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I can't help but notice the increase in all the negative threads and posts about GW. I know that my article that I posted,URL I Hate Games Workshop OR The Proper and Only Response to have on the Internet, and my post here is probably going to catch a lot of flack. I just have to say that I'm happy with GW. While I will freely admit they are far from perfect, I have a hard time leveling some of the hate and toxicity that many of the online community have. I have come to wonder if this is unique to the online community? I have also come dread posting anything on forums and other sites.

Personally, I can't help but find some of the arguments that people use confusing or laughable: GW prices and demanding perfect quality on release. I've shopped around and found GW prices are in line with many other table top games. As for quality, I do think improvement can be made, but the levels people are taking it to again is laughable.

You can read my article to get my full feelings, but this is what I think in a nut shell. Price wise, I think GW is competitive. Even at the great and all might Privateer Press, I'm going to be spending $40 to $60 for a single box of models. Quality wise, I think improvements can be made, but to make the argument that I pay XX amount of dollars for something and I expect it to be free of flaws is foolish. Business practice wise, I try and stay out of it. I don't work for GW, and I don't own stock in GW. Again, there are many companies out there that have people complaining about their business practices. When a company has thousands of people working together with different goals, ideas, opinions, thoughts, and believes, there are going to be problems. None of the arguments people level at GW take away my enjoyment of the game. What does take away my enjoyment of the game is a bitter and negative filled community that forget or lose track that they are playing a game. A game that is no different from any other game like Monopoly or Chess.

I hope I'm mistaken and have just stumbled into wrong threads and topics.

What's that phrase about if you're happy then you've not got a clue what's happening or something?

I still enjoy 40k, alongside other games, but you've made some fairly fundamental errors. Comparing other system's pricing is a fallacy, firstly because as the market leader, it's GW's pricing which dictates what the competition will charge. Secondly, startup costs are a much better comparison, what does it take to get a playable force? This is where GW suffers quite badly.

As for quality? If a company position themselves as a luxury brand within a market, they have NO excuse whatsoever for failing to deliver. Other companies manage to do so, with fewer resources, and often at a lower price.

The surge is likely because of the change in codex policy for GW this edition (more codices = more people to whine about changes), as well as a couple lackluster expansions (Crusade of Fire and Death From the Skies were very lacking in content). Outside of the game, GW has made some incredibly poor decisions lately (Spots the Space Marine lawsuit fiasco, screwing over online retailers, etc), and then there's the astronomical prices of some of their kits and books to top everything else off.

On top of all of that, the community on DakkaDakka just plain complains about damn near everything, but now they actually have far more excuses to do so.

Much of the irritation toward GW comes from a specific source...GW! If everything was so peachy there wouldn't be the constant knee-jerk reaction to GW's screw-ups, but unfortunately GW has ridden the coattails of its excellent IP for so long it has taken for granted so much of what made it popular in the first place. The hatred isn't always justified but behind it are kernels of truth.

It's not the same as Monopoly or chess. You don't spend hundreds of dollars on those game only to have the rules change every few years, thus requiring you to invest more cash. For rules that aren't so good, really.

It's not just miniatures gaming that sees this kind of activity, it's everything. The Internet is, after all, a Global Hate Machine.

The surge has to do with a variety of acts that all came one on top of the other. Within the last 3 months we've had:

-Further crack downs on online retailers, including the closing of Miniwargaming (a popular site/community)
-Ban on bit sales
-Hobbit mess
-Tau supply debacle
-GW's policies extending to BL, which has made new releases/the HH series more or less grind to a halt.
-Clear-cut scams like "limited edition" codex's that aren't just overpriced, they're actual literal scams that seek to steal your money unfairly

 azreal13 wrote:
Comparing other system's pricing is a fallacy, firstly because as the market leader, it's GW's pricing which dictates what the competition will charge.

Oh wow! So it is now GWs fault that Warmachine miniatures are so expensive! This is really something special.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Harriticus wrote:

-Clear-cut scams like "limited edition" codex's that aren't just overpriced, they're actual literal scams that seek to steal your money unfairly

Willingly paying for worthless limited edition tag is not stealing. If people are stupid enough to pay, GW would be idiots if they wouldn't take this free money.


