D&D Minis on the Decline?

[Huw]

Regarding the secondary market ... I recall a year (or more) ago that one of the best sellers (Auggie) was bemoaning Wizards cracking down on pure internet sellers, and to get the major discount required at least a certain percentage of product be sold through a brick and mortal store.

That's actually what stopped me buying. My personal entertainment budget stayed the same, but suddenly I could no longer get loads of cheap mini packs. So I bought far less of the last few releases (and none since Bloodwar), and I'm now spending my budget on other fun things.

 

[cthulhu_duck]

As the number I have of the DDM miniatures increases, my temptation to buy more has decreased.

I'm fairly sure I've hit my 'saturation point' (to borrow the term from above) - I don't really need any more at this point - I can play D&D as I've wanted to from my childhood - with miniatures and dungeon tiles when appropriate.

I'll buy the occasional single or booster perhaps, but the day of me buying a case per set has ended.

 

[MythosaAkira]

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.

That's pretty much what happened to me as well. I also got tired of the randomness and find the pre-paints from Reaper and Rackham/FFG somewhat more appealing.

I'm putting more effort now into getting caught up on painting my metal minis.

 

[Kunimatyu]

My minis purchases are starting to slowly decrease as well, though I still bought a mess of commons(giant centipedes woo!), an uncommon set, and a couple rares (beholder + hydra) from my usual Ebay sellers.

Some of the sculpts are getting worse (new Grick versus old Giants of Legend Grick?), but there are also some really nice ones. I think Dungeons of Dread is a great minis set, and really like the burning skeleton and Fire Titan they previewed from the Huge set.

For me it's just saturation -- I've got most of the basics, and I still pick up singles over time, but the days of case purchases appear to be over for me.

 

[Lancelot]

Same experience as others above. I've collected DDM from day one, and have a complete set of everything released to date (plus all of the Icons).

I've bought 2 cases of every set until the last one. I bought only one case of Desert of Desolation, and traded for the missing rares. The thrill has been waning for me for some time.

DoD was a little disappointing. Yes, it had a sphinx and a bar-lgura and a spined devil... but it also had a lot of duplicates. I was on the fence about buying it at all, but finally decided to give it a go.

And now, the latest set comes around. I'm okay with most of the 4e change, so I'm not concerned about vermin-like lamia or elemental archons or miniaturized bulettes. But I'm taking a look at the picture of the complete set posted on the Wizards site and I'm feeling just one emotion: Relief.

Relief that I won't need to buy more storage drawers, and that I can invest more money in the upcoming Axis & Allies mini sets.

There are just too many duplicates this time around. I understand WHY they're doing this - many of these creatures are necessary for new players to enjoy 4e. And it's no point releasing more 3e creatures at this stage. It's sound business sense, and healthy for the future of the game. However, it's not something that I will be spending money on personally.

The bigger problem, and what I don't understand, is the quality of the figures. Admittedly, it could just be poor lighting. But these minis just don't look that good. The ettin looks genuinely goofy/cartoony. Both the red and green dragons look far inferior to those previously released. The big lava golem thing looks genuinely terrible, and that's from a guy who has grown to like the infamous wrackspawn. The minotaur's hammer looks like a He-Man accessory. And the grick...! Oh, merciful heavens, the grick! I know that pastel blues are in this summer, but there's a real danger my non-RPG teddy-bear-collecting girlfriend may actually call the little guy CUTE!!!

 

[Greylock]

I stopped buying them about two years ago. Maybe three. Can't really remember. And the local game stores stopped buying case lots themselves. They still have packs from umpteen sets ago on the racks, which is pretty much why they stopped stocking them.

Someone told me a few weeks back how many sets had been released, after I said something about there only being something like five sets, and I thought he was joking.

 

[pawsplay]

Really, the whole randomized thing is what's killing the line as a D&D product. When I open a package, i'm excited if I'm happy to have even two of the figures. Between monsters I don't like, orc sculpts that are uglier than last year's orc sculpts, and of course "fire archons," I'm kind of done.

Imagine, though, if they offered a Stormwreck pre-paint set, that came with a couple of those orca people, some pirates, etc., and they were really nice sculpts. I'd be all over that. Or if there were a Drow mini-pack, sparing the rest of the world from having random Drow in every set, but never quite enough to make you say, "Heck, I have all these Drow, might as well use them."

Honestly, I really miss the old A&D minis. They were kind of goony, some of them, but they were there. If you bought magic-users and illusionists, by god, you had all the magic-users and illusionists you would need for a while.

As an expansion to the idea, what if every Monster Manual came with some basic flats (cardboard) for the new monsters?

 

[Festivus]

For me its a matter of less disposable income than I used to have. Thanks to the undeclared inflation we have been seeing in the costs of things we use everyday ... milk, bread, gasoline, etc. I can't afford what I used to.

That said, there are a number of rares I really am looking forward to in this set, so I bought two cases and am splitting them with a buddy so we can trade and get what we wanted.

 

[MerricB]

Looking at my DDM site is not a good indicator of the hobby's health - far better to check hordelings, maxminis and the other sites that more actively support it. I had a good three year run of doing a lot of support for DDM, but all things must come to an end.

Cheers!

 

[Holy Bovine]

I kind of agree with the OP. DDM 'fatigue' can certainly be considered the primary factor in my abandoning of buying hordes of those things. I just can't justify buying anymore new ones as I have minis to represent nearly any creature I care to put on the table. People new to the game will probably be interested in a third gargoyle (or 7th dwarf with axe) but I'm just tired of spending money of stuff I only end up using 1/4 of (and I buy mostly singles on eBay!). I plan to use the money I'm not spending to buy 4th edition