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This is complete speculation on my part, but I wonder if some of the issues with the studio just come down to resources. Has anyone actually replaced Andy C. and Pete H.? If not, maybe the designers have been told to focus on the creative work and not things like FAQs. Maybe it even comes from the higher-ups. If it was my business and I knew that new stuff sells and FAQs don't, I'd probably be tempted to tell the designers to work on the profitable stuff first and foremost. Obviously that creates repercussions, but I could understand the mindset, whether or not it's the correct one. Again, you'd have to be on the inside to know these things, but it's at least feasible.

The shame of it is that the criticism the designers DO deserve overshadows how both games are probably in a better spot than they have been in their history. On the 40K side, the new codicies have been pretty well written and decently balanced since the SM codex (don't get me started)...not perfect, but overall pretty good if you remember some of the truly bad codicies of past editions. If we just had some solid FAQs (and if the designers had the guts to also use the FAQs to fix things that are imbalanced), those codicies would be much better, and the criticism would be much less deserved. Hopefully they'll make progress on this front.

The Tau Empire codex was all that Tau players wanted but is riddled with niggling errors which cry out for a good FAQ. Unfortunately the FAQ provided answers almost none of the questions though it downgrades three Tau units.

Jeremy Vetok now heads the design team. Fantasy 7th edition is the first thing produced under his direction.

I think that you can compare the product of the design team with that of a car company.

They've greatly improved the "design". Their product is alot more attractive, and initial interest is much higher. But even initial technical quality is still horrible, and their warrantee is the worst in the business.

Now, you can get away with a poor warrantee if your initial quality is high. But clearly this is not the case. GW is the GM of game companies when it comes to rules, and they think they're Mercedes. Imagine how many cars GM would sell if they only offered a 10,000 mile/1 year warrantee?

An really quick fix is to simply add a better warrantee. However, GW's "engineers" (the design team), for whatever reason, lack the ability to provide this better warrantee.

When it comes to GW and their rules, I don't think quality is a matter of "We don't want to", but rather one of "We can't".

I still don't understand why they can't utilize some of the common FAQ's already done. Take a read and post them.

What do they only work 40 hours a week and punch off the clock at that point? This is a special prject that can be easily fit in. Its stupid as the assets inthe form of the gaming community are there to be used, and in no way impacts their profitability negatively.

Oh, I don't disagree. I'm just trying to understand the mindset. Clearly they don't want to spend time on FAQs and rules tweaks, and that wasn't always the case at the studio. Second edition was FAQed to h*ll and back, and they released "trial" versions of rules during 3rd edition. Something must have changed, whether they think they can't, got a directive from on high or developed a bunker mentality after all the criticism they've received over the years. Then again, they did reverse themselves on the Synapse/IK issue due to player outrage, so it's not as if they've turned a *completely* deaf ear to the customers. Weird.

killkrazy said:
The Tau Empire codex was all that Tau players wanted...

It certainly wasn't anywhere close to I wanted. A load of unneccessary crap added, little or no problems resolved, new problems created, and lots of the effective units nerfed. Just my opinion, of course, but it was a typical GW cash-cow snafu.

Posted By jfrazell on 08/23/2006 11:31 AM

What do they only work 40 hours a week and punch off the clock at that point?

 

Actually yes - I think EU rules limit the working week. It maybe 40 or a max of 48. Cannot remember, moved over here 5 years ago.

EU rules limit the working week to 48 hours. it's called the working time directive. The UK has a get-out clause where workers are "invited" to waive their right to avoid unpaid overtime, but that's being canned next year.

GW used to answer frequently asked questions. Somewhere along the line recently, maybe in the last 2-3 years or so, they stopped being in touch with the community at all.

Used to be you'd see a yearly book that had all the FAQs. Now they just don't think they need to. I don't understand where that changed.

Heck the main rulebook has been without any errata for what, two years now? TSR puts out rulebook errata within a few months.

Posted By hotflungwok on 08/23/2006 10:14 AM
So, wait, the no instant death thing applies to double S weapons, and weapons with no S rating, but not force weapons or plague swords? What weapons are there that insta kill with no S rating besides the wraithcannon? Is Instant Death a specific thing that only happens when something has Instant Death stamped on it, or does it apply to any situation in which a model with multiple wounds is killed outright without first depleting those wounds? What does the wording for force weapons and plague swords say, the model shuffles off this mortal coil?

Correct.  Force Weapons and Plague Swords use the wording "kills outright" or "slays outright", rather than "Instant Death", and Tyranids in Synapse are only immune to the latter..  I can't think of any other weapons that kill outright, off the top of my head.

Correct. Force Weapons and Plague Swords use the wording "kills outright" or "slays outright", rather than "Instant Death", and Tyranids in Synapse are only immune to the latter.. I can't think of any other weapons that kill outright, off the top of my head.

Abbadon's sword

The Tau Empire codex was all that Tau players wanted but is riddled with niggling errors which cry out for a good FAQ. Unfortunately the FAQ provided answers almost none of the questions though it downgrades three Tau units.

You know, although I don't LIKE all the answers they gave for Tau, I don't see any that really cause more problems, as far as pathfinders go, even if the 'fish doesn't scout, they still are a decent unit, essentially you are only paying 2pts more per model because it isn't as though the 'fish is useless.

I mean if you look at the Tau Empire codex pre- and post-FAQ, the following units aren't as good as they arguably were:

O'Shovah
Pathfinders
Sniper Drones

Although the changes aren't game-breakers, they are all negative and could have been dealt with differently, without giving Tau a big advantage.

