Heroforge introduces microtransaction model with Daggerheart collaboration

[humble minion]

https://x.com/HeroForgeMinis/status/1985400981304328238

Online miniature customiser Heroforge has been operating for a long time on a subscription model plus charging to download stls of your files or to have them printed and shipped, plus occasional crowdfunding campaigns for major new features. This is a new departure for them when it comes to payment models. Components and gear for frog-people, monkey-people and fungi-people are now locked behind an additional paywall in addition to the regular subscription. Community reaction has been ... predictable. Understandably, because microtransactions inevitably proliferate like weeds if allowed. The Heroforge discord is on fire, comments were turned off on the instagram announcement after a similarly bad reaction (though not yet on twitter). Usual tidal wave of heavy users announcing subscription cancellations. Time will tell if they have actually done so.

Some speculation that this was necessary in order to secure the Darrington press collaboration, maybe they asked too much to be supported with the normal funding model, or maybe that this was necessary to provide clarity for some sort of revenue sharing agreement.

I like heroforge and wish them well, but I sincerely hope this endeavour crashes and burns them hard or else the temptation to DLCify and microtransactionise everything will likely be too strong, which will not lead the tool to a good place.

 

[Reynard]

I'm trying to figure out why new features costing additional money is a bad thing.

 

[Elvish Lore]

Yea, Reddit was losing their mind over this and Hero Forge was the target of lots of hate.

 

[michal_ha]

Licensed items = royalties need to be paid.

 

[Jahydin]

I don't use Hero Forge, so had to look into it, and seems pretty bad to me. If I'm paying a monthly subscription for a service, the last thing I want to see is additional costs with no end in sight. I'd bail immediately.

Hero Forge should just have offered their customers generic monkey, plant, and frog men. And if desired, they could purchase a pass (just enough to cover the license) that lets them toggle to the actual Darrington's designs. Everyone's happy.

Note: I still think Hero Forge is a great service. I just think this devalues the subscription plans a ton.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I don't use Hero Forge, so had to look into it, and seems pretty bad to me. If I'm paying a monthly subscription for a service, the last thing I want to see is additional costs with no end in sight. I'd bail immediately.

Hero Forge should just have offered their customers generic monkey, plant, and frog men. And if desired, they could purchase a pass (just enough to cover the license) that lets them toggle to the actual Darrington's designs. Everyone's happy.

Note: I still think Hero Forge is a great service. I just think this devalues the subscription plans a ton.

The last time I used Heroforge, they definitely had generic monkey and frog bodies you could select at no additional cost. I'm not sure about plant people but they had plant textures you could apply.

 

[aiouh]

People are mad at Heroforge because the service is already expensive and cheaper alternatives exist. They have zero goodwill in the 3D printing community and I have no doubt people were just waiting for them to slip up.

Competitor example:
Instead of limiting you to 5 downloads a month, Titancraft just lets you buy the accessories and lets you make infinite STL files.

Create your own gaming miniatures!

✔ Kitbash heroes & monsters. ✔ Unlimited downloads for 3D printing at home.

titancraft.com

Subscription-based Eldritch Foundry just lets you make infinite files from their full catalogue at the same price as Herocraft

https://eldritch-foundry.com/pricing/

 

[Reynard]

People are mad at Heroforge because the service is already expensive and cheaper alternatives exist.

That seems a weird thing to be mad about. Just go with the better alternative. That is like being mad at Apple because Samsung phones exist (or vice versa).

 

[Reef]

That seems a weird thing to be mad about. Just go with the better alternative. That is like being mad at Apple because Samsung phones exist (or vice versa).

Well, it’s probably more like ‘a bridge too far’ situation. Paying a subscription might be fine, but start adding in micro transactions and suddenly the annual price is harder to justify, if it isn’t comprehensive.

 

[Reynard]

Well, it’s probably more like ‘a bridge too far’ situation. Paying a subscription might be fine, but start adding in micro transactions and suddenly the annual price is harder to justify, if it isn’t comprehensive.

Pretty much every service works this way. It kind of sucks, but it isn't unusual. Unless they actively took away things that were free before and made them into purchase-only elements (and maybe they did; I do not use HF) it just feels like a weird thing to get up in arms about.

But, gamers do tend to be more... let's call it "frugal"... than some other folks, so I am not surprised people are mad at a price increase.