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ShumaGorath wrote:
I never would have started the hobby at it's current prices. I didn't come from a wealthy family. Magic the gathering was a far cheaper alternative (and indeed I dropped 40k and played that for years).

I have done the same thing myself. I balked at the prices then when a box of 16 Eldar Guardians was $25 and a Vyper was $20. If prices were then as they are now I would have laughed in the face of anyone trying to get me to play. This very thing happens whenever I see someone try to convince another to get into the game.

I see the complainers of high GW prices being the same ones who will complain about their favorite bar raising the price of their favorite ale or stout by 10% every 6 months but every Friday and Saturday they are going out with friends and buying 6 or more steins/mugs/pitchers/whatevers anyway.

I understand the value of money but it doesn't prevent me from buying minis for the game I love. My bar charges ridiculous money for drinks but I still go out on occasion and knock back a few.

If you value something highly enough you'll buy it. If you don't find the value of GW stuff to be worth the money than you won't but as long as SOMEBODY finds the value of GW miniatures to be worth the expense than GW will keep raising prices. The local bars around here charge $4 for a shot of Jagermeister (sp?) which is about .50 cents worth of alcohol. It's value is not worth $4 IMO but on occasion I'll knock back 2 or 3 because the ability to hang out with friends and have a good time overrides any monetary value that can be put on that booze (unless the bars start charging $20/shot than I'd stop buying of course).

40K lets me get together with friends and game. The armies I play mostly don't have models that look as good or that I've even see anything close for (Tyranids and Daemons) or cost just as much as GW. The fact I might pay $600 for a 2500pt army from GW (and most my purchases come from The Warstore) is overridden by the fact that I'm having fun every weekend doing something that gets me away from the stress of life and work.

I don't regret spending enough money on paintball over the course of 10 years to have bought a brand new car as the time I was able to have with friends far outweighs that of any monetary price (its really easy to spend $200-300 per month on paintball).

So I guess if you don't find the value of GW to be worth it don't spend; those of us that find the value still worth the cost will continue to buy. I have found no good alternatives for GW minis that I like the look of for the armies I play so I have 2 choices, pay the price or quit and right now the latter option isn't even an option.

I see the complainers of high GW prices being the same ones who will complain about their favorite bar raising the price of their favorite ale or stout by 10% every 6 months but every Friday and Saturday they are going out with friends and buying 6 or more steins/mugs/pitchers/whatevers anyway.

The attack bike I bought last week was the first thing I had purchased in over a year.

If you value something highly enough you'll buy it.

Thats fundamental, the question is when alternative sources become preferable (most of my space marine army came from three black reach boxes) or when customers stop buying entirely.

If you don't find the value of GW stuff to be worth the money than you won't but as long as SOMEBODY finds the value of GW miniatures to be worth the expense than GW will keep raising prices.

Thats not a particularly viable strategy and runs counter to the concept of supply demand. They have a significant supply, and they continued to raise prices through falling demand. Now that demand has risen again they are continuing to raise prices. There is a ceiling, and when reached they will begin to vent customers in a way that is no longer profitable.

40K lets me get together with friends and game.

So does a Wii. It requires less money, less involvement, and less effort. It can also tell you the weather. There are plenty of alternatives, a luxury items success is intrinsically tied to its dollar value.

So I guess if you don't find the value of GW to be worth it don't spend; those of us that find the value still worth the cost will continue to buy.

Telling people to just live with it doesn't particularly gel with the idea that those same people are being priced out of a passtime that they enjoy for spurious economic reasons. People tend to react with consternation and anger when something out of their control is changed in a way that they do not appreciate.

There are always ways to afford to buy stuff Shuma. Everyone has their own limits on when that point is reached.

I agree it may not be the best thing to do to raise prices 2-3 times a year but if it gets beyond your budget you have a choice. GW is not holding a gun to your head and making you buy their stuff, you said it as much yourself that there are alternatives.