Sniper Drones? Did I miss something?

The oshovah thing is just dumb.

Posted By Strangelooper on 08/24/2006 2:24 AM
Correct.  Force Weapons and Plague Swords use the wording "kills outright" or "slays outright", rather than "Instant Death", and Tyranids in Synapse are only immune to the latter..  I can't think of any other weapons that kill outright, off the top of my head.

So because GW uses different terminology for the same thing even in the same book, the only weapon that the Tyranids become immune to is the wraithcannon?

So your saying the Tyranids should be immune to everything period?  As if trying to kill 4 wound regenerating toughness 6 things wasn't hard enough already...

And we should really wait and see if the wraithcannon stays "instant death" in the next codex or not. It may become a "model is removed" weapon. Who knows.

Posted By Kilkrazy on 08/24/2006 12:33 AM
EU rules limit the working week to 48 hours. it's called the working time directive. The UK has a get-out clause where workers are "invited" to waive their right to avoid unpaid overtime, but that's being canned next year.

Wow, no wonder we hammer Europe economy wise. 

except that the wraithcannon is specifically mentioned, by name, in the FAQ. Granted, it wouldn't be a shock if the specific language of "instant death is removed from the next eldar codex", and I also think the new wraithcannon immunity is a little much, but still... the rules are the rules

I'd trade the wraithcannon immunity for better synapse rules for fearless critters in a minute

Posted By djones520 on 08/24/2006 10:15 AM
So your saying the Tyranids should be immune to everything period?  As if trying to kill 4 wound regenerating toughness 6 things wasn't hard enough already...

Thats not the point.  The rule doesnt make any sense.  The only 'Instant Death' rule in the game  occurs when something is hit by a weapon with S twice its T.  Anything else is just wording.  A wraithcannon is the only weapon in the game that uses the phrase instant death, and Im guessing its by coincidence, and not design.  No other weapon that kills a target without wounding it X number of times uses that phrase, but the target still suffers something that can be worded as instant death.  Note its not Instant Death, because thats defined.  By the wording used, which appears to be how this rule was decided, a wraithcannon falls under the Instant Death rule.  So does this mean all the things that effect Instant Death, like necrons WWB rolls & res orbs and choas no-insta-kill runes effect wraith cannons too?

Either the rule should apply to anything that causes instant death, or it should only apply to Instant Death.  Making exceptions like the wraithcannon are just going to confuse things.  And honk off the Eldar player at my LGS.

Wraithcannons were always a grey area when it came to Necrons and WBB (most times I saw this played out, the necron player didn't need an orb to WBB from it since it didn't have a defined strength value). As far as the other "protect from instant death" wargear such as the chaos rune, adamantine mantle, etc are concerned, I'll bet we'll start seeing arguements for those to protect against wraithcannons as well.

Somebody look up the wording for death or glory attacks; I don't have the rules in front of me. While I doubt that the FAQ update makes 'nids immune to being crushed by a tank, I'll leave judgement to people with the literature at their figertips.

Just a thought, but since the question was:

Following the previous answer, what happens if a Tyranid in synapse range suffers Instant Death from a weapon that does not have a Strength value, like a Wraithcannon?

Isn't there a distinction between a shooting weapon with no Strength value and a close combat weapon which hits at the Strength of the model swinging it? For example, doesn't a Force Weapon have to roll to wound first? I think this would mean that Force Weapons have a Strength value and the question doesn't concern them at all. In fact it probably only applies to Wraithcannons.

BTW, I play 'Nids in case anyone was wondering....

But its still not Instant Death. A wraithcannon & a force weapon both have the same thing in common: they are exceptions to the wounding rule, in that they kill a creature regardless of the number of wounds it has. They inflict something that can be described as instant death. Neither of them trigger the Instant Death rule described in the main book. Until this FAQ, that is. Now, according the ruling, wraithcannons fall under the Instant Death rule, but nothing else does, and the only justification is that the description of the wraithcannon uses the phrase instant death. If any other weapon that killed regardless of # of wounds used that phrase, then I guess it would also be affected by this ruling. But since every weapon uses different terminology, we have to guess.

I still think the point could be moot, considering the Eldar dex is on the way. They could have changed the wording of the wraithgun, or maybe they just copied and pasted.

Who knows. Anyone see it?

Hmmm

Death or Glory has no strength value and if you fail to stop the vehicle, you just die. No wounds or anything.
That's a good question.

Sniper Drones have the problem of losing the spotter. I know it sort of hurts the unit, but I always thought it worked that way anyway. What gets me is that torrent of fire means you are going to see these units killed by hitting them 5 times a lot more. There really needs to be a drone rule stopping torrent of fire against their controller at all times. That would fix up the issue.

My biggest beef with pathfinders and these new rules is that before I could count on some fast assaulting unit that infiltrated to get close to them after they set up. I then moved 12" away and got out allowing me to use them at least once. I'm now to the point where I would rather use Vespids and Piranhas.

I know I am chiming in late, but my biggest beef with the Pathfinders ruling is GW copied almost word for word the entry into Tau empire with the exception of adding the Devilfish to the team. Under the Tau codex, my devilfish could scout and now in with Tau Empire, the devilfish cannot scout. No wording changed only the person writing the FAQ, and of course we didn't scream as loud as the Tyranid players so they haven't rereleased our FAQ.... )