I certainly don't think that GW is perfect, far from it. It just seems to me that people's reactions are totally out of proportion, and totally disconnected from the reality of how big companies generally behave. Most things many here see as a horrible outrage are mildly annoying at most to me.

Compare the quality of GW models to other miniature companies(not just table top wargame miniatures)

You will find that GW's pricing is quite reasonible for the quality you get. YOu may pay up to twice as much for a model with similar detail and size without any of the customization GW offers.

Just something to consider.

@azreal13
I believe cost of product is not a fundamental error. Comparing the price of Brand A to the price of Brand B is the basis of what everyone does when doing price comparison. In my mind, start up cost is personal choice that price may or may not have an impact on. This could be likened to a person saying I choose to buy Brand A because I like the box art, it brings back memories, that's what I've always used, etc.

@Andilius Greatsword
I have to say that I appreciate you response. I will agree that the Spot the Space Marine story was handled poorly and that on the surface the online retail is another instances that has me scratching my head. I still have a hard time accepting the level of hate that is kicked up. In the Spot case, I don't remember every single detail being revealed. In my mind, there were a lot of unanswered questions. As with the internet retailers, we don't know the whole reasoning behind the decision, nor can we tell or want to believe there might be benefits. I don't think 3rd party retail of GW products is dead. Again, I simply don't know. I could be complete wrong on both points. However, I do have to give you a big thumbs up and laugh at the community on DakkaDakka just complains about everything.

@amanita
I can accept that any criticism is based on a kernel of truth. I can't help but wonder if the community has gone from criticism to whipping, and that GW is the whipping boy of the gaming community because that's what accepted and they are the biggest target. I used Monopoly and Chess as an analogies. They are games like 40k is a game. They are meant to be played in order to have a fun time. However, I think few people watch every move Hasbro makes and go into blood rage if Hasbro does something they don't like.

Thanks for the replies thus far. While they are civil, I can't help but feel that the replies only prove my point. I say something good or supportive of GW, and I am almost immediately met with arguments that carry the air of "how dare I say something positive about GW", which is why I titled my blog post they way I did. Again, thank you for the so far civil responses.

 bkiker wrote:
Price wise, I think GW is competitive.

That sort of depends on where you are trying to buy from...

Quality wise, I think improvements can be made, but to make the argument that I pay XX amount of dollars for something and I expect it to be free of flaws is foolish.

Really?

Like... really?

If I buy any commercially produced product, I expect it to be free of flaws. Expecting the self-proclaimed market leader with their 'best quality gaming miniatures on the planet' to have higher standardss of quality control than their competitors doesn't really fit my understanding of the word 'foolish'... but YMMV, obviously.

Psienesis wrote:It's not just miniatures gaming that sees this kind of activity, it's everything. The Internet is, after all, a Global Hate Machine.

I have to laugh because I think I forgot what the internet was.

Harriticus wrote:The surge has to do with a variety of acts that all came one on top of the other. Within the last 3 months we've had:

-Further crack downs on online retailers, including the closing of Miniwargaming (a popular site/community)
-Ban on bit sales
-Hobbit mess
-Tau supply debacle
-GW's policies extending to BL, which has made new releases/the HH series more or less grind to a halt.
-Clear-cut scams like "limited edition" codex's that aren't just overpriced, they're actual literal scams that seek to steal your money unfairly

I can understand your point. All these changes coming on top of each other has not given the community time to adapt, accept, or figure out how these changes are going affect them. I would guess any company doing these kind of shuffle would meet a push back from their customer base.

Grey Templar wrote:Compare the quality of GW models to other miniature companies(not just table top wargame miniatures)

You will find that GW's pricing is quite reasonible for the quality you get. YOu may pay up to twice as much for a model with similar detail and size without any of the customization GW offers.

Just something to consider.

Thank you Grey Templar. This is the argument that I've heard even from retailers, including MiniWargaming. It's also a point I tried and probably failed to make.

