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Post by: sharkticon
Thread title says it all. 6th edition is coming, and I have received word that we are close enough to the date that the managers have been trained in the new system, to be ready when it is released. Now, all we need to know is which manager has the loosest lips, and how fast can we get him a bottle of fine whiskey.
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Post by: WarOne
So training would also imply they have had to see and/or read material relative to 6th edition.
Is there any word how they got their training and/or if there was any tangible documentation about the ruleset that had to be memorized?
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Post by: Absolutionis
Where id you receive this 'word'? A manager? Perhaps that source that gave you the word has the looser lips.
Exploit your source's loose lips. Convince their loose lips to go down on you with information.
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Post by: H.B.M.C.
Well the GW up the road from me is closing down. The manager is moving back to the city store, so he probably knows.
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Post by: lord_blackfang
If store managers were trained in it, we would know everything by now.
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Post by: d-usa
Won't you please think of the careers of these poor managers!
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Post by: helium42
There have been no leaks from the manager at the St. Louis GW, but he did take some kind of training trip down to the Memphis Factory Store. Could have been 6th edition related, or might not have been. Either way, I think we already know 6th edition is coming in the next month or so.
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Post by: dajobe
helium42 wrote:There have been no leaks from the manager at the St. Louis GW, but he did take some kind of training trip down to the Memphis Factory Store. Could have been 6th edition related, or might not have been. Either way, I think we already know 6th edition is coming in the next month or so.
yeah, the guy keeps talking about it on Facebook. He has been down there like 3 times in the last month, it actually seems feasible that they are doing this.
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Post by: BlapBlapBlap
Really?
The GW staff members are there to sell. I doubt that they get training. They can skim through the rulebook in their spare time, but they wouldn't take 'em away to train.
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Post by: BrookM
You need to know what you sell..
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Post by: Miguelsan
BrookM wrote:You need to know what you sell..
With GW sometimes this is hard to believe.
"You play foot guard, surely you need to add a Chimera for your commissar."
M.
19809
Post by: Trevak Dal
BlapBlapBlap wrote:Really?
The GW staff members are there to sell. I doubt that they get training. They can skim through the rulebook in their spare time, but they wouldn't take 'em away to train.
But I thought that they also introduced players to the game and stuff? I've never been in a GW store before so I've only got what I've heard from other people.
When a friend of mine worked at Gamestop, he was told to play every new game that came out...even the crappy ones, so that they could have a good idea of what the game is about so they could better inform the customer.
With so many armies, and the varient army types, it's probably going to take a while for them to re-train people in how it works.
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Post by: Breotan
Managers from all over the USA went to that meeting in Memphis. Given that the manager of the Seattle bunker was supposed to be giving a presentation, I really doubt it was all about 6th Edition. I honestly don't think they even discussed it. Retail staff usually know about releases the same time we do.
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Post by: notprop
BlapBlapBlap wrote:Really?
The GW staff members are there to sell. I doubt that they get training. They can skim through the rulebook in their spare time, but they wouldn't take 'em away to train.
Yeah, this is daft.
The main reason for GW stores to exist is to spread the word and sell. You can do neither if you can't run a demo game or talk about he game.
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Post by: Pacific
An interesting hypothesis, but with a couple of flaws:
- I learned 5th edition in half a game and about 30 minutes. If this was some radical new system with the depths of Infinity I could understand this, but we all know it won't be. The same could be accomplished by giving them the book to take home a couple of days before launch.
- A lot of GW managers are yes-men/sycophants, and indeed I believe one of the requirements these days for the job is that you can roll your eyes up into your head so only the whites are visible, but some are just pretending to be like this to keep their jobs. We would have had a leak by now.
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Post by: Praxiss
last time i checked GW requre their staore staff to have at leasta workign knowledge of all 3 games (40k, Fantasy and LOTR).
Whiel knowledge of expansions (apoc, planetstrike etc) could be left the ther astaff to research themselves, due to there nto being too uch to learn, a whoel new set of rules i can see requireign some actual structured training to get to grips with quickly.
i can see pulling staff out for 6th ed training. I'm surprised they're only starting it now to be honest.
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Post by: ph34r
If GW managers were trained in 6th ed wouldn't we have some sort of leak by now?
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Post by: lord_blackfang
ph34r wrote:If GW managers were trained in 6th ed wouldn't we have some sort of leak by now?
Yes, I believe we would.
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Post by: RandyMcStab
ph34r wrote:If GW managers were trained in 6th ed wouldn't we have some sort of leak by now?
No the chip in the back of their head prevents this.....
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Post by: Therion
With GW sometimes this is hard to believe.
"You play foot guard, surely you need to add a Chimera for your commissar."
M.
The manager of GW Helsinki in Finland who also travels to GW Stockholm in Sweden all the time knows absolutely nothing and I'm sure of it. As a matter of fact I couldn't agree more with you about the fact that GW employees generally don't even know the rules of their games all that well, not to mention what people actually should buy in order to make competitive or even playable armies. As far as rumours go, all they've done for quite some time now is try to explain how cool it is that noone has absolutely no idea what is coming up and what's getting released. The manager keeps telling everyone he doesn't want to know what's coming and always says that 'once' when he had heard about upcoming models his excitement had already died down when the models eventually got released. I'm not kidding, a week ago when I was discussing the releases for this summer I got a sales pitch about how buying random models all the time is fun and that armies should be built when in a heat -- So basically I shouldn't think at all what I'm buying or wait for any units or armies that I actually want, need or like, I should just buy buy buy right now. That's the GW sales method.
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Post by: htj
notprop wrote:BlapBlapBlap wrote:Really?
The GW staff members are there to sell. I doubt that they get training. They can skim through the rulebook in their spare time, but they wouldn't take 'em away to train.
Yeah, this is daft.
The main reason for GW stores to exist is to spread the word and sell. You can do neither if you can't run a demo game or talk about he game.
