Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

You don't need to be smart to make profits.

It's probably gonna get reprinted, but on the other hand...think of the sweet sweet FOMO this would implant in everyone if it was just once and gone. After all, sneaker companies pull this gak all the time and make obscene profit from it. They don't make *all* possible profit from limited run,but the near-addiction fomo generates is worth it to them.

Nah don't believe it sorry. If that is to be the case then their loss, also opens a precedent of reduced continuity of a core game?

Derek H wrote:

 Illumini wrote:
GW are idiots if they don´t do at the very least a second run when the product sold out in one day. Especially when this is the core of a small product line of expansions.

And despite what many people here seem to think, they are not idiots. You don't make sales and profits at the levels they do by behaving stupidly.

Well, out of 3 new releases I've wanted to buy this calendar year, I managed to buy one. The other two were out of stock too fast to get one.
For me, it's their loss. If they do re-release Cursed City now, I doubt I'll get it, mainly because I know the chance of getting the expansions is near impossible too.

However, If GW make a few games a year that vanish too quick, it gains them bonus points with the fomo crowd. They're even more likely to buy things they're in two minds about as they know they need to get it instantly.

Profit friendly. Yes. Gamer friendly. No.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Overread wrote:
It used to be better way back in the 90s. I think its just that as GW has grown the customer service staff system has shifted toward a more standard corporate system. They might also be worse off now as they are likely working from home and might not just be able to check with the factory like they might normally.

From a communication perspective I suspect you are right, but from an actual customer service point of view, I've only ever had good experiences with GW.

Their online team is attentive and quick to resolve any problem I've ever had, even going above and beyond to resolve issues (ie. replacing entire missing orders and giving a gift card of the same value).

Oh very true they are a great customer service system. But you can tell that its changed from the past in a steady subtle way. Like I said most of them appear to have little more than what the webstore shows them. If it shows "sold out" then that's the company position and that's what they go with. It doesn't matter if its a miss listing on the site; if its a mistake; if its real or fake; they basically aren't able/allowed to deviate from what the site shows.

Which is great from a customer service point of view because they are spreading a single reinforced message.

The issue is when that message is incorrect or when GW upper ranks have different ideas that don't communicate down fast enough.


I don't blame the customer service for this, I blame managers/superiors further up the chain who are in charge. IF anything I feel sorry for the customer service staff who have their hands tied and who likely take most of the flack/anger.

Derek H wrote:

 Illumini wrote:
GW are idiots if they don´t do at the very least a second run when the product sold out in one day. Especially when this is the core of a small product line of expansions.

And despite what many people here seem to think, they are not idiots. You don't make sales and profits at the levels they do by behaving stupidly.

As an investor in GW, I sure hope they are not that stupid

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
You don't need to be smart to make profits.

That's what they want you to believe. That way, it's easier to keep selling the lie to the crowd that anyone can succeed.


More seriously, though, it's indeed how their customer service answers : if the website says it's "definitively unavailable", then it is. Until it isn't, and they will never tell you when.

It's all about FOMO and control of information, as usual. The only way to know ? Warhammer Community's articles and the webstore. Make sure to (pre-)order as soon as it's up, you never know for how long it will be available !

It sucks hard for sure, but that's how GW does business nowadays.

That'd be fine if they hadn't been calling it a range item until right before release, at which point they started being all regency coy flirtation about it for some reason. Like, either market for fomo and tell people to get it while it's hot, or say it'll be available long term and then *stick to that*.

Billicus wrote:
That'd be fine if they hadn't been calling it a range item until right before release, at which point they started being all regency coy flirtation about it for some reason. Like, either market for fomo and tell people to get it while it's hot, or say it'll be available long term and then *stick to that*.

See, as was going to comment that exact thing. But, you've got to think more deviously. After all, sure, people will buy a product that they know is going to be a one and done deal. BUT, what if we don't tell people our product is a limited time only thing, until it's too late? That way, next time we release a quest game, or any other bundle, people will never know if it's sticking around, and will be more desperate (I mean willing) to buy it, no matter the cost. Sure, we may tell them its sticking around, but isn't that what we did with Cursed city?