Crimson wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:
Comparing other system's pricing is a fallacy, firstly because as the market leader, it's GW's pricing which dictates what the competition will charge.

Oh wow! So it is now GWs fault that Warmachine miniatures are so expensive! This is really something special.

I had to laugh.

Of course GW still has its prices way too high. They could make much larger profits by expanding their market and slashing prices. I know they don't have a massive profit margin but they could drop prices by 20%

GW could easily have the best prices for the best quality out there. They could price Warmachine out of the market but they don't for some reason.

Well, for my two cents, I feel this bashing surge is due mainly to the timing of all these GW debacles. I agree, a lot of things here are not the greatest decisions made, and what's hurting GW is the short time span that these are all occurring, and to the levels it is affecting the hobbyists involved. I myself love the models and collecting most of all, so outside of the price hikes and obstacles to distribution, I'm not terribly involved with the other issues...but I get it. The lack of tourney support, the focus on "new players only, vets get out", the impending end to open gaming in stores, the shrinking size of GW stores, etc. etc. That all sucks. Plain and simple. And for these missteps to happen one right after another can be bewildering, if not infuriating. So the surge in hate makes sense in that this community seems to be very involved in all aspects of 40K than most...and there is a genuine concern their favorite game is going down the tubes. Now, I can't say about the folks who make the purely negative posts and call for all to abandon ship to another franchise...I'm hoping that's just blind hate that will come to pass. In the end, I love my models and love the setting...if the rules get watered down to the point where it becomes absolutely unplayable, then I'll roll back to an edition that I thought worked better, until then, I have waaaay too much stuff to paint anyhow.

 insaniak wrote:
Really?

Like... really?

If I buy any commercially produced product, I expect it to be free of flaws. Expecting the self-proclaimed market leader with their 'best quality gaming miniatures on the planet' to have higher standardss of quality control than their competitors doesn't really fit my understanding of the word 'foolish'... but YMMV, obviously.

For the most part, I can understand GW's business practices and while I can't condone things like the "limited edition" books or the so-called bundle "deals", I haven't fallen for them either, so I say more fool anyone that does. I'm also well aware that some people may call ME a fool for paying full price for GW stuff, and that's fair enough.

This one point of Insaniak's is perfectly valid when it comes to Finecast though, especially when the plastics are soooo damn good. I am fully aware that I'm paying over the odds for miniatures, because I'm getting high quality ones. Inevitably flaws do happen but I expect them to be few and far between and when they do occur, I expect to be able to raise it with the provider and have it replaced promptly (and now that the issues are ironed out, this is back on track).

This isn't a difficult position to understand. If you go into a top restaurant and pay $50 for a steak, and it's not cooked the way you want it, you can expect to have another one brought out. If you buy an expensive TV and from the first time you plug it in the colour is all washed out, you can expect to have it fixed or swapped. Why should miniatures be any different?

As others have noted, there's multiple reasons.

As a business, GW operates in spite of itself, not because of itself. Relationships with FLGS's are often very strained, they *borrow* money to pay dividends for no reason other than to increase Kirby's yearly income by 300%, they have issues getting product to market and have major QA issues with their Finecast line. They also leave lines to languish for years and up to two editions at a time (though that seems to be changing), and often leave certain units worse off for even longer (e.g. Ogryn, Vespids, Stormtroopers, Chaos dreads/helbrutes, etc) both in terms of rules and models.

On top of that, the cost of playing Games Workshop games is more expensive relative to Real Income than ever before and rising far ahead of inflation in most cases. GW's "expansion" books have turned out to be largely dead on arrival, and their codex updates consistently fail to inspire, feeling less impressive (despite being visually moreso) than much of the material from a decade or more ago. It also doesn't help that WD went from a hobby magazine to an expensive ad rag.

Additionally, there's practically no time for people to get excited for releases, basically there's a few rumors on intarwebz forums a few weeks before release, a week of preorders, and then BAM. Older books had far more engaging buildups to their release and correspondingly far greater customer/player engagement with the product.

