreed. The cost of the lead free alloys that are used by most metal-mini manufacturing companies has been steadily going up in the last few years. It's obviously a concern when companies like Reaper are going back to lead-based pewters (P-65 line), which will lower their costs but there's the obvious health concerns with doing that.

Just don't lick the minis.

 

[justanobody]

A lot of people are unhappy about the price increase, but I wonder if they're really paying attention to what things cost these days.

Maybe they are paying attention to the prices of everything else and coming to the conclusion that it is stupid and greedy for all parties, and not just WotC in regards to minis, but gas prices, nilk prices, etc while rich people just got 700 billion dollars in order to keep their businesses alive and these people keep making millions per year while the average American cannot afford to live. So having something to give a little bit of enjoyment in a 'ed up economy jump in price to be unattainable and the the consumer be blamed for not buying it as the reason for changes and price increases by companies that don't realize how bad off the majority of Americans are is like spitting in someone's face.

But it is ok for those people making 6 digit salaries to complain their new gas guzzling sports car substitue for genitalia size costs half a yearly salary, while most people can't even afford gas to drive to work in a much more economical form of transportation.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Just don't lick the minis.

But they taste so good.