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Fifty wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:Same old "arguments"? That would imply a counter-point. It's not an "argument" that WD is gak - it's a fact.

It's an opinion. For someone with a decent sized disposable income, it is readable. It is not as good as it was back in the day when it was a genuinely great hobby magazine rather than a few steps away from being undisguised advertising, but there are generally still some bits worth reading. Last month was the worst in a while, I'll happily admit, but I'll still buy it for a while yet, even if I wouldn't recommend it as a good investment for someone on a tight budget.

So, it's readable, not as good as it used to be, it's nearly pure advertising, there are at best a few bits worth reading and you wouldn't recommend it too anybody that's on a budget.

But it's not gak?

I stopped buying it even as a luxury buy. The price hike to $8 coupled with the continuing lack of content most months makes it hard for me to swallow.

I think Brook might have a bit of a point, in that any good aspects of a review would get drowned out by negative ones, but I think it's important to differentiate between piling on the due to negativity and there simply not being very much that's positive in any given issue. I mean, if I were to write up reviews of Ed Wood films, the good parts will be dwarfed by the bad parts, but I don't think that's because I'm an overly negative person.

Exactly, I mean I'm not the best example since I am a negative person in general, but I don't like when arguments are dismissed simply because they're "too negative". If there are that many people bitching then maybe there is a legitimate reason for it.

Sidstyler wrote:Exactly, I mean I'm not the best example since I am a negative person in general, but I don't like when arguments are dismissed simply because they're "too negative". If there are that many people bitching then maybe there is a legitimate reason for it.

I think for most of us it would take more than a few good articles or even a good full issue to get us back. I'd need to know that I'm getting a couple of good articles a month, a battle report that's way better than anything online, and some eye candy for me to even consider buying it again.

Ahh i love topics like this. The hate-WD-thread is my favorite over the good old hate-GW-prices.

Now why would people do reviews about a magazine they dislike in a internett enviroment where everybody else (almost) hate the same mag ? To whine even more ?

Personally i don't understand it.

In my opionion issue 357 was a great read. I was a dedicated Space Hulk player in the "old days", and enjoyed the space hulk article and battle report a lot. Even all the advertisment about SH was nice, so i could see nice pictures of models and board and so on. Shure a lot of those pictures have been on the net for some time, but looking at it on paper is something i like better.

Since i'm not that good a painter i always enjoy the painting guides in WD, so also with this issue.

The article about 40k planetary emipres was ok and the warhammer battle report must have been one of the best in years.

I must be the only one on the internett, but i quite like to see pictures and read about new models on paper too, like this issue's article about IG SC. And the smurf army was great, even though i'm not that a smurf-lover.

All in all a great issue for me.

Now on the price tag. I seem to buy magazines in a totally different world than all the whiners. In my shops in norway glossy magazines tend to be somewhere in the same price-range as WD. And i let you in on a secret: it's a lot of advertisment in those magazine for other products. Whoha!

Now i agree that WD has it's good and bad issues. And which magazine don't ? In my 38 years i have read WD since the beginning. And i have always enjoyed it. My personal verdict is that WD is well worth the money.

Bleieskiftarbeider wrote:And i let you in on a secret: it's a lot of advertisment in those magazine for other products. Whoha!

False comparison.

Those magazines are often many times thicker due to the advertising, and actually contain content (if you're into that sort of thing). WD has 0 content as it is all advertising.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Bleieskiftarbeider wrote:And i let you in on a secret: it's a lot of advertisment in those magazine for other products. Whoha!

False comparison.

Those magazines are often many times thicker due to the advertising, and actually contain content (if you're into that sort of thing). WD has 0 content as it is all advertising.

Nah i don't think so.

My point was that WD is on the same price level as a lot of glossy magazines with simularer total pages, and that they all have a lot advertisment. Now, does WD have more ads than other mags ? I don't have the impression that it's so, but i haven't ( and will not ) count. It may be so. The problem is that people seems to expect 90 pages of good content of their preference, without any advertisment and at a cheap price. That's pretty unrealistic.

Since WD is GW-products only, it works as advertisment shure. And don't go to WD if you wants some realistic critism of their games and so one. But to claim that WD has absolutly 0 - zero - content, that's pretty over the top. The last issue is a good example. The space hulk battle report and warhammer battle report is not only content, but good so in my opinion. Now, does it work like advertisment for SH and warhammer at the same time ? Shure, but that doesn't mean it's not content.

I'm always surprised how people who hate WD and never seems to buy or read it, has such a ability to spam anti-WD-opinons.

Cheers.

Bleieskiftarbeider wrote:I'm always surprised how people who hate WD and never seems to buy or read it, has such a ability to spam anti-WD-opinons.

Cheers.

Well, first, while there is some bitterness about WD, I don't think anybody means to imply that nobody could find value in it. If you enjoy it that's all that matters. If were on a more generous budget, I would buy it every month.

And most of us do read it. Maybe not every month, but I bought the issue when the IG came out. I generally buy 2-4 issues a year, and a lot of people read them in store, or borrow a friends, etc.