This was certainly true when I worked in a GW store some years back. You needed to be pretty fluent in the rules of Fantasy and 40K, but your knowledge of the codices was less important. Hence why staff might try to sell you stupid things at time - they're probably just guessing at what fits in your army.
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Post by: Cerebrium
Yeah, you apparently need a working knowledge of the MECHANICS of the game, but don't need to know what's effective at all.
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Post by: spaceelf
Praxiss wrote:last time i checked GW requre their staore staff to have at leasta workign knowledge of all 3 games (40k, Fantasy and LOTR).
This was also my understanding. However, my experience is that GW staff really do not know the core rules. Thus, I do not think that they are trained or tested on the rules.
This being said, I am sure that the staff will get some info about 6th ed. This may consist of how to run a demo game, which should not be confused with a real game. They will also probably be provided with a sheet that outlines the differences between 5th and 6th. However, all such training could happen rather late.
Given that there have been no confirmed leaks from store staff, I suspect that they have not been trained. Store staff turn over constantly. Thus you would expect that their loyalty to the company would not be as high as other employees.
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Post by: Ravenous D
The quarterly manager meeting was eariler this week, last time they got together was when they were trained on the new paints, so not surprised at all if this is true, we are due for a 40k dex release in June. If we get nothing first week of June we know for a fact 6th is coming the first week of July as it has been fortold.
Cerebrium wrote:Yeah, you apparently need a working knowledge of the MECHANICS of the game, but don't need to know what's effective at all.
This is true, as long as you know 1 system and get the just of the rest its fine, you are encouraged to learn all the games while working though.
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Post by: htj
Cerebrium wrote:Yeah, you apparently need a working knowledge of the MECHANICS of the game, but don't need to know what's effective at all.
Why, that's what Dakka's for! If you're trying to sell the dollies, everything is effective. Especially new things. Especially in large numbers.
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Post by: Ravenous D
ph34r wrote:If GW managers were trained in 6th ed wouldn't we have some sort of leak by now?
They make them sign a non disclosure agreement with heavy legal action attached. It was about a week before the solid rumours of the paints started getting posted, so give it time.
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Post by: LazzurusMan
Just think for a second...If the leaked book was more in tune with the actual release than we thought, and the game is changing dramatically, then surely some training will be required?
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Post by: mrwhoop
Nope, no training at all. Otherwise wouldn't there be some discovery of rules that break the game and all other types of shenanigans? I surmise they get the book to read on those two days the stores aren't open and go from there.
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Post by: Lepuke
I call BS on this, its way to early for anyone in retail to be learning 6th edition rules, give it 4 or 5 weeks then maybe.
I also doubt very much training will be required past a read through the rule book and some GW issue store cheat sheets.
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Post by: hellpato
You will know the 6th ed will be here when it will be in the warehouse. For now, no one gave some news about that.
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Post by: deejaybainbridge
GW managers are required to go to training at head office every so often to ensure they are selling items in the correct manner.
This may have included 6th, But more how to sell the book/boxed game not have a read and a test play of the rules.
Chances are they aint seen the book but know how to sell it.
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Post by: oldone
Well regarding that my local GW didn't know how HIS chaos marine landraider had 10 space for people to transports I doubt it but then again it could be just because he's quite terrible.
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Post by: warboss
It's also a few weeks before the annual price "adjustment". In other industries, a major change in both stock availability as well as price warrants a pow-wow between mid-to-low level management.
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Post by: Experiment 626
*IF* 6th edition is coming out in July, (and it's almost a sure thing imho), then the Managers/stores will likely recieve the pocket rulebook come early June.
At least, that's what happened a couple years ago when 8th edition Fantasy was coming out. We got a mini rulebook and we got to play after hours with the new rules to ensure we were familiar enough to start running intros once we got the word from HQ to do so.
HOWEVER!
Saying that, we also got a brand spanking new DNR to sign that quite specifically & clearly pointed out that if we were even suspected of leaking anything regarding the new rules before the reveal date, we would be instantly fired!!! No questions asked, just out the door.
So sure, alot of our regulars figured out we had a new rulebook stashed somewhere in the store and that we had become familiar with the new rules, but we weren't ever going to talk because we'd have rather kept our jobs! I outright told a couple customers who wouldnt take a hint to just 'drop it' and don't ask any more because I wouldn't risk my job for the likes of them!
Keep in mind, the Fantasy release was a cluster  as there were a high number of store employies who got themselves fired by talking about the new rules ahead of time... Hell, one idiot manager actually had the brains to read aloud from the new pocket rulebook while a customer was on the phone with mailorder!
So, while the last rules release went like this, GW might have also decided to change things up because the store staff can not be trusted.
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Post by: tetrisphreak
So far as rumors go we've seen a lot lately stating that actual 6th edition is nothing like the pancake leak. Given the divergence from the playtest that almost everyone saw, perhaps there is some merit to this idea that certain folks have gotten run throughs of the game.
In any case, I'm really hoping that the release is in early July as speculated, so that means i've only got about 6 more weeks of 5th edition to deal with (plus the Feast of Blades tourney).
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Post by: arguemaniac
sharkticon wrote: Now, all we need to know is which manager has the loosest lips, and how fast can we get him a bottle of fine whiskey.
Lol, nice...
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Post by: master of ordinance
Therion wrote:With GW sometimes this is hard to believe.
"You play foot guard, surely you need to add a Chimera for your commissar."
M.