And finally, GW is actually finally getting competition. Not in the "GW is DOOOOMED" type, but 8 years ago there was only 40k and Fantasy to play in most clubs/stores, now there's far more games that are making much more of a consistent and widespread appearance, and they're increasingly doing things right where GW is not.

 Crimson wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:
Comparing other system's pricing is a fallacy, firstly because as the market leader, it's GW's pricing which dictates what the competition will charge.

Oh wow! So it is now GWs fault that Warmachine miniatures are so expensive! This is really something special.

It really pays to be on solid ground before you start to ridicule someone.

'Fault' is not a word I'd use, but see if you can follow my logic.

You are a new company looking to enter a market, what you will use to determine the viability of what you propose to sell is current and historic data of volume and pricing. If you are unable to produce this product profitably within the context of the market, it's a bad idea and you probably won't proceed.

If your production costs fit, you will then have to decide what you can sell for. Again, this won't be based on your production costs but what the market will bear. If you're entering an established market, the biggest clue will be what your competition is charging. You will then adjust your final retail price depending on whether you are targeting the value (Mantic) end or the premium end (any number of the low volume, boutique style manufacturers)

As the largest player in the tabletop market, GW sets these trends, others then follow. If they charged £15 for a Tac Squad, as opposed to £23, it would be much harder for the competition to charge the prices they do, as they would look decidedly worse value.

So, yes, it is GW's 'fault' that PP prices are what they are, if they were lower, PP would have to price lower to compete, or simply wouldn't exist as it wouldn't have made entry into the market viable.

TLDR If Space Marines were cheaper, nearly everything else would have to be.

I agree with the OP to a certain exstent, in my opinion only a few points bother me about GW and it's not the legal side:

FineCast, is an insult, it's not fine and it's not cast, the models are warped and bubble ridden, they are not worth the price or the name. I'm sure it's hard for them to find a safe resin but that's tough they should have stayed metal or gone all plastic. The material is not up to the wargaming it is ment for.

WhiteDwarf, what are you expecting me to pay for this, if it was a blog I'd find my self hard pushed to visit it regularly, gw, you could have so much cool art, stories, models, even fan stuff, but nope, it's full of cut and paste and adverts.

Additional rules, add on ect, WTF was death from the sky or what ever really gw! That was not an expansion, flyer ace rules where stupid, there was bugger all in the book, charging for that crap is seriously unreasonable! You need to start offering all these types of things along side your FAQ/errata, not as mini expansion, not as whitedwarf publications, as on the website free rules.

They do good too tho, they have good plastics IMO, nice shops for those who use them and very good customer service if you ever phone or email a problem, it is either fixed or if slightly more ambiguous, openly resolved. I would prefer them to update all there codex at the start of each edition, it's unfair to trail some ranges on for years with no update but to still sell the models. Now as for there legal department I have no comment, as a big company in a niche Market it must be difficult to make certain choices, there are alot of worse companys to hate on IMO like EA or mcdonalds as some of the bat examples. But there you go interwebz people love the anonymity to just zest their angst! Lol me included of course!

I think they just need to open up alittle bring the community back into it! Why don't they have there own forums for example?! Start giving us some stuff for free GW it doesnt have to cost you hardly anything, it's only rules they arnt even real with the damn models! Start loving the community again draw us in with your plans have the fans show you what's good and what's not before you realeased not after then make people wait years for another stab in the dark... Oh and bin finecast, start over REALLY...

 azreal13 wrote:


If your production costs fit, you will then have to decide what you can sell for. Again, this won't be based on your production costs but what the market will bear. If you're entering an established market, the biggest clue will be what your competition is charging. You will then adjust your final retail price depending on whether you are targeting the value (Mantic) end or the premium end (any number of the low volume, boutique style manufacturers)

As the largest player in the tabletop market, GW sets these trends, others then follow. If they charged £15 for a Tac Squad, as opposed to £23, it would be much harder for the competition to charge the prices they do, as they would look decidedly worse value.

So, yes, it is GW's 'fault' that PP prices are what they are, if they were lower, PP would have to price lower to compete, or simply wouldn't exist as it wouldn't have made entry into the market viable.

