Quote Originally Posted by Denzark View Post
I really have no idea why you have anything to do with any GW based gaming - commenting, reading, surfing websites, playing, paying.

It just seems to aggravate you.
I thought I'd explained this elsewhere, but let's try again.

First off, much of the community I don't mind. The pro-GW trolls, like the anti-GW trolls, are actually fewer in number than they seem, and don't represent the community. Yes, I despise those people for their dishonest attitude, but, again, they are not the community. There are also parts of the community I dislike, like the rules lawyering gits who play at the local GW, but parts I really like, like the guys who want to have a fun, fair game who play at a different local store and have been playing much longer. (It is ironic that the "community" is said to be so anti-rules-lawyering and anti-WAAC, but it's the new recruits at a GW store who are worst with that attitude here.)

I don't just surf websites, I have my own, I just need to get it updated again (meh for being sick and busy).

I play the games where I can, with the people who don't play using the mentality GW wants to push in the games. People who don't rush to use all these garbage new formations and stuff to get bonuses for giving GW more money are more fun to play with. I'm part of a small (but growing) HH/30K group locally, which is overall balanced aside from Knight armies. (It's actually a problem in 30K for a lot of armies. While my Iron Warriors are thematic in having lots of anti-tank and using vehicles, I've noticed other armies built thematically don't have a lot to take out armor, and once that's gone, you can whittle down the rest of the army easily. Thankfully, the one guy with a Knight army is willing to not bring them that often, though in 40K he had no issues with three Knights and a TWC death star.) Heck, I'd play AoS if I could find people who weren't rules lawyering or trying to find ways to use the rules to do cheeky stuff. (Doesn't mean I'll forgive GW for mismanaging Warhammer and sending it into the ground, then wiping it out, rather than ever admitting they did wrong and fix it.)

I only pay for certain things. Right now, I'm not buying much. None of the AoS models really interest me, especially as the Sigmarines take elements of Warmachine and old-school Warzone (especially Bauhaus) design and blow them up to cartoonish proportions, which is fine since other people might like that, but I do find it annoying when some of the people praising them will at the same time insult WM for having the same style, just because WM isn't made by GW. It's a sad realization that, given how they've changed the game, it would take literally hundreds of dollars - on top of all the money I'd already spent over time - to really make any of my armies competitive with the armies I see on a consistent basis (at least at the GW store, which is right in my neighborhood, so easiest to get to). So, rather than try to spend that money, I am opting out of buying much GW stuff, especially having been burned by End Times. The nice thing is that it means right now I have more money to buy other games, and not just other miniature games. I can get a multiplayer board game that will provide loads of entertainment for multiple people for the price of a single five-man unit (or less). I can snag cheap games that still provide loads of replay value for the price of a character. This isn't so much an anti-GW-pricing commentary as just wonderment at what you can do with your money when you direct it to something new (alternately, I could go back to going out eating and drinking at decent restaurants every night, but that's a temporary enjoyment).

The only thing that consistently annoys me - okay, other than the rabid pro-GW trolls (and I'll keep calling them trolls so long as they take a nasty attitude to anyone who is the least bit critical of their Dear Leader) - is the company itself. I grew up during a time GW was growing, when they had sales, community outreach, and a load of different games. I remember board games on hobby and toy and department store shelves. I remember a better White Dwarf. I remember how things *could* be. And now I look at a company with one key line, trying to start a second one to replace the 30-year-old line they mismanaged into the ground, all board games gone (having to rely on a different company for them), all the other games gone, and trying desperately to avoid being known as a games workshop despite their name being literally Games Workshop. Yes, I have problems with the games in some areas, but those could be fixed, and too often they're a result of the money people needing more money NOW at the expense of the product line's long-term health, so, again, it's management I have an issue with overall.

You can be critical of something and still like it. My closest friend is my closest friend because she's blunt and honest with me and expects the same, and sometimes what she says isn't flattering, but I know it's because she cares about me. My best relationships all come from a position like that, where they understand that I'm not a person who sugar-coats and says everything is awesome, because only by pointing out the problems could they be fixed. And if you don't care about someone or something, why mention the problems? Why try to get it fixed? Let it rot.

I also love World of Warcraft, but I'm not playing it much right now and I've said some critical things about its recent direction. So it's not just limited to GW. I've also said critical things about other miniature companies, like how I don't like that Warmachine's "plastic" figures are really a resin hybrid, so I have to use superglue rather than plastic cement, which bonds better (if you use a good one and do it right).

I criticize because I care. Maybe that doesn't make sense to you, but... well, it's the only thing that makes sense to me.