The manager of GW Helsinki in Finland who also travels to GW Stockholm in Sweden all the time knows absolutely nothing and I'm sure of it. As a matter of fact I couldn't agree more with you about the fact that GW employees generally don't even know the rules of their games all that well, not to mention what people actually should buy in order to make competitive or even playable armies. As far as rumours go, all they've done for quite some time now is try to explain how cool it is that noone has absolutely no idea what is coming up and what's getting released. The manager keeps telling everyone he doesn't want to know what's coming and always says that 'once' when he had heard about upcoming models his excitement had already died down when the models eventually got released. I'm not kidding, a week ago when I was discussing the releases for this summer I got a sales pitch about how buying random models all the time is fun and that armies should be built when in a heat -- So basically I shouldn't think at all what I'm buying or wait for any units or armies that I actually want, need or like, I should just buy buy buy right now. That's the GW sales method.
Going OT here but just for a laugh i joked about getting a LemanRuss demolisher on a tab and the manager said sure but it would cost a pound of flesh(he was jokeing to fourtunatley). as it is ill try to get some info from him as to this 6th ed training.
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Post by: pretre
Wait, a thread that is based specifically of knowledge from a GW Manager? Those are always good.
Move to 40k discussion?
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Post by: unmercifulconker
pretre wrote:Wait, a thread that is based specifically of knowledge from a GW Manager? Those are always good.
Move to 40k discussion? 
But, it's a rumor.
I am sure the managers would love to leak the info and risk losing their jobs.
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Post by: pretre
Yeah, it may be a rumor, but it is unlikely to be a true one. In almost every case the 'GW manager told me...' threads turn out to be BS.
Hmm, should I move sharkticon to the Rumor Monger thread?
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Post by: tetrisphreak
This is the part where we need an enterprising GW manager with love for Dakka to make a fake account from a public computer and leak the most generic, non specific 6th ed rumors there are (attacks and saves are made with DICE!) etc. Then we'll know the rumor is true!
Honestly having people other than myself included in a special training session doesn't help me much. Looking forward to 7/7/12 as a release date makes it easier though. How about simply solid confirmation for *that* date?
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Post by: Grot 6
I don't know which is more jackass.
The rumor, or the companies draconian lengths of over the top "security". Only thing missing here is Ward, stroking his cat, and spouting off his evil plan before a helpess GW employee tied up in bondage gear with a ball gag on.
crying out loud, its a game. Why be so "Ohhhh.... its secret. We could show you, but we'd have to kill you" over a miniatures game?
6th edition is probibly more or less going to be crap with this much paranoia. ( they are more interested in keeping customers and players in the dark, then to actually sell games.)
Thanks GW, may I have another
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Post by: htj
pretre wrote:Hmm, should I move sharkticon to the Rumor Monger thread?
I think you know the answer to that one.
Of course!
EDIT: You should put a link to it in your sig. Might help drive data gathering.
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Post by: Alpharius
I'd love to get some good info on 40K 6th - we all know it is coming, but for some reason, GW can't even hint at its existence, never mind share something, build up some excitement, market it...
The only thing I can say for sure is that this thread's bound for 40K General real soon...
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Post by: pretre
I added sharticon to the thread and updated my sig. Good idea, htj!
(Although I turn off sigs when browsing, so I had to turn them on to see what it looked like. lol)
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Post by: unmercifulconker
pretre wrote:Yeah, it may be a rumor, but it is unlikely to be a true one. In almost every case the 'GW manager told me...' threads turn out to be BS.
Hmm, should I move sharkticon to the Rumor Monger thread?
What if sharkticon is already a rumor monger? *shifty eyes*
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Post by: Pacific
unmercifulconker wrote:pretre wrote:Wait, a thread that is based specifically of knowledge from a GW Manager? Those are always good.
Move to 40k discussion? 
But, it's a rumor.
I am sure the managers would love to leak the info and risk losing their jobs. 
It would be incredibly simple to post here anonymously.
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Post by: Ravenous D
Lepuke wrote:I call BS on this, its way to early for anyone in retail to be learning 6th edition rules, give it 4 or 5 weeks then maybe.
I also doubt very much training will be required past a read through the rule book and some GW issue store cheat sheets.
Actually they would bring them down and show them the new system, just like they did with the new paints, during that last managers meeting that had them paint up models and do a Q & A with it, apparently took the entire day. They did it when I worked for the company when War of Ring came out, we had to stay late and learn it weeks before had.
That and we are due for a new codex/release in June/July, the managers got the heads up the paints a month an a half ahead of time, so it is totally viable that they got to play some 6th ed games.
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Post by: clively
For those who don't think ahead:
GW can't let the general public know when an edition change is going to happen.
If they posted on their site "Hey, 6th Edition is coming in July!"
Then sales of certain items would dry up. Why? Well, because managers trying to actually be helpful would inform customers to just wait a month or two to get their hands on the new rules. Incidentally, this is also why they are going to tell those same managers jack and sh*t until the release window is really close.
This would lead to boxes of the starter set AND core rule books to start gathering dust on the shelves.
Quite frankly, if you want to know when GW is about to release an update just watch the main website and stock levels in your local store. When you see that they no longer have the starter set and/or BRB for sale then you know it's less than 30 days.
GW has been consistent with this strategy for quite some time. We saw boxes and rule books from the Necron, DE and other lines go out of production within weeks of the new releases being available.
In short GW wants to move product, and anything sitting in their warehouse or in their stores must be gone before then turn the spigot on for the replacement. Otherwise they will end up with a lot of stuff to simply throw away.
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Post by: Morathi's Darkest Sin
Sorry clively, but thats just bad business. They are more likely to tick folks off. Imagine Mother A's reaction when the lovely set she brought her son three weeks before is no longer any good. GW are pretty much the only hobby related company that does this with their new editions. Everyone else has announced them months before, and then spent time building up anticipation to the release. With such a small market to play with, you need to be screaming out to make sure everyone is listening. Hell look at Zombicide and Kickstarter, that company just raked in a ton of money and none of us are even getting any product for around another three to four months. GW are just plain wrong in this, and in general their sliding sales and closing stores are sadly proof of this. If they honestly can't take the loss of a number of the old 40K sets, when they will be getting a cash injection from a new edition release then they have bigger problems than they are letting on. Hell, they should just rip out the old plastics and sell them loose on their site till its clear. Recycle the old books and be done with it.