WM is cheaper to get into but my group is not willing to invest in another system. Maybe if I personally expend money to buy a few WM factions of like 500 points they'd give it a try but if they don't like the game I've wasted money on something that I'll never play.

Again, there are ways to afford something if you want it. WDP is not losing players that buy their Angel paintball guns (and those are $1,000 guns easily unless you are a dealer or know a dealer who will give you an awesome discount) because of cheaper alternatives. Sure there are alternatives to an Angel that are close to being as good but WDP still has enough die-hard Angel buyers that they don't care if their closest competitor has a similar gun for $300 less as they know people will still buy their guns.

I can tell you my spending has slowed down quite a bit (and after playing paintball it's not due to GW prices) due to having less disposable income than I did 3 years ago. If I had the same disposable income I'd still be buying as much as I did. It would get me less stuff but I'd still be spending in the neighborhood of $100+ per month if I could afford it.

ShumaGorath wrote:
Telling people to just live with it doesn't particularly gel with the idea that those same people are being priced out of a passtime that they enjoy for spurious economic reasons. People tend to react with consternation and anger when something out of their control is changed in a way that they do not appreciate.

And that's pretty much it in a nutshell.

See, I might rail about GW for it's practises on pricing and attitude to fanbase, but I'm on dakka because I freaking love orks smoking cigars and using flamers on hapless tyranids, I am fascinated by the mutations rewarded on a fallen Brettonian knight who sells his soul in service to Tzeentch, or looking over the various province and city regimental colours for the armies of the Empire or planning a lost and damned renegade Imperial Guard army.

When I'm arguing with Grotsnik or anyone else who's strongly defending GW, I am arguing with another gamer. I am reacting with consternation and anger because I am now looking at the miniatures and saying 'Feth, that's so cool, but the company that makes it keeps acting like a jackass and then demanding a small fortune for it when I can see a product made with exactly the same technology being made for a fraction of the cost...'

We rail against the way we see GW behaving because we enjoy the hobby, the game with our mates, and we'd like to play it. The 'well if you don't like the price or the attitude, ship out' answer does not wash, I game with my mates, I will not be denied that by the selfish attitude of the company, we will find ways around it.

"Well go play another game then!" Sure, why not, after all I'm only 33 and have only invested time and passion to this game since I was 11... My friend with an army of ultramarines stretching across an entire wall will no doubt leap for joy at the prospect of never using those minis again and joining me starting up another game.

I have invested in this game for a considerable time, if the company that produces it acts in a way I don't like, I fethingwell have the right to growl about it and you have an equal right to put me on ignore.

Personal freedoms are there to be employed.

I talked about this before, but it always seems to come up.

What if GW moved to the magic the gathering model? THat is, every new edition your cards are obsolete and you need to buy new ones. Maybe then, they could lower prices.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of sales come from new players, not veterans, so GW has responded as such.
That's largely because the majority of vets don't buy that much more once they have an army or two. Yes, there are exceptions, I know, but it's just the way the bean counters see things.

For people saying that the prices drive new players away, well, honestly GW isn't very interested in new players that don't spend. Your average beginner spends ~$500 when he starts the hobby buying all his stuff, and GW doesn't see catering to the one box a month customer as viable.

As a thought, if you already have GW stuff and all prices were 50% off, would you buy double what you're currently buying? What about next year? The year after?

If GW lowered the prices on terminator boxes 50%, they would get more sales...for a month. Then they would go back to being about the same because the market is glutted. Because stuff doesn't become obsolete the market always eventually becomes glutted. Hence to them it makes more sense to start with a higher price, sell slower, but in the long run make more money.

If you're gonna argue it, YOU need to convince GW that lowering prices is the right thing. THat lowering prices actually would generate more revenue. Any other talk doesn't accomplish very much because it's viewed from an individual perspective. Unless you can effectively show GW that doing the reverse would make them more money.

As an aside, GW hires finance people that have nothing to do with the hobby. They don't play the game, they don't work in the store, they don't know anythng about it. All they see is numbers, numbers, numbers...that's why some of the decisions are head scratching. Argue from their perspective, not a gamer one.

