D&D 4E Unnecessary monster appearance changes in 4e

[borc killer]

It's a really pathetic attempt to make people buy the upcoming reboot of the minis line.

It is all about branding. You make a new style so you can distinguish the 3.x brand from the 4.0 brand. That is all it is about. Sure you can buy the new ones. Or keep your old ones like I am doing and add to them over time. I buy 2-3 packs of minis every month. That won’t change in any way. I highly doubt that anyone’s buying habits will change.

Do you honestly think that someone will melt down there old minis or something? hehe

 

[RangerWickett]

Not everything someone sells you has to have a functional purpose. And you don't have to buy everything someone offers to sell you. But offering to sell you something isn't morally or ethically wrong just because you personally don't want that thing - otherwise you should be getting pretty incensed at 90% of the shops you walk past - they sell handbags, and foodstuffs you don't care for, and art you don't like, and music you don't want to listen to.

Which reminds me:

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War of the Burning Sky: making young men into world-saving heroes since 1954.

 

[Engilbrand]

I'll throw out the same response to this that I did a few weeks ago when people said, "They're only putting out a new edition so that they can make money!" So? I expect that from companies. My dad owns restaurants in the area I live. When they change things every couple of years or so, they tend to be big changes. All at once, a lot of stuff is dropped from the menu and some new stuff appears on the menu. (For the record, peanut butter on a bacon cheeseburger is actually ridiculously good. Orgasmic, even.) There have been times in the past when they dropped my favorite stuff. I complained, but I kept eating there. I found new stuff to like.
Why does he change his menu? He likes to mix stuff up. He doesn't want things to fall into a rut and become boring, so he makes some new and interesting things, or he snags the ideas from other places (Peanut Butter Burger came from a restaurant by Purdue) and he tries to bring in new people. Especially people who don't normally come to his place. Why? He wants to make more money. He's passionate about his product and his business, but he also wants to make money. He sells merchandise, too. Sometimes, new shirts come in when there's a new design and the old ones go away. That's the way that EVERY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS works.
So Wizards is putting out a new menu/edition. Some new things appear and some old things disappear. They'll use ideas from other places and people will keep going there. They even put out some new clothing designs/minis in the interest of getting the name out there and making a few extra bucks. So? I challenge you to find one business that doesn't do what I've said.
By the way: www.betweenthebuns.com It's one of the most popular restaurants/sports bars in the South Bend area.

 

[Morrus]

(For the record, peanut butter on a bacon cheeseburger is actually ridiculously good. Orgasmic, even.)

Eeewwww!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I could give a rat's ass; I use anything to represent placement/movement/position etc:

-Plastic Crack (actual D&D Minis)
-Old school lead/pewter miniatures
-Tokens
-Counters
-Dice
-Fruit
-Toe-Jam
-Butt Lint

…Anything.

Remind me never to play at your game table...

 

[Klaus]

Linky to new monster looks?

 

[Jer]

Based on the statements of people that buy books published by WotC exclusively, I would bet some people do.

Wow that's an odd viewpoint to me. But hey, if that's how they like it, more power to them. My inherent cheapness would never let me get away with that - I think the part of my brain that controls cheapness would actually induce paralysis in my hands to prevent me from handing over my credit card.

Also, I'm certain a lot of people is going to rush to buy the new dragon mini simply because it looks different.

I actually don't know what you're saying here - I'd be inclined to buy a new dragon mini that looked different than other dragon minis that I own. In fact, if they came out with a new mini that looked the same as minis I already own I wouldn't be very interested - I've already got one like that, after all, unless I need an army of exactly the same figure (like, for my own version of Clone Wars or something), I'd prefer to get ones that look different rather than the same.

(This is hypothetical anyway - I can't bring myself to spend money on the admittedly lovely D&D dragon minis. I've recently used a dragon from Heroscape for a smaller dragon, and I'll break out the "large square of cardboard" if I ever get to the point of needing a bigger dragon. That lousy cheapness again - getting in the way of my fun )

Weird, my Reaper Minis look exactly like I want my monsters to look. The halflings even have hairy feet. The goblins ought to look like the Paizo goblins, though.

A box of Paizo-style goblins would test my cheapness to the limit. Especially if they came pre-painted - I love that design. I'd probably break down and buy a box on the spot...

 

[DragonBelow]

Do people really say "oh, that figure looks slightly different, I have to get the new version"? I suppose there might be, because I know the opposite exists. I've heard a number of people claim they weren't going to buy more miniatures because of some minor visual change in monster design (the troll, the beholder, the green dragon).

I just don't see that point of view at all.

Are you saying this change is going to make people stop buying minis, why would WotC think that is a good idea?

Probably because they hope the effect will be quite the opposite.

 

[Gundark]

Well putting minis aside I love the new art. The troll looks scary now, rather than a skinny unscary creature with a floppy nose.

And yes I llike the look of the new dragon (slaps self!!!!)

 

[Glyfair]

Are you saying this change is going to make people stop buying minis, why would WotC think that is a good idea?

Probably because they hope the effect will be quite the opposite.

I'm saying either group are minute portions of the market and will have no significant affect on WotC's bottom line.