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Post by: Alpharius
clively wrote:For those who don't think ahead:
/quote]
Careful there Clive...
Anyway, there are two sides to that particular argument, and quite frankly, GW sucks at marketing their own product.
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Post by: reps0l
pretre wrote:I added sharticon to the thread and updated my sig. Good idea, htj!
(Although I turn off sigs when browsing, so I had to turn them on to see what it looked like. lol)
That accuracy list is pretty cool. I always wondered if someone was keeping tabs on everything. Thanks.
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Post by: pretre
@reps0l: No prob.
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Post by: Hulksmash
@MDS
People over the legal driving age aren't the key demographic for GW. I think there is sometimes some confusion on this. GW is out to sell all the start stuff together to as many people as possible. Why? Because they can reasonably expect that with the attention span kids have there won't be another purchase.
Let's put it this way, when I worked there 8 years ago the goal was to sell 5 starters per employee per week (generally 4-5 employees per store). That equated to 25ish starters you'd be tryig to push. Want to know the average number of that 25 that ever came back in the store even with all the programs to help them along with getting started? Less than 10% (1-2 people), 20% during the holidays. That's why GW is set up the way it is and why they don't reveal when things are coming out. The consistant purchasers would hold off on things (reasonably so) and it would heavily impact the 90% of their sales that are one offs.
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Post by: Ravenous D
Hulksmash is right, a new recruit will likely spend over $1000 in the first year where as vets are likely to spend $300.
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Post by: Nvs
Do you think they'll sell the old edition starter sets at a discount once the new edition comes out? Or they just up and disappear one day likely to be thrown out at HQ?
Want to get the models but don't want to pay full price for them since I'll never actually play with them. Only paint.
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Post by: Lockark
Pacific wrote:An interesting hypothesis, but with a couple of flaws:
- I learned 5th edition in half a game and about 30 minutes. If this was some radical new system with the depths of Infinity I could understand this, but we all know it won't be. The same could be accomplished by giving them the book to take home a couple of days before launch.
- A lot of GW managers are yes-men/sycophants, and indeed I believe one of the requirements these days for the job is that you can roll your eyes up into your head so only the whites are visible, but some are just pretending to be like this to keep their jobs. We would have had a leak by now.
Considering how many people in my area would accidental combine 5th ed and 4th ed together in my area? Some people have a hard time completely forgetting the old rules to relearn the new edition.
Still seems odd all the same.
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Post by: htj
Nvs wrote:Do you think they'll sell the old edition starter sets at a discount once the new edition comes out?
No. But you never know, we could be lucky this time.
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Post by: Agamemnon2
Therion wrote: Sweden all the time knows absolutely nothing and I'm sure of it. As a matter of fact I couldn't agree more with you about the fact that GW employees generally don't even know the rules of their games all that well, not to mention what people actually should buy in order to make competitive or even playable armies. As far as rumours go, all they've done for quite some time now is try to explain how cool it is that noone has absolutely no idea what is coming up and what's getting released. The manager keeps telling everyone he doesn't want to know what's coming and always says that 'once' when he had heard about upcoming models his excitement had already died down when the models eventually got released. I'm not kidding, a week ago when I was discussing the releases for this summer I got a sales pitch about how buying random models all the time is fun and that armies should be built when in a heat -- So basically I shouldn't think at all what I'm buying or wait for any units or armies that I actually want, need or like, I should just buy buy buy right now. That's the GW sales method.
The GW Helsinki guy also constantly and consistently makes crap up to make internet forums look like a bunch of losers, exaggerating the amount of BS and uncertainty. He's pretty much a complete douchebag.
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Post by: Lockark
htj wrote:Nvs wrote:Do you think they'll sell the old edition starter sets at a discount once the new edition comes out?
No. But you never know, we could be lucky this time.
I was at the GW Montreal store at the time of 5th ed release. The old starter sets were knocked down in price, and were doing another specail offer. If you brought your 4th ed rule book to show them, you got a discount on the 5th ed book.
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Post by: htj
Lockark wrote:htj wrote:Nvs wrote:Do you think they'll sell the old edition starter sets at a discount once the new edition comes out?
No. But you never know, we could be lucky this time.
I was at the GW Montreal store at the time of 5th ed release. The old starter sets were knocked down in price, and were doing another specail offer. If you brought your 4th ed rule book to show them, you got a discount on the 5th ed book.
Nice! They didn't do anything like that at my local store, unless I missed it.
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Post by: Ravenous D
Lockark wrote:Pacific wrote:An interesting hypothesis, but with a couple of flaws:
- I learned 5th edition in half a game and about 30 minutes. If this was some radical new system with the depths of Infinity I could understand this, but we all know it won't be. The same could be accomplished by giving them the book to take home a couple of days before launch.
- A lot of GW managers are yes-men/sycophants, and indeed I believe one of the requirements these days for the job is that you can roll your eyes up into your head so only the whites are visible, but some are just pretending to be like this to keep their jobs. We would have had a leak by now.
Considering how many people in my area would accidental combine 5th ed and 4th ed together in my area? Some people have a hard time completely forgetting the old rules to relearn the new edition.
Still seems odd all the same.
I still see people using 3rd ed rules...
More often then not people that combine the rules dont own a rulebook and just "get by" on what their friends have taught them.
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Post by: Morathi's Darkest Sin
@Hulksmash - Then I am genuinely surprised that they are still afloat, because that seems crazy to me, on that basis the game is an illusion to drive Box sales. Also what happens if the box is considered too expensive by average mother/father, when its cheaper to buy a console game for example, and those sales drop off. If thats right it sounds like the company crashes and burns in a number of months? Seems a crazy way to continue your future, also declining sales, closing stores, cost cuting to cover up those declining sales seems to say to me that its starting to get to that tipping point now. Whats GW's plan if that avenue begins to dry up? I just really struggle to believe that the figure is anywhere near 90% of their turnover, I do honestly think veterans spend more than GW gives them credit for, and have done for a long time.
