My Meagre thoughts on Competitive 40k

[Eldar_Atog]

What do you smoke bro?

My theory is that he really supports competitive gaming and he's just trying to goad the competitive gamers to reach their true potential. Kinda like tough love

[Cap'nSmurfs]

the most balanced version of the game (3rd) wouldn't have been a disaster.

Uhhhh... 3rd ed had one of the longest lifespans of any edition and was the edition which, IIRC, took us through the period of the greatest expansion in the size of the company and the playerbase (1998-2004). That wasn't all down to that particular set of rules (cough Lord of the Rings cough), but it clearly wasn't a "disaster". It's also fundamentally the game we're still playing (2nd to 3rd was a much bigger jump than anything else).

[Path Walker]

What do you smoke bro?

Theres a reason 5th was so widely played.and it wasnt because it was full of fun options (it wasnt)

People complained that 5th was unbalanced just as much as they do now. Either balance isn't important or none of you idiots know what balance actually is.

[daboarder]

People complained that 5th was unbalanced just as much as they do now. Either balance isn't important or none of you idiots know what balance actually is.

not really, people complained that 5th was full of codexes with no options, boring mechanics and a game dominated far to much by armour. people did complain about balance sure, but what an intelligent person would realise that just because 5th was better balanced than 7th, doesn't mean it was perfectly balanced (or even very well balanced).

See its a relative thing, people played 5th but wanted MORE balance, instead they got significantly less....and its largely killing the game. But you'll praise GW till the day it dies, or they go full idiot and rip the setting apart al la fantasy.

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My theory is that he really supports competitive gaming and he's just trying to goad the competitive gamers to reach their true potential. Kinda like tough love

my theory is he's just a troll, Im pretty sure that if we posted that GW was doing something right, he'd pick a fight over it just to fight.

[StingrayP226]

Ok 40K has dominated the gaming industry for a long time, but its starting a slow downward trend. Years ago the miniature gaming market was small... many competitors (what few there were) made complex, detailed games that were hard to grasp. 40k offered a fun fast alternative that was easier to grasp and play. During this time GW shot to the top as a gaming giant. They didn't have much competition in the department of easy to understand game, with a rich background, and good miniatures...

No one could really compare to GW or even pull away players. However in the last few years the gaming industry has changed... smaller competitors have been increasing in popularity and slowly rising. Corpus Belle, Privateer Press, Wyrd, Hawk Games, Spartan Games, and FFG's X-Wing have seen a boon in sales... meanwhile GW is reporting losses. Granted GW is by far still the top but these other companies are nibbling away at GW.

True 40K has a lot of lore but the story is stagnate. Their miniatures are very well made, but many competitors have caught up or are catching up. GW has pulled away from customers, other companies interact with their players and reach out to them. GW's rules are no longer the most stream lined "quick and fun", and are some of the worse balanced rules sets out there. Meanwhile competitors are pulling together very solid rules that are simple enough to be quick and fun, but actually are much more tactical than 40k. Beer and Pretzels is fine... but I've watched some Batreps that really make me wonder why bother building an army because OMG the battles looked boring as hell because of how dominate some combo was... it was honestly painful to watch a deathstar getting a whole army unload on it and it survive with maybe a scratch. Sorry but that didn't look fun.

40K like WoW has the advantage of being the big kid on the block that is able to attract lots of attention and has a solid fan base, but relying on that alone will not help GW. GW needs to open its ears and start listening to its customers, or more will be pulled away after having enough of their crap.

Honestly the only reason I decided to play some 40k is because I have the money and its rather popular around here so easier to get a pick up game in. Also nice miniatures are a bonus (but they are not my favorites... I HATE space marines with a passion... I just HATE their models...)

[Path Walker]

The WoW comparion is valid, both took an established idea and then polished it up to sold to the most people as possible and established an unassialable lead.

Both are now roundly percieved as hated by the fanbase that throws money at them.

Both have seen off competitors that many said would kill them because they were better games.

You know WoW is back to over 10 million subscribers? More than pretty much every other subscription MMO put together.

40k is like WoW, its stood the test of time and continues to be popular, but if you go on the forums, all you'll here are the minority of freaks complaining about balance. Neither listen to the whiners because they know that they represent a tiny minority of the customer base and the game wouldn't be any worse if those customers ****ed off like they keep threatening to.

[Mr Mystery]

The more customers you have, the more views and opinions there will be. This is unavoidable.

Best tack? Take a central position. Go for Jack of all Trades.

When you're trying to please millions of customers, it's the only way to proceed. Cater to the majority.

Whiners gonna whine, fanboi is gonna fan regardless - so ignore both. It's the core market you need for sustainability.

[daboarder]

Fair point, cant please everyone.

But the trick is to distinguish the signal from the noise, thats where market analysis is SUPPOSED to come in, but GW under Kirby didn't ascribe to that for some odd reason. The new CEO might (I say might because Kirby is still director) but we wont know for a little while.

Funnily enough I LIKE the way GW is taking the game, bringing back the micro codexes etc etc, I just wish they'd put more thought into the rules, maleceptor being a case in point.

[Charon]

Funnily enough I LIKE the way GW is taking the game, bringing back the micro codexes etc etc, I just wish they'd put more thought into the rules, maleceptor being a case in point.

At the moment I would be more than happy if they update their rules to 7th edition.
All DE Valedor formations still use non existent rules.

[daboarder]

At the moment I would be more than happy if they update their rules to 7th edition.
All DE Valedor formations still use non existent rules.

Yeah valedor was a BS **** up. The nid rules in that are really out of date too


Thats what happens when you release a product like a week before a new edition but are super obsessed with secrecy