Disappointed with Minis

[Nathal]

The one-man verdict is in for the miniatures line. I hate it. But I don't mean I dislike the miniatures themselves; in fact, I think they're fun. I never cared to paint the metal figurines anyway. But the randomized packs are killing my enjoyment of them. I spent over $100 on expansions and I still have very few of the minis that I want. When I looked at buying specific creatures on the secondary market I saw that some were selling at prices inflated to almost $10 or more. No surprise, but really frustrating when all I want is a single (painted & plastic) fire elemental or dragon. So I gave up on them, mostly to save money and space in my little home.

Then 3.5 assumes the use of miniatures. So, in light of my experience with randomized packs, and coupled with my disinterest in collecting and painting pewter figures, my interest in the latest edition has died. Yes, I know I could play the game without the figures, and it's not too hard to alter the rules to fit my taste. In fact, it's so easy, I've realized, I don't need to buy any more books.

Anybody else have similar feelings?

 

[rowport]

I find your attitudes here a bit bizarre, honestly. It is almost like you are looking for justifications for why you should not like 3.5 D&D. If you do not want to play D&D- 3.5 or whatever version- then don't. But, trying to link it to WOTC's miniatures line is really silly.

If you like the plastic minis, buy them. If you do not like random selections, buy them from your local game store or on-line- there are lots of singles for sale. If you prefer pewter minis, buy them- they sell at the same places. If you do not want to play with minis, don't. If you do not want to play 3.5, don't. Are you seeing a trend here? You are looking for arguments where there really are none. Some might call that trolling... :\

 

[Ranger REG]

Feh. 3e and 3.5e allow rules for use with miniatures in general, not just official D&D miniatures. Heck, I just use flat tokens/counters in my game in lieu of minis.

I find your verdict suspect.

 

[Piratecat]

I find the issue of randomized miniatures and 3.5 to be completely separate. The game works just as well with Fiery Dragon's counter collection, or even dice to represent your character. While there are some things I don't care for in the new edition, the miniatures are unrelated.

Buy tin!

 

[Azlan]

The one-man verdict is in for the miniatures line. I hate it. But I don't mean I dislike the miniatures themselves; in fact, I think they're fun. I never cared to paint the metal figurines anyway. But the randomized packs are killing my enjoyment of them. I spent over $100 on expansions and I still have very few of the minis that I want. When I looked at buying specific creatures on the secondary market I saw that some were selling at prices inflated to almost $10 or more. No surprise, but really frustrating when all I want is a single (painted & plastic) fire elemental or dragon. So I gave up on them, mostly to save money and space in my little home.

I voiced similar concerns when WotC's miniatures line first came on the market, but mostly what I got in response here were the fanboys telling me to quit raining on their parade.

:\

Myself, I think the whole "collectables" marketing strategy of these miniatures is a crock. Some here have said that in order for WotC to make a profit in this endeavor, and in order to make the miniatures cheap and affordable for us, that WotC had to use this strategy. But that reasoning doesn't hold up, under scrutiny. WotC could've charged 50% to 100% more for these miniatures, without resorting to the randomization in the packaging, and D&D players would've still bought plenty of them, and WotC would've made a decent profit. But with the "collectables" marketing stategy, WotC stands to make a much bigger profit. (Or so their marketing "geniuses" surmise.) Because, as we all know, that is the same strategy they used to sell truckloads of MtG cards (and, nowadays, virtual cards, on-line).

Of course, I'm sure there are a few clever and industrial persons here who've "beat" the system and managed to assemble a full collection of these miniatures at a reasonable price. But for most other persons, these miniatures end up becoming a real drag.

BTW: I love D&D 3.0/3.5, so I'm not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I simply resorted to using cardboard counters in my campaigns. IMHO, if you're not playing out D&D 3.0/3.5 combat on some kind of battlemap (i.e. 1"=5', with either squares or hexes), and if you're not using miniatures or counters, you're not really playing D&D 3.0/3.5 the way it was meant to be played.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Then 3.5 assumes the use of miniatures...my interest in the latest edition has died. Yes, I know I could play the game without the figures, and it's not too hard to alter the rules to fit my taste. In fact, it's so easy, I've realized, I don't need to buy any more books.

Anybody else have similar feelings?

Yeah, I don't really like 3.5, and I'd be really interested in your modifications. I'm not really interested in getting alarge collection of minis, especially after playing without the Core books or dice in my very first DM'ed campaign.

 

[milotha]

I'd love to be able to purchase the miniatures individually. I was really disappointed to discover that you couldn't, especially since they have a thri-kreen . I've been looking for a thri-kreen figure, and I'm unable to get my hands on the old Dark Sun Miniatures. I'm not quite adept enough to make my own.

Though, I have to say this isn't going to cause me to quit playing 3.Xed. If you are really frustrated and feel like you need miniatures to run the combats use something else instead. Use dice, or small candies, or chits. Even pieces of paper work well.

 

[KnowTheToe]

The D&D line was my first experience with any random collectable game. I have to say, while I like the figs, I hate the randomization. At $10 a box it is tiring to get the same figs over and over and still not get the ones I want. It is easy to spend $80-100 and not have everything. Collectable games are very expensive. I don't have the miniatures rules, but after 8 boxes I don't think I have enough of and group to field an army or battle. Maybe I am wrong, but it just seems like a rip off. I wish you could buy an entire complete box set like you can with baseball cards.

Although I do think saying D&D does not work without them is a stretch.

 

[talinthas]

i was annoyed by this aspect at first too. All i wanted were draconians and dragon types to run my DL game, and i kept getting all this other crap. However, one day my roommates looked at the stack of minis i'd accumulated, and grabbed the skirmish rules to try thegame out. The actual minis game is way more fun than i had given it credit for =)

 

[Ottergame]

The problem with buying mini's by the singles is that if you buy more than half a dozen like that, it'd be so much cheeper to buy pewter minis and have someone else assemble and paint them. I know quite a number of people who do that, and in the end, I would resort to doing that then buying minis at random and praying I got what I needed.