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Post by: clively
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:Sorry clively, but thats just bad business.
Depends on your point of view.
If I have $500k worth of stock sitting in a warehouse ready to be shipped then you can bet that I'll wait until that stock is depleted before artificially devaluing it by releasing something that causes me to throw it away. All companies with any fiscal sense do this. To do otherwise would mean that your release starts off $500k in the hole, and your company valuation drops.
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:They are more likely to tick folks off. Imagine Mother A's reaction when the lovely set she brought her son three weeks before is no longer any good.
The vast majority of the sales of the starter sets are one time deals. Mom/Dad buys the set, kids have enough models to work on it for awhile to play at home. It is usually a few months before they notice. For the ones that do, that's what the BRB is for...
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:GW are pretty much the only hobby related company that does this with their new editions. Everyone else has announced them months before, and then spend time building up anticipation to the release. With such a small market to play with, you need to be screaming out to make sure everyone is listening.
Hell look at Zombicide and Kickstarter, that company just raked in a ton of money and none of us are even getting any product for around another three to four months.
There's a reason here. First off, GW is a very established company with a sales pipeline. The companies you mentioned: Zombicide and Kickstarter are new on the block and don't have large amounts of cash tied up in existing stock. Therefore, doing a promotion months before the actual release makes sense, they need that preorder influx of capital in order to mass produce the product. Also, they don't have stores where a manager is going to tell that poor mom: don't buy now, wait a month..
Whereas for GW to start promoting a new release while still trying to sell the existing one, is a bad move. Long time gamers and new ones both will hold off on purchases. This has an immediate negative impact to the bottom line which is difficult to make up in the short term on sales of a new system.
I can absolutely guarantee that the day Zombicide has a decent amount of money tied up in warehouse stock is the day they hold off on a future release announcement.
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:GW are just plain wrong in this, and in general their sliding sales and closing stores are sadly proof of this. If they honestly can't take the loss of a number of the old 40K sets, when they will be getting a cash injection from a new edition release then they have bigger problems than they are letting on.
Hell, they should just rip out the old plastics and sell them loose on their site till its clear. Recycle the old books and be done with it.
Their sliding sales is a direct result of other issues. 40k is priced as a premium product with only an average execution. First off, the pricing has put it out of range of a fair number of potential customers. This is okay as long as their execution in other areas is exemplary.
However, as we know, it hasn't been. The move to finecast has had serious on going quality issues that cost the company in terms of prestige amongst the hobbyists. Further a combination of a premium price and contradictory core rules has opened the door for a large number of competitors.
Getting back OT, these new competitors don't have the same financial restrictions GW has. To sum up, their size and longevity in the industry is exactly why they can't leak radical changes to the gaming system.
------------
Now, if I was running GW this is what I'd do. Number one, tighten up the core rules. They should be dead simple and well tested. Updates to the core should be rare. I might even consider releasing the core as a freebie download from the website.
Second, I'd restructure the army books such that they could build upon the core rules with new combinations while not conflicting with the core. This makes individual ownership of a larger number of army books much more important. In other words, the ONLY thing that should be in the core are those rules that EVERY single army must abide by. IE: troops move 6", roll 2D6 for moving through difficult terrain... Any "special" rules should be army specific. For example, drop skilled rider, FNP, etc from the core. This would actually give the army designers more freedom in how they work.
Third, I'd drop "finecast" as a material. I understand that for $20+/figure you need to have something that is low cost to product but still different enough from the normal plastic to try and justify the price. So, I'd switch to perhaps a different type of plastic (ABS?) or something that is more durable and easier to produce. Resin and the like requires too much QA.
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Post by: Morathi's Darkest Sin
I'm more thinking about other Hobby companies like Wizards and D&D, can't imagine them surprising 5th edition on folks out of the blue. Although RPGs have been in a decline for a number of years now so maybe thats an unfair comparrison. I got a weird feeling someone said years back console/ PC gaming would be the death of Tabletop games. Maybe thats a little overly dramatic, but I am starting to wonder if they will cause lasting damage to the bigger companies that have based themselves on this in and out trade. If I remember rightly most D&D folks only pick up a handful of books, so there is some merit to the connection to GW. Regarding the rules set being taught to staff, seems a good idea from a company standpoint, so I'd say its a possible rumour. What we need is a staff member about to chuck it in for a new job give a final act of defiance.
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Post by: clively
Just so you know, I'm not saying GW's marketing isn't full of holes. Just simply that we'll know exactly when that next release is coming based on existing product stock levels.
Regarding Wizards, and D&D specifically, I think they've hit on the exact right marketing model. ( http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/09/wizards-of-the-coasts-announces-new-edition-of-dungeons-and-dragons/)
If you read that, you'll notice there isn't an expected release date for the next version. However, the thing that does come across is that there is going to be another release AND it will be based on player feedback.
GW would go a long ways towards reinvigorating the community by following that model.
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Post by: Bloodwin
There's training and 'training'. It could be that rather than send out rules books they send out an update to staff on what's changing. I doubt the phases are changing or the assault /wounds charts so it won't take anything new to teach new players. The rest is frills.
As for GW marketing, they don't need to tell anyone that 6th is coming because we all know it. Its not stopping people buying the new Necrons or Tyranids. Also I expect the same treatment as Fantasy 8th as in we get the big book first then the box later. During which time people may buy up the current starter set at a discount or whatever.
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Post by: Morathi's Darkest Sin
clively wrote:Just so you know, I'm not saying GW's marketing isn't full of holes. Just simply that we'll know exactly when that next release is coming based on existing product stock levels.