I like the way people say "If you like it enough, you will buy it"

TBH, i dont agree with this.
I wanted 2 units of 5 bloodcrushers.
But now they are hitting the £18 mark each, i dont see why i should waste the money.
Also, to stop people making them cheaper, the jugger characters are now upped in price aswell.

Why dont they make juggers available in the mounts section to buy on thier own?

Actually, if you want to save money, I'm a big advocate of scratch built. Do it yourself, perfectly tourney legal and usually a fraction of the cost.

If you want to stick it to the man, that's how you do it. "I enjoy the hobby AND I don't buy from you! In your face GW!"

Lol, the things you learn as a GW employee.

Scratch-building entire armies is not cheap, nor is it easy. I would love to see more of them though.

On an aside, going into a GW store (which I simply won't do, I am not going to help them advertise) limits what you can do with your armies. GW wants you to buy their stuff, and if you are interested in competitions, scratch built armies can basically lock you out of doing so. GW does not want you to win tournaments with models that do not advertise their brand.

Wargaming does not = GW, besides the fact that many people like to pretend it does. The fact that both paintballing, and wargaming are hobbies to most, means absolutely nothing; there are literally no real similarities between the two. Nor is there any similarities between golfing and paintballing. They are all activities, and in no way do they actually line up to each other.

Nobody is saying they are Wrex but to some they are a hobby; to some it's all about competition.

GW games were not meant to be competitive to the level of tournaments. They are competitive in that you play to TRY to win but the tournament thing was not really huge until 3rd and beyond.

The point being made is that the fans of both will pay the prices to do both activities. GW might be expensive to some or most people but so is golf, so is paintball, so is scuba diving but for the people that enjoy those things it's not expensive as to be beyond monetary means to enjoy them.

I got out of paintball because I spent $300/month for something I did 8 days a month and if I wanted to do it again the following month it was another $300. $3600/year to do something that didn't really last (except gun which was good for 2-3 years as I didn't buy the newest Angel that came out every 12 months) whereas I can spend $3600 over the course of 12 months and with the minor expense of buying or replacing new units (most costing less than $100 to replace and being good until the next codex is released in 4 years) that $3600 will last me until my army gets squated or until I get tired of 40k (which is to say not going to happen in probably the next 10).

So while 40k and golf are not similar hobbies they are similar in that people with enough passion to do both will pay the price (and at least with wargaming you have alternatives to GW, not so much so with golf where you need certain clubs to play and can't really play in your back yard unless your back yard happens to be Pebble Beach golf course).

There is still no real comparison besides the fact that fans of both have no choice on many occasions, but to accept price gouging as a normal activity.

If you go by the time allotted to each, your spare time basically, then most hobbies actually work out to be very similar in price overall. If you spent 8 days a month paintballing, and built up most of your expenses through paintballs; whereas you spend 2-4 days per month if you were wargaming, the difference works out to be very small in terms of money spent/ day of use.

The main point is that the models in Warhammer (etc...) are made out of plastic and tin. It isn't very hard to understand how overpriced they actually are. You have as much of a right to support GW in this regard, as anyone else does to not support it. Though you don't really appear to be pushing that GW is 'customer friendly' company... which they are clearly not.

I don't want to pay GW to keep all of their stores open, making it easier for them to monopolize the market (which in all fairness, they pretty much created; NOT the hobby, just their niche mind you). I also don't care if it is GW to provide fairly priced models, at some point GW will have some serious competition on their hands from alternative companies. The business model is likely to be drastically different, but overall, that can only be a good thing.

I see quite a few people claiming New gamers spend the most money at GW.

Please define what you mean by new? I reckon the second you move onto a second army, be it for the same game, or one of the others, you are no longer 'new' to the Hobby.

GW Stores are indeed predominantly about recruiting new comers to the Hobby. This is how it grows, and one of the reasons GW are very much the dominant force in their market. Why is this seen as a bad thing?

