Rappan Athuk: Reloaded SOLD OUT by wide margin!!

[Cabled]

Heh..

Optimal number to print is the number of people that would buy it. How is it better to print 1000 if 1500 people would've bought it?

If you're that good at predicting the future (or even the present), submit your resume with concrete examples of success throughout the marketing world. You will be paid beyond your wildest dreams.

 

[Sammael]

From what I've heard, they took pre-orders for this thing. Why not print a number of copies equal to the number of pre-orders, +10% (which are bound to sell... if not immediately, then eventually)?

Of course, that'd have to include Amazon pre-orders, and they obviously don't want to have a business relationship with Amazon (for whatever reasons), so the model wouldn't work. But alienating oneself from the biggest damn bookstore in the world is not a good business model at any rate.

 

[freebfrost]

Agreed. Seriously though reading through this entire thread really makes me not want to buy anything from Necromancer Games again. It's not so much the attitude of the owners/employees (but that last post from Bill didnt help either) but the idea that people here are dictating WHERE I should buy product. My FLGS does NOTHING for me in the way of support, no discounts, no place to play, NOTHING. If I have an opportunity to get the product from somewhere else for less I will. End of Story.

Now I'm fairly certain that I'll be able to hunt down a copy but my only options shouldnt be Pre-order or hunt. If this is the modely that gaming companies are going to follow from now on I can pretty assure them that my money is going elsewhere.

If you have read through the entire thread, then you know that this is a super-luxury item, as all gaming products are luxury items to begin with. Sellers of (super)luxury items control the market - if you are a customer, you have to make the effort to attain that luxury item. Necro has said the best way to acquire this (from the beginning mind you), was through pre-order. You had the option, but you waited for the "opportunity to get the product from somewhere else for less." You gambled, you lost. You weren't the target audience since you weren't willing to commit from the start.

I'm still amazed that people are upset because they can't get something when they want it at the price they want. If you really want it, you'll be willing to pay (money, time, effort) to get it. Why do people expect they'll always get their way? Life just doesn't work that way.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

If you have read through the entire thread, then you know that this is a super-luxury item, as all gaming products are luxury items to begin with. Sellers of (super)luxury items control the market - if you are a customer, you have to make the effort to attain that luxury item. Necro has said the best way to acquire this (from the beginning mind you), was through pre-order. You had the option, but you waited for the "opportunity to get the product from somewhere else for less." You gambled, you lost. You weren't the target audience since you weren't willing to commit from the start.

I'm still amazed that people are upset because they can't get something when they want it at the price they want. If you really want it, you'll be willing to pay (money, time, effort) to get it. Why do people expect they'll always get their way? Life just doesn't work that way.

EDITED: because D00d is trying to bait people into an angry response and it almost worked.

 

[tenkar]

Well, I didn't pre-order so I'm SOL like alot of people on these boards.

Thing is, its a "Limited Edition". I expect to pay thru the nose for any type of limited edition that I'm interested in. This time, this product did not reach the fevered pitch for me where I needed this item at this price point. So I passed.

To complain that a publisher of a "Limited Edition" should risk a loss so that copies would be available for the mass market / after market is foolish. If publishers operate at a loss we all lose since no publisher can afford to operate at a loss for long.

We all knew this was a limited print run. That is what NM meant by "Limited Edition". We all knew supplies were going to be limited. There is no elitism here, unless by your very nature you feel that everything is divided into "haves" and "have-nots". I don't feel deprived that I can't purchase a copy at this point.

 

[freebfrost]

I'm pretty sure that nowhere in my response that I said that I was upset or expected something for nothing.

If I have an opportunity to get the product from somewhere else for less I will. End of Story.

Those were your words. Expecting something for less technically...

And it has nothing to do with being elite. It has to do with wanting a rare item and being willing and able to pay for it. Obviously, you do not fall into that category for this item, plain and simple.

In marketing terms, a super-luxury item is one that consumers are willing to expend significant resources to acquire. I'm talking economics here, while you are talking ego.

My beef was that people here like you are acting like if some of us arent rabid fanboys who dont jump on these things like a pack of rabid wolves that the rest of us dont DESERVE to have own it.

My point is that people who can't get a certain item under the exact conditions they desire spend a lot of time complaining about it. If you didn't get it, you didn't want it enough, so why are you complaining? Personally, I'm a collector, and I'm willing to pay to get the items I want for my collection. Do I complain when I lose a bid for a woodgrained OD&D boxed set on eBay? No, because someone else obviously wanted it more than I did. Same thing applies here - people are complaining because they likely won't get what they want because they didn't pay up front. That's what bothers me.

Because that's how you come off when you post. There's no need to lecture people on what they should expect. It has absolutley nothing to do with that.

I fail to see anyplace where I've attacked anyone - I've been talking about people's perceptions of this product, what type of product it is economically, and how expectations should be different based on that. And it has everything to do with expectations - for anything that is Limited Edition/Special/One-Time-Only, you should have an expectation that getting that item will be more difficult than for a similar normal item.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I'm with you 101% Shin. The more I read, the more disgusted I'm becoming.

Price has never been an issue with me, insofar as I'll pay what I need to pay. If I can get it for $25, then that's what I'll pay. I have no aspirations to be one of the "chosen few" who are the first to get my hands on RAR, or any D&D product for that matter. And yeah, this elitism we're seeing is sad to see.

I choose to use Amazon b/c I find it more reliable, better priced, and more convenient (not to mention I have assurances of refunds if a publisher goes under; something nowhere near as certain with online publishing stores). And apparently there's a heck of a lot of people out there who agree. To write Amazon out of your business model pretty much assures you of never being more than one or two failed products away from bankruptcy.

Being called cheap, being called bitter, hearing "screw you" to Amazon (from the publisher of the product, no less). Sorry, but this smacks of bushleague-ism at its very worst.

I know I've just cancelled my pre-order for Bard's Gate from Amazon. Since NG doesn't care for Amazon and all.

p.s. this garbage about "super-luxury" items? LOL! If you think RAR is a super luxury item, then you don't know what a super luxury item is.

 

[freebfrost]

To complain that a publisher of a "Limited Edition" should risk a loss so that copies would be available for the mass market / after market is foolish. If publishers operate at a loss we all lose since no publisher can afford to operate at a loss for long.

Thanks Tenkar! That's my point but you said it much more succinctly.

Expectations should be different for these items, and what I'm seeing is the opposite - that people expect to be able to get this like any other item. And that's not the case.

 

[freebfrost]

If I can get it for $25, then that's what I'll pay.

Then you are clearly not in the market, since you are by definition a "bargain" shopper.

I choose to use Amazon b/c I find it more reliable, better priced, and more convenient (not to mention I have assurances of refunds if a publisher goes under; something nowhere near as certain with online publishing stores). And apparently there's a heck of a lot of people out there who agree. To write Amazon out of your business model pretty much assures you of never being more than one or two failed products away from bankruptcy.

I shop Amazon for gaming materials all the time. What's the point of your last sentence here? Trying to suggest that Necromancer is going to go under because they aren't selling RA:R there?

I know I've just cancelled my pre-order for Bard's Gate from Amazon. Since NG doesn't care for Amazon and all.

Another dig at Necromancer? What for?

Throwing around personal barbs isn't necessary.

p.s. this garbage about "super-luxury" items? LOL! If you think RAR is a super luxury item, then you don't know what a super luxury item is.

Luxury is defined as "something that is not a necessity, but an indulgence." Super-luxury items take that a step further as items that a customer is "willing to go through extra effort to acquire." (Old marketing text)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wonder how many of the people on this thread (and ones like it) have ever successfully run their own business.