Regarding Wizards, and D&D specifically, I think they've hit on the exact right marketing model. ( http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/09/wizards-of-the-coasts-announces-new-edition-of-dungeons-and-dragons/)
If you read that, you'll notice there isn't an expected release date for the next version. However, the thing that does come across is that there is going to be another release AND it will be based on player feedback.
GW would go a long ways towards reinvigorating the community by following that model.
Aye, I'd agree with that.
On a side note, I'm not try to be antagonistic, its a honest.. what the feth reaction from me on this. It doesn't seem to make any sense in my mind.
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Post by: lord_blackfang
More likely, if this seminar happened at all, the managers were instructed in how to peddle the current rulebook until the evening before 6th hits.
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Post by: Kirasu
Now. .if only they could figure out how to get people to buy Mandrakes and Pyrovores they would be all-star salesmen
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Post by: Skarboy
All of this wastefulness and secrecy can be directly tied to GW's ridiculous policies of: a) rewriting the rules drastically between editions (thus invalidating many models/builds in order to drive others); and b) wildly swinging the power of units between codices (again, to drive sales to underperformers and new kits while devaluing the previously good stuff that has already sold sufficiently well). GW would rather ride the pendulum swings back and forth rather than banking on consistent, steady sales of all units. Why? Because they don't care about the game at all; it's just a mechanism to drive sales of the models. Sadly for them, the days of being a prisoner to their sales are coming to an end with widespread resin casting, 3D printing, and quality third-party manufacturers. GW doesn't support tournaments anymore, so there's official no reason to buy their product unless you want to. You want a dumb move? There's one for you.
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Post by: notprop
lord_blackfang wrote:More likely, if this seminar happened at all, the managers were instructed in how to peddle the current rulebook until the evening before 6th hits.
Curiously enough I went in an indy store on Monday and all of the AoBR boxes had been removed from the shelves.
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Post by: Ravenous D
lord_blackfang wrote:More likely, if this seminar happened at all, the managers were instructed in how to peddle the current rulebook until the evening before 6th hits.
The manager meeting did happen this week, the content of the meeting is yet to be known. Next meeting is in August so it is likely they got the word on 6th.
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Post by: Alpharius
Interesting news there!
So, if something comes out of this, I'm sure we'll hear shortly.
Until then, off we go!
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Post by: mayfist
Gw doesn't suck at marketing. Proof is we are buying over priced plastic crack.
And as for video games, far from being the death of GW actualy helped them from what i gathered.
Parents when given the choince to buy models or a video game will often opt for the models, because its actualy constructive, and gets there child off the screen for a while.
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Post by: reps0l
mayfist wrote:Parents when given the choince to buy models or a video game will often opt for the models, because its actualy constructive, and gets there child off the screen for a while.
I'll disagree. $60 for Call of Duty goes a lot farther than $60 on models.
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Post by: pretre
He's not saying it goes farther; he's saying that it gets kids away from the TV and has them 'creating' something. I would much rather have my kid build something than play a video game.
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Post by: reps0l
Fair enough point, but for some bang for the buck is a factor. I wasn't able to convince my parents to buy into the GW hobby.
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Post by: DarknessEternal
reps0l wrote:mayfist wrote:Parents when given the choince to buy models or a video game will often opt for the models, because its actualy constructive, and gets there child off the screen for a while.
I'll disagree. $60 for Call of Duty goes a lot farther than $60 on models.
Not really. Models last a lifetime.
This hobby is vastly cheaper than video games in the dollar per unit time of enjoyment ratio.
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Post by: DarkDrgon
Agreed with above, when I first tried to get into the game, I had to fight tooth and nail for the Macragge set, and that was back when it was roughly $50 online. Now, with a $100 starter set, that if you do get really interested in the game you need at least another 2-300, more if you don't like the starter armies, I don't see many parents going for it.
imho, the best market to go for in tabletop gaming is the High School crowd. They are old enough to keep a steady job, but young enough that they don't need to worry about blowing the cash on models
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Post by: Morathi's Darkest Sin
Aye, we know the models could last a lifetime and its a great alterntive to videogames, but many of the parents I know its just something else that will get played with for a bit and then forgotten, or busted for what is a very high entry cost. I also find it telling that on my handful of journeys into my local GW in the past few years, twice I have been there I've seen parents come in with their kids, the kids saying wow cool.. the parent looks at the price tag and then ushers the kiddie away. Maybe thats dumb luck on my part for being there twice, but I'm guessing that happens more than the couple of times I've seen it.
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Post by: don_mondo
dajobe wrote:yeah, the guy keeps talking about it on Facebook. He has been down there like 3 times in the last month, it actually seems feasible that they are doing this.
Be a first time for it. 3rd, 4th, 5th, nothing like that happened. Best staff or Outriders ever got was a pre-release copy (mostly to have it painted and ready for demos) and if there happened to be a Games Day pre-release, maybe a discussion of it there.
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Post by: CthuluIsSpy
reps0l wrote:mayfist wrote:Parents when given the choince to buy models or a video game will often opt for the models, because its actualy constructive, and gets there child off the screen for a while.
I'll disagree. $60 for Call of Duty goes a lot farther than $60 on models. Wrong. -Models last forever. CoD becomes obsolete as soon as the next installment comes out. -You can create something with the models. - CoD is crap. I'd rather have $60 worth of models, than a boring $60 military shooter that becomes useless as soon as the servers are abandoned.
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Post by: Pacific
A certain phrase springs to mind, something to do with apples and oranges?
The 'I can do this much for x amount of money' thing has been done to death, and is ultimately useless in working out whether something or not is worth the money. Really I think the only comparisons worth making are to those which provide a similar function or are within the same industry - so, £50 or however much spent on miniatures, paints, board games or whatever other 'creative' exercises which can exercise various parts of your grey matter.