I don't know if I'm being obtuse, but I really don't get those who somehow object to a company putting a great deal of effort into grabbing new customers? I know many people wish GW would do 'more' for Veterans, but at the same time, I read people claiming they don't like how GW try to control their hobby. Surely you cannot have it both ways. You are either grown up and independant as a gamer, or prefer your local store to cater to your needs.

The price is the price. If you don't want to pay the price, either go without, or try to find the product you are after at a discount. I do get genuinely puzzled by those who make a big song and dance about another price rise (which is still merely rumoured, and most likely refers to the British VAT going back up to 17.5% in January) who then say 'but then I've not bought anything GW for 18 months'. If you decided to no longer buy into the Hobby first hand, then what the hell does another rise matter to you, and why be so vocal?

Also, a lot of opinions again being passed off as fact here, like my previous post where I quoted someone claiming 'most GW customers are kids' which I'm afraid to say simply isn't true in my experience. You personally might notice lots of kids in your local GW or FLGS, but rather than being indicative for their standard customer set, is merely reflecting the Stores dual role as a sort of Youth Club for it's gamers. Kids go there after school, kids spend the weekend there, kids spend their school holidays there. The adults however, tend to play at home, and will literally pop in to buy what they need, have a quick chat with the staff, and then head home to build their purchases.

And why do people say they aren't 'customer friendly'. Every customer is offered Hobby support, whether help with the basic skill set (assembling models, painting, writing an army list etc) to the very highest level the staff member present is capable of (Sculpting with Greenstuff, NMM painting etc). And guess what? That. Is. Free. Not charged a single additional penny on your toys. Nor do the stores demand you buy something every so often to use their free (oh look, that word again) facilities. Do the rival companies pay people to help their customers? Not to my knowledge. So you have to pay for their rules, and the company is astute at protecting it's (valuable) IP and Copyrights? Which company worth it's salt doesn't, and why is it a problem when GW do so? People say they should go about it softer. Why? They are a global brand, and as mentioned above, the dominant force in their market. Believe it or not, a C&D Letter IS the soft approach for such a company. They tell you what it is they feel is crossing the line, and ask you to change things appropriately, or they will take action. This is IP. Defend it, or lose it. That's sadly the way the law works (unless I'm horribly misinformed, which I can never rule out). Is it about pushing fans out of the hobby? Nope. It's about covering their own arses. Take Talkbloodbowl (I think that was the one). They were asked to change their name, as GW own the name of Bloodbowl, and adjust their site in a few other ways. Not an entirely unreasonable activity, and it was the site owner who decided he couldn't be arsed, and just shut it down. Who is failing the Community there? The company who have to defend their IP, or the one just shutting it down, rather than put some extra work in?

Mad doc wrote:I don't know if I'm being obtuse, but I really don't get those who somehow object to a company putting a great deal of effort into grabbing new customers? I know many people wish GW would do 'more' for Veterans, but at the same time, I read people claiming they don't like how GW try to control their hobby. Surely you cannot have it both ways.

What I am hearing is that veteran gamers want to be considered in the decision made by GW. This has nothing to do with control, it has to do with customer satisfaction. If there are as many unsatisfied vets as there appears to be; GW has simply done something wrong, doesn't care, or has a different demographic they are catering to. Asking for improvement does assume that GW will ignore the things that were specifically asked for all together. To me, it just seems like people that ask for these changes in large numbers, and consistently, are not only ignored, but ignored along with the rest of the community.

GW does not control the hobby, they control their business.

You are either grown up and independant as a gamer, or prefer your local store to cater to your needs.

I don't understand this... Your local store sells the goods that you need to play the game. Are you talking about scratch building being the only alternative? Could you clarify a bit?