TLDR If Space Marines were cheaper, nearly everything else would have to be.

PP is free to price their models as they choose. If they thought lower prices would give them competitive advantage, they would do it. They price their products in the way they think produces most profit. Just like GW.

In any case, crying over the prices is pointless. No company will ever lower their prices to just be nice. If you don't like the price, don't buy. If enough people won't, it will affect the pricing in the long run. GW's priced are determined by what the people are willing to pay, nothing else.

 Crimson wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:


If your production costs fit, you will then have to decide what you can sell for. Again, this won't be based on your production costs but what the market will bear. If you're entering an established market, the biggest clue will be what your competition is charging. You will then adjust your final retail price depending on whether you are targeting the value (Mantic) end or the premium end (any number of the low volume, boutique style manufacturers)

As the largest player in the tabletop market, GW sets these trends, others then follow. If they charged £15 for a Tac Squad, as opposed to £23, it would be much harder for the competition to charge the prices they do, as they would look decidedly worse value.

So, yes, it is GW's 'fault' that PP prices are what they are, if they were lower, PP would have to price lower to compete, or simply wouldn't exist as it wouldn't have made entry into the market viable.

TLDR If Space Marines were cheaper, nearly everything else would have to be.

PP is free to price their models as they choose. If they thought lower prices would give them competitive advantage, they would do it. They price their products in the way they think produces most profit. Just like GW.

In any case, crying over the prices is pointless. No company will ever lower their prices to just be nice. If you don't like the price, don't buy. If enough people won't, it will affect the pricing in the long run. GW's priced are determined by what the people are willing to pay, nothing else.

No, nobody is free to price anything 'as they choose' in any market. There is a minimum price dictated by production costs, distribution and other overheads, this is pretty much a hard number with little ambiguity. There is very definitely a maximum price too, but the parameters for that are a little more wooly. The fact is though, that while GW continue to increase prices and people keep buying, it tells their competition that there is still room to increase their own prices. They may choose not to, if they feel the drop in volume wouldn't be offset by the increase in revenue, or that it would damage their reputation for instance, but it demonstrates to them that they could.

 azreal13 wrote:

No, nobody is free to price anything 'as they choose' in any market. There is a minimum price dictated by production costs, distribution and other overheads, this is pretty much a hard number with little ambiguity.

Obviously. Of course company can price themselves out of business by charging too little. Suicide is a choice, it is just a bad choice.

There is very definitely a maximum price too, but the parameters for that are a little more wooly. The fact is though, that while GW continue to increase prices and people keep buying, it tells their competition that there is still room to increase their own prices. They may choose not to, if they feel the drop in volume wouldn't be offset by the increase in revenue, or that it would damage their reputation for instance, but it demonstrates to them that they could.

So in the end they charge the price that they thinks producers most profit. Just as any company does. In fact not doing so would be idiotic. It is absurd to vilify a company over that. If you don't like the prices, don't buy. It is the only way to affect the pricing.

There are genuine grievances with how GW chooses to conduct business, but pricing is not one of them.

Zobnob Gorgoff wrote:

I think they just need to open up alittle bring the community back into it! Why don't they have there own forums for example?!

They used to. They were an awful format that was truly atrocious to operate in being a horrifically oudated BBS style board that was never updated really before they shut it down in 2006, and they were appallingly moderated in a very hamfisted manner with a community even more venemous than Dakka or Warseer are as a result.

 Crimson wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

No, nobody is free to price anything 'as they choose' in any market. There is a minimum price dictated by production costs, distribution and other overheads, this is pretty much a hard number with little ambiguity.

Obviously. Of course company can price themselves out of business by charging too little. Suicide is a choice, it is just a bad choice.

There is very definitely a maximum price too, but the parameters for that are a little more wooly. The fact is though, that while GW continue to increase prices and people keep buying, it tells their competition that there is still room to increase their own prices. They may choose not to, if they feel the drop in volume wouldn't be offset by the increase in revenue, or that it would damage their reputation for instance, but it demonstrates to them that they could.

