Ugh, I didn't get any of them right. I need my D&D card revoked.
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
New Miniatures... Info?
- Thread starter Aluvial
- Start date
You work for WotC? Then can I make suggestions?
1. Release a monster pack at the same time you'll release Monster Manual 3. (You've got a bit more than a year, you could have the time) This would support books "currently being released".
2. Release miniatures "accessory packs" for the players. What's that? Well, a wizard would LOVE to put a "Cloud of Dagger" miniature on the map for instance.
A shaman would love to have transparent "spirit miniatures".
A DM would love to use "traps miniatures".
You get what I mean now. Minis for sustained zones and long duration powers would be great. A "MARKED MINI" (you'd add that under the base)!
This would support core books and help new players get interesting minis.
3. Make sure that monsters that can be summoned (like from the upcoming ARCANE POWER) can be found in your miniature line (through monster packs or my "so-called" accessory packs.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Yeah, I know that (order pending by the way). But I don't believe 14 years old D&D newbies have the knowledge of this company.
Thus, Likto doesn't deliver an equivalent of my "accessory packs" to the D&D community at large. I think there's a fairly good market WotC should try to grab.
Of course, I'm happy to get stuff from Litko and Dwarven Forge... And some WotC minis.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I agree with you.
I think that they (WoTC) have missed out on doing inexpensive plastic terrain, something to carry the figs in and other potential fits where the secondary market has picked up. That's essentially money right out of WoTC pocket but if they feel it's not worth it, god bless the secondary market for seeing a need and filling it.
Pbartender
First Post
My apologies... It was poorly worded, then.
My point is that, from a business standpoint, if the costs (of researching which minis people want to buy so you can sell non-randomized packs, or adding more detailed sculpt and paint steps, for example) outweigh the benefits (of making certain there's fewer unsellable SKUs on the shelves by increasing sales), then there's little point in the company pursuing the prospect.
While you didn't explicitly say it (again, I misspoke there), all of your previous posts taken together strongly imply it.
I'm not necessarily saying that it's a good or bad thing... It just is. I can't fault a company for wanting to make a profit. They've got to pay the bills, too.
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CharlesRyan
Adventurer
Hi, Sammael--
I'm not under NDA, and I never have been. But I won't talk specifics because, frankly, it's not my place.
I'm also not going to directly answer your specific questions, because Peter knows a lot more about it than I do, and gave a great answer that I really couldn't add anything to.
I will say this: If you don't like WotC's creative output (and I think this applies to any other company as well), that's fine. Feedback positive and negative is a natural part of the creative process, and I'm pretty sure Peter and Shoe are glad to have it.
But when you put the blame on bureaucracy and corporate suits and higher-ups' "pets" and so on, you basically say that Peter and Shoe are hapless lapdogs. You relegate every person at WotC whose name you know or have heard to the position of minion. You say they have no responsibility for the complex decisions they make every day, and have no right to take pride in the products that blossom from their fertile minds and hard work.
If you want to know who's responsible for this mini or that decision, start with the good folk from R&D and Brand who read and respond to posts on ENWorld all the time. WotC may be a big company, but it's made up of real people who care passionately about the products they put out, and you have their ear. Inventing mythologies of invisible corporate droids just undermines your points and the conversation in general.
Jeff Wilder
First Post
For what it's worth, as someone who has never hesitated to bitch about DDM when bitching is warranted ...
I kinda like the spawn of Tiamat, and have used several of them in my game. Most recently, in fact, I used whitespawn iceskidders! As a mini, the redspawn arcanis is very, very cool, IMO. I even used the Wrackspawn as qu'th maren, or however the hell you spell those things. (Wrackspawn are at least monstrous, and pretty hideous looking, if not great minis. That automatically puts their usability miles ahead of crap like the Guard of Mithral Hall.)
Personally, I got far more sick of duplicate monsters than I did of niche monsters. I tend to use niche monsters for inspiration. Duplicates just became annoying.
I kinda like the spawn of Tiamat, and have used several of them in my game. Most recently, in fact, I used whitespawn iceskidders! As a mini, the redspawn arcanis is very, very cool, IMO. I even used the Wrackspawn as qu'th maren, or however the hell you spell those things. (Wrackspawn are at least monstrous, and pretty hideous looking, if not great minis. That automatically puts their usability miles ahead of crap like the Guard of Mithral Hall.)
Personally, I got far more sick of duplicate monsters than I did of niche monsters. I tend to use niche monsters for inspiration. Duplicates just became annoying.
Sammael
Adventurer
Of course Peter and Shoe (and others I do or do not know) are not "hapless lapdogs." But even in the small software company I work for (as the lead developer), where I have a lot of freedom to do my job as I see fit, my ideas sometimes get shot down by my boss. Sometimes things don't work out the way I want them to because the company resources have to be diverted in other ways. Sometimes, a big bad bug slips through our design and QA because of some company decision which I had no influence over. Sometimes, our users send me angry e-mails, telling us that our software is "terrible" and "awful" because of the things I didn't (and couldn't) control. And I only have two people (the company's co-founders) above me. So, is there no middle ground between "minion" (which word I never uttered or even thought of) and "free-willed artist?" Is it not true that, for all the creative freedom they enjoy, they still have to conform to certain corporate standards, business plans, and directions? All I'm saying is that it seems to me (and you're telling me I'm wrong) that those things are influencing the quality of products more now that they used to.
Incidentally, I have quite a few friends in the computer gaming industry who used to work extensively with WotC on licensed properties. The stories they told me about the way WotC operated in those projects are quite different, but maybe WotC has a different policy towards external licensees.
Some former WotC employees also stated, in public, that they felt very constrained, for instance, by the directions they received from the Novels department. They felt that their creativity in creating role-playing products was hindered by the limitations imposed by novels.
Ultimately, I am very interested in the workings of the company, because it seems (from your words) so different from other corporations I am more familiar with (by virtue of having worked with them). For instance, if the R&D is not happy with how a sculpt turns out, who has the final word on whether it gets made or not? When paint steps get removed, who decides which paint steps? I am not asking for names, I'm asking for more details of the process. I know it's long and arduous and things don't always turn out how they should. I appreciate the hard work. But can you also appreciate that minis now cost more (fact) and look worse (my personal opinion shared by many others) than they used to a couple of years ago and that I, as a customer, find that to be unacceptable? I guess I'm looking for someone to blame and I don't want to blame Peter or Shoe because I know they're doing their best. But you're telling me they are the only ones responsible...
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Sammael
Adventurer
FWIW, I use the Redspawn Arcaniss mini as a Khaasta stand-in. Other humanoid spawn can pass as half-dragons (which I use very sparingly in my campaigns, as the concept doesn't sit all that well with me).
On the other hand, I have no use whatsover for the Redspawn Firebelcher, Bluespawn Godslayer or Bluespawn Stormlizard. At least the small Ambusher can pass as a chameleon or something.