And why do people say they aren't 'customer friendly'. Every customer is offered Hobby support, whether help with the basic skill set (assembling models, painting, writing an army list etc) to the very highest level the staff member present is capable of (Sculpting with Greenstuff, NMM painting etc). And guess what? That. Is. Free. Not charged a single additional penny on your toys. Nor do the stores demand you buy something every so often to use their free (oh look, that word again) facilities

So the redshirt will take time out of selling me 6 boxes of useless nonsense, that I was not asking for at all, to instruct me on how to paint for all of five minutes? What? My god, I feel so catered to... Go to ANY hobby shop, and ask for the same exact advice... 9/10 times you can get better information, not hinged on selling you more products after that. This may be part of the reason that a lot of FLGS's don't do so well financially over a long period, even though overall, their products may be slightly more expensive because they do not have a corporate umbrella protecting them from the economic reality they face.

If there are as many unsatisfied vets as there appears to be; GW has simply done something wrong, doesn't care, or has a different demographic they are catering to.

Or game veterans on internet chat boards are just whiny as hell.

Clarification incoming sir!

By that, I meant those who feel GW should do more events etc for Veterans. And yet, being a Hobby, how long should someone be dependant upon the Company to give them things to do? Lots of things are put on for newer gamers, because they are less established. A Veteran likely knows quite a few other gamers, and may even belong to a private club. Newer gamers however, are still settling into the community, and the GW store helps them in with events in store. Which of course all are welcome to attend, but tend to be populated mainly by the aforementioned newer gamers.

When it comes to events and the like, I really think people may be getting a bit overzealous. Being dependent on GW to provide you with gaming space that exceeds what you have now, is just asking for an awful lot for absolutely nothing. Scratch that, you provide the spectacle of your army, or the potential for pictures for advertising, etc...

Providing gaming space, is one thing that would be commendable, if it weren't for the fact that it is customary to do so. I don't game at the GW stores, because I have no interest in buying anything from that store specifically. I don't want to advertise the store, I don't want any part of their competitions, thus I do not go there at all. When I game at my FLGS, I will usually make a purchase of some kind throughout the day. It is not expected, but that is basically how the space can be provided in the first place.

The club thing does confuse me, I seem to read from the posts here that the US players don't run clubs like you find here in the UK but more commonly have all their games in stores.

When I'm moved over there, I'm gonna get me a big gaming table for the house and also look into setting up a club I think.

Seconded about the Clubs thing.

It often occurs to me that we experience almost two completely seperate Hobbies on different sides of the Atlantic. Certainly, it's been my perception that US Customers complain a lot more than European ones, but that could just be the sites I tend to use having a higher concentration of US posters, it's hard to say without going through the arseache of compiling a comparisson Might just be a cultural thing. Americans are often portrayed as being overall more competitive a culture than the UK, so if thats true and not just media hyperbole, it goes some way to explaining things.

I hope that GW does increase its prices. Its miniatures are the best on the market and currently GW is undercutting themselves by not properly pricing their awesome models.

By increasing the prices on everything, GW shows that they believe that their models are the best on the market (which they are) and they will make more money so they can make even better models.

In all, it's a win for GW.

I smell sarcasm.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I seem to read from the posts here that the US players don't run clubs like you find here in the UK but more commonly have all their games in stores.

When I'm moved over there, I'm gonna get me a big gaming table for the house and also look into setting up a club I think.

As usual, Dakka isn't representative of gaming at large. There are a lot of at-home gamers, self included. I would characterize myself in a "social gaming group" rather than a "club".

____

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:It often occurs to me that we experience almost two completely seperate Hobbies on different sides of the Atlantic.

Certainly, it's been my perception that US Customers complain a lot more than European ones,

It occurs to me that Dakka more likely self-reports from two separate player types as stereotypical on each side of the pond.

Yes, we're a whiny lot.

I've done most of my gaming outside of stores. Never been in a club persay... maybe a beer club? Yeah, beer and WH40k, the best way to spend Saturday.