So in the end they charge the price that they thinks producers most profit. Just as any company does. In fact not doing so would be idiotic. It is absurd to vilify a company over that. If you don't like the prices, don't buy. It is the only way to affect the pricing.

There are genuine grievances with how GW chooses to conduct business, but pricing is not one of them.

Ok, one more time, I don't think you're getting what I'm trying to say, and I don't think I can express it any better.

Say GW charges £25 for a hypothetical 10 man boxed set of infantry. PP charge £30 for a 10 man boxed set of infantry. The difference can easily be explained by a difference in material (metal vs plastic) and the consumer will normally only require one set, rather than multiples, making justifying the purchase in total and the extra money fairly simple.

If GW charged £15 for the same boxed set, PP have a choice, they can reduce the price of their box to something similar, say £20, or somehow try and justify charging double for, what is in this context, a broadly similar product. That would be an incredibly tough sell.

In any market, the actions of the market leader will influence the behaviour of the competing brands. Price is a major aspect of that behaviour.

Actually GW prices do effect the minimum price of some other manufacturers. It is well known that some consumers will reject a product if it is priced too cheaply compared to what are recognized as top rated products. I am sure this will shock some people but I used to run a business where this was definitely the case.

GW plastic kits are nice but finecast, even when relatively free of defects is a terrible material if you plan to keep the model long term.

Where GW really fails to deliver is in game design and rule writing. The production values of their books is terrible with many errors that a simple proof reading should spot.

When you get a C and D letter for that image on your blog there, come back to the conversation with how you really feel.

It goes down to- If your satisfied getting shilled, by all means, enjoy what you love.

The hate flows when GW screws up, just as the praise comes when they do well.

The door swings both ways.

 Crimson wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

No, nobody is free to price anything 'as they choose' in any market. There is a minimum price dictated by production costs, distribution and other overheads, this is pretty much a hard number with little ambiguity.

Obviously. Of course company can price themselves out of business by charging too little. Suicide is a choice, it is just a bad choice.

There is very definitely a maximum price too, but the parameters for that are a little more wooly. The fact is though, that while GW continue to increase prices and people keep buying, it tells their competition that there is still room to increase their own prices. They may choose not to, if they feel the drop in volume wouldn't be offset by the increase in revenue, or that it would damage their reputation for instance, but it demonstrates to them that they could.

So in the end they charge the price that they thinks producers most profit. Just as any company does. In fact not doing so would be idiotic. It is absurd to vilify a company over that. If you don't like the prices, don't buy. It is the only way to affect the pricing.

There are genuine grievances with how GW chooses to conduct business, but pricing is not one of them.

That depends on whether or not you subscribe to Market Capitalist dogma regarding business ethics and goals. Vacant pursuit of profit at any and all costs is plenty reason to vilify a company to my mind, particularly if you like that company's product and would rather they didn't run themselves into the ground in order to line the pockets of the investor class.

I love 40k. More than anything else I love the aesthetics. I am willing to invest money in a hobby I enjoy, but at the end of the day their prices are absolutely absurd.

I'm not talking about the cost of an individual model mind you, so much as the value of the products they sell. Firstly the rulebook. It is criminal to charge 75 dollars for a rulebook, then another 33 dollars for the codex, both of which are required to play. So let's think about that... before you put a penny towards a model, brushes, or paints you are already into them for well over 100 dollars.

I suppose you could counter the above point with "well what about dark vengeance!!!!!" to which I would say it is a terrible starter set. Firstly you do not receive the two codices for the "armies" contained within the box and on top of that they did not even bother to balance the forces. The DA will table choas in 9.9 games out of ten. So you are paying 100 dollars for a set that not only does a poor job of introducing you to the game, but also fails to provide you with any useful models unless you know for a fact you want to field DA or CSM.

So for anyone interested in starting this hobby they are immediately faced with the reality that they are going to spend over 100 dollars for a rulebook and a codex before even touching a model of their chosen army unless their army of choice happens to be DA or CSM. This is incredibly stupid.

