That doesnt really address my concern though. Im not complaining about the price as per my post - Im complaining about the blind buy factor combined with the price...
<acronym title="Wizards of the Coast">
WotC</acronym> handled this aspect well with their boosters of old.
It
absolutely addresses your concern -- in that it explains why what you want does not work.
Try reading this again:
"Merric's Law of Miniatures: Non-Random Packaging, Cheap Prices, and a Large Range of Figures: Choose two." These are mutually exclusive choices, and you CANNOT choose all three.
Are they Cheap? - WotC's Older Pricing Model Ca. 2002-2007
These miniatures are still cheap, but they aren't as cheap as they used to be 5-7 years ago at the height of D&D minis. There are good reasons for that:
1 - skyrocketing increase in the cost of oil = Higher cost;
2 - Appreciating value of Chinese Yuan and depreciating US Dollar = Higher cost;
3 - Divided market, oversaturation = Reduced demand = lower economies of scale = Higher cost.
So yes, they are cheap as they can get em at the quality people want. The cost of oil - a major input in plastic miniatures, has sky-rocketed. That increases shipping costs and manufacturing costs at every step. The Chinese Yuan has gone up in value relative to other currencies and the US Dollar has gone dramatically down. Moreover, demand is not what it was, either. There are people who have thousands of pre-painted plastic minis and they aren't as interested as they once were in buying more of them. So yes, they ARE cheap -- just not as cheap as you might prefer.
For a time, WotC attempted to keep the price down from 2007 onwards, but they had to make sacrifices in order to do so. The change in art direction from 3rd to 4th ed made some customers unhappy with the 4E figures. Oversaturation of the marketplace had resulted in many core customers buying hundreds of minis over the years -- with some hardcore customers having acquired thousands of minis over five or six years of the D&D mini line.
So WotC reduced the cost by reducing the quality of figures. Sculpt quality went down, paint job quality went
markedly down, too. WotC reduced the number of minis per box. WotC reduced the number of minis in the set range, too. All of this was an attempt to keep the price point of the minis down so that younger customers could buy in. Ultimately, the depreciating dollar and the skyrocketing cost of oil persuaded WotC to exit the random mini line completely and in early 2011, WotC announced they were ending the product line.
The Problem of Random Packaging
Your complaint is the random packaging. If you want non-random, you now have a choice to make: do you want a large range of figures at a VERY expensive price point, or do you want cheaper minis with a smaller range of figures? These are mutually exclusive choices and you only get to choose one more as you have already selected "non-random packaging" as one of your preferences.
Dungeon Command chooses to go for a cheaper price point and a smaller range of figures. Even then, by bundling 12 known minis per box,
Dungeon Command makes you buy figures you don't want in order to obtain figures that you DO want. Paizo/Wizkids can't do that and still create a large enough range of minis for the Adventure Path's purpose (and for gamers' larger gaming needs). In order to get a large range of figures and a cheaper price, they need to randomize the packaging in the
Pathfinder Battles line.
If
Dungeon Command released 5 different sets of 12 unique minis per box all at once (a range of 60 figures) in non-blind packaging, for $49.99-$54.99 a box - would that be a product you would want to buy? Would there be enough other people out there who would want to buy them as well in large enough numbers in order for it to make sense to manufacture? $250.00-$275.00 for 60 minis? I doubt it. And even if there were enough to make the risk worth it, would there be MORE people who want that vs. those who would buy them when randomly packaged? No way.
Your preference also ignores the very real problem of inventory control which lies at the heart of the problem with non-random pre-painted minis. How do you determine how much of each to manufacture and how do you know which ones people will want more? What happens when you want to continue the mini line in 4-6 months' time with another release? Does the retailer now stock 5 MORE #SKUs? How long can that go on before it comes crashing down and the retailer says "no more" -- I have no more shelf space.
The Problem of Inventory Control
That's how minis in one or two blind boxes makes that problem go away. No box is preferred more than any other and shelf space is not overcrowded with different products. Inventory control is VASTLY easier for the retailer, too. As a miniatures product line goes along and you end up having 4 of these sets in print at once (that's generally what happened with WotC's mini line at its height) then WotC's random packaging made for only FOUR #SKUS and a 12"-15" of shelf space to carry the entire line. Your preferred choice would result in a retailer tracking 20 #SKUS consuming ~20
feet of shelf space.
I'd also point out that even if there were enough people who want to buy 5 different boxes of a dozen known minis -- that's a
fool's preference. Buying ONE box of minis (that is what a case is, after all) for about $280.00 and getting 128 minis which guarantees AT LEAST the same 60 you bought for $275, plus another 68 minis in known proportions is a far better deal for the gamer.
That's the approach that
Pathfinder Battles has taken for those who want the whole set in numbers which are almost entirely predictable and which gives you a complete set of 60 -- with a double of each of the commons and most of the uncommons and a few of the rares as well.