If I had space, all of it would be coated with game terrain and gaming tables. Alas, I don't, so I have to rely on stores and other peoples space. If I ever get into renting a warehouse, (be it for living, work, or both), there is bound to be a massive space set aside for lounging. Man... now I want to build something. :(

My next project is going to be using mainly Sapporo cans (which I have in abundance, and should probably start a brainstorming thread on) to make industrial bunkers, and buildings. Mmmm... Sapporo bunkers...

MeanGreenStompa wrote:The club thing does confuse me, I seem to read from the posts here that the US players don't run clubs like you find here in the UK but more commonly have all their games in stores.

When I'm moved over there, I'm gonna get me a big gaming table for the house and also look into setting up a club I think.

Like John said, there's kind of a divergence between the at-home gamers in the US and the in-store gamers.

A lot of us have FLGSes with some pretty nice table setups and offer them for free, provided we ask in advance for specific days. Not too hard to do in that case, especially when those same shops also rely on their customers to help build the tables in the first place.

But on the flipside, not all of us have the space to devote to a single room for gaming or have roommates, etc who we can't get to clear their lazy arses out before we have a gaming group over.

Wrexasaur wrote:If I ever get into renting a warehouse, (be it for living, work, or both), there is bound to be a massive space set aside for lounging.

If you rent or build yourself a man-cave, don't pretend it to be a store or anything else.

The man-cave is just a lounge. I won't be running any retail stores any time soon, probably the case with a landscape company as well, but it is much more probable.

Kinda like having a house on top of a store I guess, never been one to like commuting to work.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Clarification incoming sir!

By that, I meant those who feel GW should do more events etc for Veterans. And yet, being a Hobby, how long should someone be dependant upon the Company to give them things to do? Lots of things are put on for newer gamers, because they are less established. A Veteran likely knows quite a few other gamers, and may even belong to a private club. Newer gamers however, are still settling into the community, and the GW store helps them in with events in store. Which of course all are welcome to attend, but tend to be populated mainly by the aforementioned newer gamers.

How about GW help veterans by not continually rendering miniatures obsolete? GW behave like all their customers have such a short memory that they can afford to overhaul the rules every couple of years. There are loads of models and even whole armies rendered useless. You're left to leave them collect dust or you have to take a knife to the to correct them. Kids that come and go in the hobby won't notice this, but anyone who has been in it for a while will realise the only real solution is to draw a line in the sand and refuse to buy newer rulesets. This makes it somewhat hard to find new people to play against but the only other thing is to constantly keep buying the continual re-releases of the games as GW reinvents the wheel time and again.

And another thing, I would like to exercise my right to take my custom elsewhere, but I feel like GW's presence gets everywhere. Their aggressively posessive attitude towards IP makes them think they own a lot more than they realistically do, so I find that the alternate companies I like to use like Hasslefree and Ultraforge and apparently others have received C&Ds, some even remove figures from the ranges. So even if I refuse to buy GW and go in their shops, they still piss on my patch by hassling those other companies I would like to buy miniatures from. By rights, even people who have never ever bought GW have a right to be pissed off by them as of late. What do these people do? Are they supposed to just put up with it? Some people suggest that if you don't like the company's prices or tactics then you leave and go elsewhere, but GW look to interfere with and bully other companies in the wider hobby. And that hacks me off more than their price rises, if only it were as simply as merely not choosing to shop with them any longer.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Clarification incoming sir!

And yet, being a Hobby, how long should someone be dependant upon the Company to give them things to do? .

When are people actually going to get this.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Clarification incoming sir!

By that, I meant those who feel GW should do more events etc for Veterans. And yet, being a Hobby, how long should someone be dependant upon the Company to give them things to do? Lots of things are put on for newer gamers, because they are less established. A Veteran likely knows quite a few other gamers, and may even belong to a private club. Newer gamers however, are still settling into the community, and the GW store helps them in with events in store. Which of course all are welcome to attend, but tend to be populated mainly by the aforementioned newer gamers.

