D&D Minis on the Decline?

[trancejeremy]

Something similar happened with Mage Knight. When they went to 2.0, despite theoretically being still compatible with the old figs, it made a lot of people realize that they wasted a lot of money on minis that were now obsolete. The game went on for a little while longer (about 2 more years) but then died out.

Granted, these still have use in D&D games, but even then, 4e might change the look of some monsters.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

The 2.0 bugbear feels like like a step backwards.

That's just hideous.

 

[erc1971]

I can tell you that my buying has gone down, and it has nothing to do with 4th edition.

The 5 factors that have caused me to buy less and less...

1: *&^%*(& Random Packs.
2: The new sets are kind of bleh. Same old crap or very bizarre mini's I have zero use for.
3: New sets every 3 months? You have got to be kidding me? That is a use cost for me.
4: *&^%*(& Random Packs.
5: *&^%*(& Random Packs.

If they slowed down the release of new minis, made them NON random (this upsets me enough that I spend less money on the mini's out of spite), and made more common monsters and heroes (hello, there is next to zero selection for female human wizards) then I would start buying more of them.

Eric

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I can tell you that my buying has gone down, and it has nothing to do with 4th edition.

The 5 factors that have caused me to buy less and less...

1: *&^%*(& Random Packs.
2: The new sets are kind of bleh. Same old crap or very bizarre mini's I have zero use for.
3: New sets every 3 months? You have got to be kidding me? That is a use cost for me.
4: *&^%*(& Random Packs.
5: *&^%*(& Random Packs.

If they slowed down the release of new minis, made them NON random (this upsets me enough that I spend less money on the mini's out of spite), and made more common monsters and heroes (hello, there is next to zero selection for female human wizards) then I would start buying more of them.

Eric

They only release 3 sets a year so it is actually 4 months between releases, not 3. Of course that may still be too many minis per year for some people. On the other hand, I'm sure there are some people that would love to see more put out per year so you can't win them all.

Olaf the Stout

 

[rgard]

I think that if you just use the minis for use in D&D then its a case of how many more kbolds/gargoyles/zombies...etc, do you really need in every new expansion.

For people who play the miniatures game, theres a concern that the change from 3E to 4E rules is going to leave a shedload of minis that can't be used because theres no cards for them.

My personal opinion right now is that WotC should stop doing random boosters and go back to the old ways of doing blisters of individual figures (say a Bugbear chief) or blisters of four figures (say zombies or kobolds).

Maybe it was a dream, but IIRC, WotC will be updating the cards (pdf download I think) for the previously released minis so they can be played with the newer sets.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Thurbane]

I hit my saturation point not too long ago. I've got enough minis that I can find something for practically everything my players are liable to run across. From here on out, I'll probably just pick up a few singles from each set.

Ditto here.

I have 8 sizeable plastic tubs full of DDM, and the other guys I play with have more.

 

[Dire Bare]

Something else to consider, DDM has more competition now. While the genre-creating game Mage Knight is no more, the prepainted minis industry has more players now. Wizkids various Clix games are still going strong (minus Mage Knight of course), Reaper has their new line out, Rackam's gotten into the fray, there is WotC's own Heroscape line . . . . probably more I'm not aware of either.

To step things up, I think WotC needs to change distribution patterns. I'd prefer smaller sets released more frequently, maybe interspersed with the larger sets? Maybe some non-random boxed sets like the Drizzt scenario pack? Anyway, WotC does good market research and I'm sure they are on top of it. Besides, there might not really be a DDM slump to worry about, maybe it's just us here that are suffering DDM fatique.

I dig Heroscape's distribution model. Seems to work for that game. I'd also love a somewhat multigenre DDM game. If WotC releases the "new" d20 Modern and d20 Future games (if we are to even get them ever), minis for those games would be great! I have lots of fantasy, but not lots of modern and scifi minis. One of the reasons I like Heroscape!

My only real complaint about DDM is some of the crappy sculpts of recent sets. There are still some good and even amazing sculpts being done, but more than a few just get me scratching my head in puzzlement, "Who approved that piece of trash? My 80s D&D toys look better!"

 

[Jupp]

Actually I am buying many more minis at the moment compared to the months and years past. But this is mainly because currently the dollar is even lower than the Swiss francs

 

[boerngrim]

Hi
I've definitely slowed down on buying boosters of DDM. I only use them for rpg. The price per booster has increased to a bit more than I care to pay. When Harbinger came out and boosters were around $10 us I was buying a couple a week. Then the price went up and it went to one a week. Then one a month. Then maybe a booster when a new set comes out. I have used online sellers to buy the singles I want though. I've found that to be a good way to get the minis I want at the price I want, even with shipping charges.
Thanks.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, I started late buying D&D minis (about the time they released the Night Below set) and I hate having duplicates, so I'll continue buying two or three boosters per set. I mostly use them for the rpg but since I now have a substantial number of them, I also tried the skirmish game and think it's quite fun.
I didn't have the impression that there is a general trend of sculpts getting worse. All sets are hit and miss, really.

It's true, I've not been impressed with Desert of Desolation, but Dungeons of Dread seems to have some very good-looking minis (check out the Oni!) - unfortunately almost all of them are rares.

I'm also quite eager to try the new DDM rules and I'm glad WotC wisely decided to update all old mini stats.

And the price is pretty much unbeatable if you have a use for almost all minis (especially here in Europe, now that the dollar is weak).