Gw doesn't suck at marketing. Proof is we are buying over priced plastic crack.
You could argue that they would make that much more if they actually did some marketing? In fact, the basis of the entire global market-based economy would confirm that this would be the case. The releases of various computer games, even the Ultramarines movie, represented a massive failure of marketing opportunities that, had they been submitted by a 1st year business student, would have resulted in an F grade and an admonishment by the tutor . Every single copy of Space Marine should have contained some kind of promotional material - a free painting workshop, even a free mini, to try and connect buyers back to the store by using the strong product identity. That took me 10 seconds of thought, I'm sure if they spent even a quarter the amount of time on actually trying to pull in fresh blood as their legal department does crushing guys who make 3rd party parts from their garage then they could come up with some even better ideas!
Rick Priestly said that the company simply doesn't recognise that it has any competitors within the marketplace. Not to be a pessimist/doom sayer, but the parallels to the British car industry (before it nose-dived towards oblivion) are alarming.
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Post by: Praxiss
Just out of curiosity, who actually write the rule book? is it assigned to a single person liek a new codex? is there a separate team entirely that does it? Or do all the game designers/codex writers have input on it?
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Post by: Omegus
Probably Ward.
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Post by: Praxiss
Oh dear......
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Post by: htj
Praxiss wrote:Oh dear......
Hey, you never know. It could be part of a master plan that will suddenly balance things out.
Also, I could win the lottery. I don't play, but hey, stranger things have happened at sea.
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Post by: cheapbuster
ph34r wrote:If GW managers were trained in 6th ed wouldn't we have some sort of leak by now?
They must have some great pulmbers working for GW!
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Post by: Hlaine Larkin mk2
Praxiss wrote:Just out of curiosity, who actually write the rule book? is it assigned to a single person liek a new codex? is there a separate team entirely that does it? Or do all the game designers/codex writers have input on it?
generally its several writers that do the core rules.......
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Post by: Ravenous D
Omegus wrote:Probably Ward.
He wrote 5th, so wouldnt be surprised since he is the lead writer.
Gav thrope a few years back gave everyone some insight on GWs process, a rulebook takes about 6 months from start to printer, a codex takes 3 months and rules are dictated by models which start upwards of 2 years before release.
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Post by: pretre
Ravenous D wrote:Omegus wrote:Probably Ward.
He wrote 5th, so wouldnt be surprised since he is the lead writer.
Umm, the 5th Edition rulebook disagrees:
Main Rulebook, P304 wrote:Written by: Alessio Cavatore (main rules), Mat Ward, Andy Hoare, Graham Davey, Phil Kelly, Gav Thorpe, Adam Troke, Robin Cruddace, Jervis Johnson, Jeremy Vetock.
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Post by: Ravenous D
pretre wrote:Ravenous D wrote:Omegus wrote:Probably Ward.
He wrote 5th, so wouldnt be surprised since he is the lead writer.
Umm, the 5th Edition rulebook disagrees:
Main Rulebook, P304 wrote:Written by: Alessio Cavatore (main rules), Mat Ward, Andy Hoare, Graham Davey, Phil Kelly, Gav Thorpe, Adam Troke, Robin Cruddace, Jervis Johnson, Jeremy Vetock.
Madness and hearsay, its clearly all Mat Wards doing.
My mistake, I could have sworn up and down his name was right in the front cover.
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Post by: pretre
Ravenous D wrote:Madness and hearsay, its clearly all Mat Wards doing.
My mistake, I could have sworn up and down his name was right in the front cover.
As with most complaints about Ward, it is based on an incomplete picture of the facts.
It's okay though, we still like you Rav D.
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Post by: kronk
"GW managers have been trained in 6th edition 40k"
No, they haven't.
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Post by: Joey
The notion that the core rules would be affected by one person, even if he is OMGEVUL, is laughable. Every single individual rule will have the input and discussion of dozens of people behind it.
It's also pretty common knowledge that Ward co-wrote core 5th rules. He also wrote the Necron codex, which, afaik, is regarded as pretty fair and balanced gameplay wise.
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Post by: pretre
kronk wrote:"GW managers have been trained in 6th edition 40k"
No, they haven't.
Oh well, should have just asked kronk a couple pages ago.
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Post by: kronk
pretre wrote:kronk wrote:"GW managers have been trained in 6th edition 40k"
No, they haven't.
Oh well, should have just asked kronk a couple pages ago. 
When in doubt, ask Kronk. He'll set you straight. Whata guy, that Kronk!
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Post by: Lobokai
All this talk about GW stinking at marketing may be true. But their stock (stock market, not warehouse stock  )is doing quite well if you look back at the last 12 months... and its paid 9% dividends. It also saw large amounts of trade volume towards the end of the year and people are generally holding on to their growing stock now (all good things from a company point of view). Clearly business people/investors seem to think GAW is doing things right. Maybe we're too close to see the forest for the trees?
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Post by: htj
Lobukia wrote:All this talk about GW stinking at marketing may be true. But their stock (stock market, not warehouse stock  )is doing quite well if you look back at the last 12 months... and its paid 9% dividends. It also saw large amounts of trade volume towards the end of the year and people are generally holding on to their growing stock now (all good things from a company point of view). Clearly business people/investors seem to think GAW is doing things right. Maybe we're too close to see the forest for the trees?
I think it's more that, despite their marketing methods for upcoming releases, they produce some really nice stuff and have a powerful high-street presence (in the UK at least) and dedicated fanbase that spreads uptake of their games. They're definitely doing something right, but the pre-release marketing isn't it, IMO.
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Post by: reps0l
Brand loyalty comes to mind. A GW consumer is usually a consumer for years to come, right?
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Post by: d-usa
reps0l wrote:Brand loyalty comes to mind. A GW consumer is usually a consumer for years to come, right?