How about GW help veterans by not continually rendering miniatures obsolete? GW behave like all their customers have such a short memory that they can afford to overhaul the rules every couple of years. There are loads of models and even whole armies rendered useless. You're left to leave them collect dust or you have to take a knife to the to correct them. Kids that come and go in the hobby won't notice this, but anyone who has been in it for a while will realise the only real solution is to draw a line in the sand and refuse to buy newer rulesets. This makes it somewhat hard to find new people to play against but the only other thing is to constantly keep buying the continual re-releases of the games as GW reinvents the wheel time and again.

And another thing, I would like to exercise my right to take my custom elsewhere, but I feel like GW's presence gets everywhere. Their aggressively posessive attitude towards IP makes them think they own a lot more than they realistically do, so I find that the alternate companies I like to use like Hasslefree and Ultraforge and apparently others have received C&Ds, some even remove figures from the ranges. So even if I refuse to buy GW and go in their shops, they still piss on my patch by hassling those other companies I would like to buy miniatures from. By rights, even people who have never ever bought GW have a right to be pissed off by them as of late. What do these people do? Are they supposed to just put up with it? Some people suggest that if you don't like the company's prices or tactics then you leave and go elsewhere, but GW look to interfere with and bully other companies in the wider hobby. And that hacks me off more than their price rises, if only it were as simply as merely not choosing to shop with them any longer.

And the beancounters look at each other and smile. "The system works," they respond.

Let's say I invented an air conditioner that never broke down and never needed maintenance. At first, assuming the price was competitive, it would be the best selling air conditioner ever. Eventually though, everyone would have one. Because those things never broke down, people never needed to buy another one. If they somehow did because of an accident, they could find one cheap used or something since the conditioners last forever.
Not surprisingly, eventually my company would go out of business if that was the only thing I sold.

Everything you're saying they're doing on purpose. Your complaint is only validating what they are doing...If you want it to change that's the worst thing you could tell GW.

scuddman wrote:And the beancounters look at each other and smile. "The system works," they respond.

Let's say I invented an air conditioner that never broke down and never needed maintenance. At first, assuming the price was competitive, it would be the best selling air conditioner ever. Eventually though, everyone would have one. Because those things never broke down, people never needed to buy another one. If they somehow did because of an accident, they could find one cheap used or something since the conditioners last forever.
Not surprisingly, eventually my company would go out of business if that was the only thing I sold.

Everything you're saying they're doing on purpose. Your complaint is only validating what they are doing...If you want it to change that's the worst thing you could tell GW.

Your talking about planned obsolescence which is illegal in most countries; an example of this was the apple click wheel debacle and I believe the eventual lawsuit vs. apple originated in England.

An interesting read for you is Vance Packard's, The Waste Makers; where he states such corporate policies are, "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals." One need only to read a great number of threads on this site to see the truth of that statement.

GW constantly grinding out new rules before actually creating completely new rules for each faction, making entire armies or units obsolete, monkeying around with price architecture, are all examples of such a corporate policy. What they are doing is attempting to create demand of certain products by forcing people to buy them to stay competitive in gameplay. It works and it is driving sales of their armies. Just look at all the fervor created by the release of each faction's new codex and the ensuing buy riot from gamers. Gosh, the Tyranid hooplah is almost mindblowing with people already frothing at the mouth to rush out and drop their hard earned money on the latest gadget or whatzit that GW is producing.

We, in the West, are conditioned to be consumers, unthinking buying machines, and that's what we do. Just look at the all the pushback that occurs when someone mentions "boycott"; almost like it's a dirty word. Take a deep breath and look back at even 40 years ago and the different mindset that most people had back then; there's no way a company like GW could get away with such a policy because people simply didn't have the disposable income to throw away when they barely had enough to buy a refrigerator or other needed home appliance.

No folks, it's already too late; there will be no death of GW because they already have you addicted and are the only "pusher" of your drug of choice; if any upstart comes along, they'll muscle them out of the way.

My two cents.

Another price hike means I will no longer be buying anymore GW armies...I have enough figures for a WHFB army and 40K army...enough is enough IMO.