Unrelated, but is the End of Game envelope info online anywhere? I know BSF had a random card per envelope, but I want to know what the "canon end" of this game is.

End of the day as mentioned, that’s just another reply added to the many we’ve had on both sides of the coin.

Ignoring all their replies for one side or the other, it seems likely they’d do more, and had that plan from both prior releases and the mentions in the rulebook etc.

Much as I don't want to believe this is a one and done, I don't see why it being one prohibits expansion releases,

after all they sold however many they made and can plan expansion production to match an appropriate fraction of that number

or even sell 'stand alone' expansions with full rules etc (maybe reuse some sculpts, maybe reuse the sculp and give us new poses as we've seen them do in some troop boxes)

The problem is if GW does expansions that require the core set and there is no core set to be bought, it means every time an expansion comes out they will get a huge negative outcry from the segment of their fanbase that is denied a purchase of the core game pack.


So yes the expansions would still sell and they'd likely sell well, but GW would have a running community relations and management issue the whole time.




Now who knows it might be physical store stock is huge and GW will meet demand now that more stores are opening up (at least in the UK). Rather like how Indomitus was still easily accessible well after its release and before the second wave.
Then again part of that might have been that many of those second wave purchasers didn't rush out to buy the core set so it left some on the shelves.

Problem is you wouldn't be able to get the expansions anyway, because they print a fraction of the number of expansions vs the core box. If Cursed City was hard to come by, the expansions will be worth their weight in gold.

And why burn resources making an expansion that will sell to a small a fraction of an already tiny number of people with the core game

We don't know how many copies of the core game they sold, though.

Finally arrived. And I seem to be one of the few at my shop that got the key. The shop guy asked to open it so he could take a look at it.

Nah, I don‘t believe that Cursed City is limited. It would not make sense with how they‘ve communicated this officially. And customer service clearly is not in the know any more than we are, so they likely just paraphrased what the webstore says.

If Cursed City was limited, it would not benefit GW to stay silent in public about this, and they likely would have said so early on. If it is a regular item, they should have clearly stated it after this question popped up everywhere - after all the product is flying off the shelves regardless. But maybe they‘ve run into supply issues they don‘t want to admit until they can also present the solution. Plus, everybody‘s working from home, so half of them might not be knowing what‘s going on too. I‘m sure there is an official statement somewhere which they‘re not sending out because they‘re not ‚there yet‘.

An example how they did limited boxed game releases in the past: I‘ve got Space Hulk 4th edition, and GW was already fairly clear with 3rd that it was a limited item. That was partly true because later they made the slightly enhanced 4th, which they said was limited too, and so far stuck to that. Then primaris marines happened, so I don‘t think Space Hulk is coming back. But they usually told us, and sold every last box.

If they ever bring back Space Hulk it’ll be because they’ll use it to simultaneously release a new genestealer kit and Primaris Terminators. It’ll be the only way to buy either of those kits for several months.

FLGS says our copies are in, looks like there's enough to cover all local preorders.

I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

Given that’s it’s the weapon for a box and not something that is easy to substitute it’s pretty disappointing.

Aeneades wrote:
I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

Given that’s it’s the weapon for a box and not something that is easy to substitute it’s pretty disappointing.

That's a very odd change

In the past they've only ever asked for a receipt as proof of sale from 3rd parties. That is unless they want you to return it ot the store you got it from and have the store contact GW direct?


Then again perhaps they just can't use their normal "send a whole new box" policy with this and there aren't many other ways to replace single parts from plastic sprue.

 Overread wrote:

Aeneades wrote:
I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

Given that’s it’s the weapon for a box and not something that is easy to substitute it’s pretty disappointing.

That's a very odd change

In the past they've only ever asked for a receipt as proof of sale from 3rd parties. That is unless they want you to return it ot the store you got it from and have the store contact GW direct?


Then again perhaps they just can't use their normal "send a whole new box" policy with this and there aren't many other ways to replace single parts from plastic sprue.

That’s the experience I have always had previously when purchasing from third parties. They even asked for proof of my third party purchase before coming back with the response to go back to the seller. Unfortunately, even if returning the whole box for a replacement was an option, I didn’t see the missing piece until I had already made the models from two of the sprues (started on the generic enemies before moving onto the bosses).