Despite of all the talks of people quitting the game since I joined Dakka, the same people are still here talking about quitting the game.
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Post by: Ravenous D
d-usa wrote:reps0l wrote:Brand loyalty comes to mind. A GW consumer is usually a consumer for years to come, right?
Despite of all the talks of people quitting the game since I joined Dakka, the same people are still here talking about quitting the game.
Gamers dont quit, they just fade away.
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Post by: htj
Ravenous D wrote:d-usa wrote:reps0l wrote:Brand loyalty comes to mind. A GW consumer is usually a consumer for years to come, right?
Despite of all the talks of people quitting the game since I joined Dakka, the same people are still here talking about quitting the game.
Gamers dont quit, they just fade away. 
And often relapse.
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Post by: Lobokai
Gamers dont quit, they just fade away. 
And often relapse.
That's me... spent $ and time on RT and 2nd edition 40k... time and interests took me other places for most of 3e and almost all of 4e: now I'm in with both feet for 5e and soon 6e 40k.
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Post by: chromedog
I spent $$ on RT and 3rd edition.
I've spent bugger-all since.
Maybe $300 (AUD) retail on GW since 4th ed.
I haven't bought anything from GW since last April and don't intend to. 6th ed can wait. I was still playing RT in 1994 (2nd ed came out in 1992) before I stopped playing for 3-4 years.
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Post by: Kirasu
Honestly I wasn't even aware store managers were trained in 5th edition.. Knowing the rules of any addition would probably be a new thing
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Post by: Tauzor
Its Matt Ward.. not mat...and its not called 6th edition
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Post by: Rogues Gambit
Tauzor wrote:Its Matt Ward.. not mat...and its not called 6th edition 
yes yes, we know, you mention it alot...but for the sake of discussion and so that everyone is on the same page we will just call it by the code name 6th ed ... you know, till it comes out so we don't all go crazy from trying to figure out whats going on.
unless of course you have a name for us to call it by? perhaps.. rogue trader ultimate? i dunno?
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Post by: Bluewulf
Core rule book is of GW site USA.
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Post by: tetrisphreak
Is 40K going to have a new name for the 6th ed rules? What purpose does that serve? Unless it's just some joke that it's Warhammer Fantasy Space Mans Game...in which case, people need to stop trolling the thread.
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Post by: Daemonhammer
Miguelsan wrote:"You play foot guard, surely you need to add a Chimera for your commissar."
M.
I know i dont play IG but attaching a transport to a foot regiment seems reasonable IMO.
The manager was propably trying to sell you something usefull not just trying to take your money.
I dont think we should expect them to know all codecies for every army.
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Post by: Ravenous D
Bit of an update kids. GW managers now meet 6 times a year instead of 4. They all shipped out yesterday to memphis, so if they were told about 6th last time Im sure its coming this time.
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Post by: Nictolopy
Skarboy wrote:All of this wastefulness and secrecy can be directly tied to GW's ridiculous policies of: a) rewriting the rules drastically between editions (thus invalidating many models/builds in order to drive others); and b) wildly swinging the power of units between codices (again, to drive sales to underperformers and new kits while devaluing the previously good stuff that has already sold sufficiently well). GW would rather ride the pendulum swings back and forth rather than banking on consistent, steady sales of all units. Why? Because they don't care about the game at all; it's just a mechanism to drive sales of the models. Sadly for them, the days of being a prisoner to their sales are coming to an end with widespread resin casting, 3D printing, and quality third-party manufacturers. GW doesn't support tournaments anymore, so there's official no reason to buy their product unless you want to. You want a dumb move? There's one for you.
You know, I always wondered why their main goal with each new codex wasn't to try to make every unit good in some way. Sure, they would not all be good in the same way, but to make every unit viable in a certain kind of build would help a lot. There are some units that no one really uses because they are just bad. GW could do a lot better by either making the unit better with improved stats or abilities or by lowering the point cost until it become reasonable for the points sunk in on it. I really feel that the game designers do not consider all of this when they write the codicies. They could do a lot better writing good rules for every model they make so we buy more than just a few of them per army.
A lot easier said than done, I know, but I really feel that they just don't think about the meta of the game when they design some of the units. Not everyone is TFG that only uses the "best" units, but if a unit is just bad, or at least not as good as a similar unit, (think Flash Gitz vs Lootas as an example,) even a noob will probably eventually hear/read about it or figure it out on their own and avoid those units.
Just saying. If they are doing this just on a business perspective they'd focus a lot more on having fewer unused models.
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Post by: Veteran Sergeant
lord_blackfang wrote:If store managers were trained in it, we would know everything by now.
Fairly sure they all have to sign NDAs, and in this economy, it's probably not a good idea to risk losing your job just to be the first person to break the story to the forums, lol.
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Post by: Wolfnid420
There won't be that big a leak if the only people that know the rules are gw managers. How much you wanna bet they actually enjoy their jobs and don't wanna risk it lol
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Post by: pretre
Wolfnid420 wrote: How much you wanna bet they actually enjoy their jobs and don't wanna risk it lol
You must be talking about a different group than GW managers...
There's a history of GW managers doing stupid crap and getting fired, this wouldn't be the first time.
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Post by: Macok
Besides, this is the internet. If you know what you are doing it is kind of easy to hide your identity.
If all GW managers or employees have access to rules at least one would be willing to and know how to get information to the community unnoticed.
Unless GW is Satan-incarnate and is giving each and every one a bit altered rules so they would know. But that's just silly, right? Right?
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Post by: pretre
@Macok: That's pretty standard practice in this kind of situation.
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Post by: DarbNilbirts
That's what I believe all the crazy and/or obviously wrong typos in the pancake play test was (if that was the case), so they could tell who leaked it and fire them.
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Post by: dajobe
GW site just posted the sixth edition teaser video which says it will come out on June 23rd
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