In addition, I'm not that excited about Space Hulk and I dabble in fantasy, so that issue doesn't have a ton of appeal to me. So, it's not totally out of line for me to dismiss it.

That said, I've noticed that people with worse eye sight tend to enjoy WD more, because it's harder to see pictures off a computer screen.

All this talk has actually got me somewhat fired up/excited (!) to do a monthly White Dwarf review...

Maybe I will, starting with this month's!

Maybe...

WD used to be worth buying when they included articles that added content to the games it supports. Remember when they added Space Hulk scenarios and tiles, and rules to use non-Terminator Space Marines in Space Hulk? Remember when they actually included templates to make Ork vehicles and rules to go with them like the Gobsmasher? Or how about templates to convert a Space Marine Rhino into a Vindicator, Whirlwind, or a Saber and the rules to use them in a game? Or hell, how about when they included cardboard inserts that allowed us to generate quick cardboard buildings to use in our games? Rules, Faqs, and errata...Chapter Approved, anyone?

The last issues I found useful were the ones with the Blood Angel Codex and the ones that gave us the free minis for the Fantasy and 40K starter sets.

WD articles used to be so interesting and useful that they would compile them and put them into Chapter Approved or the Founding Chapters Space Marine tomes and sell them separately!

I stopped buying WD when it recently jumped to $9. That pushed me beyond the amount that I was already not happy paying.

When I realized that one issue costs more than a Black Library novel or that a year's subscription costs more than a Battleforce, I pretty much decided that I wasn't going to buy it anymore. Especially considering that:
1) the content is so useless compared to the older WD
2) I no longer even get any free gifts that I would actually want from subscribing (remember when they used to give you a box of any Troops choice you wanted for a 1 year subscription?)

Sure the painting articles are nice. Sure, the articles on how to assemble the large kits, like the Baneblade are useful. And I'm always happy to look over the galleries showcasing the Golden Demon winners or the 'Eavy Metal work. But the content supporting the games are GONE. No new rules. No new scenarios. No new anything.

Combine that with no significant freebies for subscribing and the increased prices, forget it. RIP WD.

I don't mind them advertising their crap, hey, it does say citadel miniatures catalogue on the front, its the sheer VOLUME, in the old days, the battle reports would be good, and after a couple of pages, some figs from each of the armies, prices, it was relevant, I got too look at pictures, and it was quite useful to check prices quickly, what with no online store at that time, but now!, how things have changed, next time a well meaning relative get me a WD I'm doing a comparison.

I've bought every isuuse since 1990 and have back issues to number 26.

But man, the WHFB battle report... who the hell pits O&G vs ANYONE and calls it a great tourney style report.

Put daemons, (Ld bomb KOS with Masque and herald, flamers and flesh hounds army) vs a DE Power dice galore, ring hotek, 2 hydra min max unit shooty death kill list or the summon spam VC list and THEN we'll see a fight worth having.... if only to prove how slowed the last 3 army books have been....

Every month there are reviews on Warseer: http://www.warseer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16

Obviously rating is a pretty personal thing, but usually every month someone does an article-by-article description, and you can make up your own mind from that.

It's also a good place to vent.

Not really sure why some people get so worked up by WD. If you think it is blatant commercialism and advertisement (which I have to agree with), then don't buy it; vote with your feet. I, on the other hand, take it with a pinch of salt and for me, it's an hours diversion or entertainment, despite the fact it is trying to sell me stuff, doesn't stop it being amusement and for that reason is worth £4 of my money.

I have bought the last 3 issues purely for the following reasons: IG release, the Planetary Empires release and the last one cos Dakka (BrookM if I recollect properly) recommended it. I have not been disappointed with them, bearing in mind I haven't gotten an issue since the RED! phase 10+ years ago and approached them with a sceptical eye.

I have not read them cover to cover (yet) and have only read the articles I highlighted, but it seems to have improved from what I have picked up but not purchased over the years.

UNTRUE FACT FOR THE DAY - It is worth remembering that nothing is as good as it used to be when we were younger: sport was better/days were longer/sun was brighter/kids were more respectful/my hair was shinier/my hair was longer and looked cooler/I had hair etc.

Kyley wrote:I don't mind them advertising their crap, hey, it does say citadel miniatures catalogue on the front, its the sheer VOLUME, in the old days, the battle reports would be good, and after a couple of pages, some figs from each of the armies, prices, it was relevant.......

I noticed that the front of WD now reads "Games Workshop presents its monthly gaming magazine" in fairly small type, I didn't notice any other banners. If I remember correctly this is the same as they used to have back in the day (the Halcyon days for me being WD92-about 150). Perhaps, yea gads!!, GW is listening? (Looks over shoulder?)

filbert wrote:Not really sure why some people get so worked up by WD. If you think it is blatant commercialism and advertisement (which I have to agree with), then don't buy it; vote with your feet. I, on the other hand, take it with a pinch of salt and for me, it's an hours diversion or entertainment, despite the fact it is trying to sell me stuff, doesn't stop it being amusement and for that reason is worth £4 of my money.

I agree that on the whole it is worth what I am spending... but it used to be so much more when they gave in depth fluff articles, for no reason other than they could, and battle reports weren't 2 turns per picture.