Yeah that’s a tricky one and perhaps due to Cursed City in particular rather than a whole change in policy.

Aeneades wrote:

 Overread wrote:

Aeneades wrote:
I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

Given that’s it’s the weapon for a box and not something that is easy to substitute it’s pretty disappointing.

That's a very odd change

In the past they've only ever asked for a receipt as proof of sale from 3rd parties. That is unless they want you to return it ot the store you got it from and have the store contact GW direct?


Then again perhaps they just can't use their normal "send a whole new box" policy with this and there aren't many other ways to replace single parts from plastic sprue.

That’s the experience I have always had previously when purchasing from third parties. They even asked for proof of my third party purchase before coming back with the response to go back to the seller. Unfortunately, even if returning the whole box for a replacement was an option, I didn’t see the missing piece until I had already made the models from two of the sprues (started on the generic enemies before moving onto the bosses).

This exact same thing happened to me a while ago. I ordered one of the Kill Team expansions from my local FLFGS but when it arrived the boards were really badly damaged. I contacted GW as they are usually really good and they asked me to take photos of the damage which is also not unusual. However, once they saw my proof of purchase they asked me to go back to the store that sold the item to me and ask them to replace it. This had never happened before and I think it's only really when a product isn't readily available (the Kill Team expansions also sold out in record time). Luckily the store had a spare copy and I swapped but usually GW would have sent me a replacement, no questions asked. And in UK if product is damaged it's usually the manufacturer you contact for a replacement.

Aeneades wrote:
I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

My Blackstone Fortress initiative deck is in German for some reason.

When I asked them about a replacement they said I'd have to get one from the place of purchase.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Aeneades wrote:
I had a broken part (without the missing piece in the box) so contacted customer service. The policy seems to have changed as they are saying as I ordered from a third party they are not able to assist me at all in providing a replacement. Up until now they have always been good at helping out.

My Blackstone Fortress initiative deck is in German for some reason.

When I asked them about a replacement they said I'd have to get one from the place of purchase.

Had a similar problem when my copy was missing the exploration deck but had two encounter decks instead, and had purchased it from Wayland.

Thankfully, Ebay had a sealed deck for about £2.90. Its not right of course, but it saved a lot of hassle.

And to be fair, the onus is on them not GW.

I guess that makes it one reason to buy direct, as you’re covered.

To be fair, it's absolutely ridiculus the onus for fixing obvious manufacturer defects is on the very last link in the retail chain by default. Yes, theoretically maybe they can return it to GW for a writeoff eventually, but with FLGS already on razor thin margins it's not something I want to burden them with.

I thought that under UK trading laws the manufacturer had to provide a replacement for faulty goods.

However, it seems that isn't the case (it only applies to products with a warranty).

So if you end up with a damaged set or a set with missing parts than it is the retailer that has to fix this.

That really sucks if the product in question is unavailable before you even receive it......

This means (I guess) you can get a refund but probably not a replacement at the moment.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
To be fair, it's absolutely ridiculus the onus for fixing obvious manufacturer defects is on the very last link in the retail chain by default. Yes, theoretically maybe they can return it to GW for a writeoff eventually, but with FLGS already on razor thin margins it's not something I want to burden them with.

It’s not their onus at all though.
They are the ones who deal with the customer so have to refund or replace. Nothing more.

And yeah they would then deal with where they bought the stock in the first place, but that is easy.
In fact most manufacturers I dealt with refunded in the first instance and stock was sent back to them after that.
You didn’t have to wait for it to be back with them and processed.
(Obviously GW may differ, but I’d be surprised with how big they are)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

StraightSilver wrote:
I thought that under UK trading laws the manufacturer had to provide a replacement for faulty goods.

However, it seems that isn't the case (it only applies to products with a warranty).

So if you end up with a damaged set or a set with missing parts than it is the retailer that has to fix this.

That really sucks if the product in question is unavailable before you even receive it......

This means (I guess) you can get a refund but probably not a replacement at the moment.

Indeed, sucks for the customer, it’s neutral for the store.
But you have to think wider than GW (who have their own stores and customer service etc), many manufacturers just make stuff, there is no link to them and the customer, that’s where the distributor and retailer are.