If GW had a brain they would put together a battleforce for every army that included the paperback rulebook, the codex, templates, dice, an HQ, two troops, and one other special unit and charge an even 100 dollars retail. This would literally give new players the basis of an army and all the tools required to play said army. They should lower the price of the Hardcover rulebook to an even 50 dollars, and include templates with it. Then drop the price of the codices from 33 to 20. They do not need to drop the price of every model, they just need to lower the price of admission so new players are created. I say this as a new player who has purchased every model in my ~1500pt guard from ebay, my codex is a printed out pdf, and the only rulebook I have is one which a group of six players split the cost of and we share between us. GW has missed out on my business because they insist on running their company as if they are doing me a favor by gracing me with "the most superior miniatures in the world". that! I can play their silly game without giving them a dime and it's exactly what I am doing.

They are not an intelligent company, they are riding on a successful IP. They know they have good looking models and the largest player base and so they are acting like spoiled brats. However their actions are not growing the hobby, but in all likelihood they are forcing old players out and prospective new gamers away. Or people take an approach similar to mine and buy secondhand.

I have not even touched on their attitude towards the flgs of which they insist on treating like parasites and refuse to acknowledge that the flgs does more for the hobby than they ever could. Hell my local GW does not even have tables, all they do is try to sell you their product and get you in their painting boot camp.

Some think GW is evil... I just think they are unrepentantly stupid.

I don`t get why people always compare gw with pp etc and the prices.
I they are about the same but at the end of the day you only need so much to play any game.
Spend £150 at GW and you are still about £200 to £300 off a average game size.
Spend £150 on pp and you have anywhere between 25 to 50pts and thats all you need. Spend £150 on Malifaux you could get anything you like, spend £150 on MERCS you could get 2 or 3 factions.

£150 was just a baseline price that I picked at random but you get the point

 Harriticus wrote:
The surge has to do with a variety of acts that all came one on top of the other. Within the last 3 months we've had:

-Further crack downs on online retailers, including the closing of Miniwargaming (a popular site/community)
-Ban on bit sales
-Hobbit mess
-Tau supply debacle
-GW's policies extending to BL, which has made new releases/the HH series more or less grind to a halt.
-Clear-cut scams like "limited edition" codex's that aren't just overpriced, they're actual literal scams that seek to steal your money unfairly

I will say I have a love hate thing with GW. Most of the hate thing comes from above excluding Miniwargaming because in their video they said that they already had plans to shut down that part of their site. The prices also bother me but that's because I'm a broke ass college student who should spend more money on School and less money on my hobby

I can't help but wonder what GW is doing. I love them because of their product but it looks like they are sinking their ship.

I've heard GW referred to as the Evil Empire long before I came to the internet. It's not unique to the internet, it just facilitates it and makes it public. GW do a lot of things that are toxic to the hobby, as a result people react in anger.

I think the OP might be confusing critical review with bashing.

Buying finecast models and pointing out flaws in them is not bashing.

Pointing out problems in GW's pricing policy is not bashing.

Criticizing a company for producing error ridden rule books is not bashing.

Questioning the reasoning of things like dropping tournament support or in store gaming is not bashing.

Having a good laugh about the design of the latest flyer is not bashing.

Voicing an opinion about retail policies (Australian Embargo, internet sales ban...) is not bashing.

Reflecting on historical changes through the management and design teams are not bashing.

Expressing annoyance (even outrage) that a company forgets where it came from and attempts to shut down upstarts (whether they are 3rd party bits or science fiction authors) is not bashing.

There are a lot of threads in general about GW - here and elsewhere. Some of them do contain a few people who are bashing for the sake of bashing. Others provide reasoned responses and positions...quite often against GW's policy faux pas of the day, week, month, year... One of the nice things about the internet is that you can easily ignore those who are unreasonable or purposefully obtuse (which you see nearly as many who support GW for no particular reason at all as well as you see the bashing with no particular basis behind it).

Nothing but love does GW no good (or any other company for that matter). We know that they read the forums (both for evidence for their legal pursuits and for the next target of a C&D letter) to some extent.