"The End of Random Packaging for CMG's?" Topic

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WotC has announced that next year it is changing the random approach to their minis:

"Players Handbook Heroes will feature player character races and classes described in the Player's Handbook and Player's Handbook 2. The first of two series planned for 2009 will include 18 figures sold in six different packs of three, all of which will be fully visible, for $10.99 USD MSRP."

"The Spring 2009 Monster Manual release, Dangerous Delves, will be partially randomized. The 40-miniature set will come packaged in five mini packs, each with one visible figure, one rare figure, one uncommon figure, two common figures, and stat cards, all for $14.99 USD MSRP. The figures will be a mixture of medium and large figures."

Granted, the MM set will be mostly random, but still WotC is the second company to do this. IMO random minis are a luxury. When my money is tighter, I don't want to waste it on getting junk. I don't miss the 'thrill' of opening packs. WotC's move is good IMO.

Or does this signal something ominous? That WotC's miniature sales are hurting?

Maybe they will actually do what they say this time. I was very excited about D&D minis before the product came out because WotC had announced fixed sets of skeletons, goblins, etc. -- which they never released.

Part of the reason I got out of Heroclix in favor of "real" miniatures was the repeated disappointment of opening a pack and seeing a bunch of figures I already had. The collectible game format just offers too much disappoinment and duplication per dollar when compared with the full-spectrum hobby of non-collectible miniature games. I'd like to see more companies with attractive products move toward a non-collectible format. Of course, they've got a pretty good racket going with their quarterly random-packed releases going straight for the wallets of the hopeless junkies.

Chonk, I felt the same way. I then turned to buying singles on the secondary market. I saved tons of money, buying figs for .10 to a couple bucks for the better figs. I don't even bother with that any more.

I was pretty well hooked into the collecting bit of Heroclix for a couple of years. I got into the D & D figures a bit and some of the various CCGs, but I was pretty bad as far as needing to get my regular Heroclix fix. I turned to buying a lot of singles as well, but that was usually after opening a whole lot of boosters without finding the figure I wanted. Most of the figures I bought got tossed into a doubles box never to see the light of day again. Sort of like an unpainted lead pile, but even less likely to be used at any point in my lifetime.

The problem is that when doing minis, say heroclix, you know that stuff like X-men, Batman etc are going to sell truckloads, sets like Fantastic Four might sell a few, especially if there is a movie out there, but how many unsold Blue Beetles or Turner D Century will end up in landfills.

I have a pretty decent collection with models I would never have considered buying if they were available separately.

But other than that collectible games are evil.

Non-random minnees is the main reason I enjoyed Heroscape.

I think the choose this new way to target the roleplayers better and give them the needed minis for 4th edition. Before I think WOTC mainly targeted mini players (even though they always tried to get roleplayers too to buy the mini game).

But isnīt the price point higher? 10.99 USD for 3 figs seems higher per fig than usual.

Yes it is a higher price, but they are probably trying to cover their costs and maintain profits by increasing the price per unit to make up for the loss of income from a lower volume of sales as opposed to the high volume sales but low price per unit with the completely random sales. Even the more random ones are higher cost. 14.99 for 5 figs, while the last time I purchased some a year ago were 14.99 for 8 figs.

I think that's s bad idea for WotC.
Since now that you can see how badly your minis will be painted ( and I got some horrific ones…), it signals the end of D&D minis.

Unless this forces them step up their production value to the way they used to paint the minis ( 2 years ago) when the were decently painted. Now, it seems that every 5th fig doesn't even have eyes painted on, just a pink blob for the face… yuck…

You're only going to see how badly one of the minis is painted -- the player character. The rest of the figs will still be hidden and random. It sounds just like the Haloclix booster packs, just more expensive.

"I was very excited about D&D minis before the product came out because WotC had announced fixed sets of skeletons, goblins, etc. -- which they never released."

To be fair, they only said that they wanted to do that. Not that they would.

WotC has announced that next year it is changing the random approach to their minis:

Their D&D minis. Which is probably because it sells more to RPGers than gamers.

I believe the Star Wars line is not yet threatened this way, fortunately.

A few "Army Builder" sets would be a good idea IMO.

I know I would by bunches of stormtroopers, rebel troops, skeletons, etc.

Ultimately a bad thing for the gamers, as this will remove the impetus for WotC to produce the oddities that were the fillers of all prior sets. Under the new 4th edition monster scheme, even the common monsters are unlikely to get more sculpts than they have statblocks.

And of course, there still won't be a Displacer Beast that can be had for non-stupid prices.

A few "Army Builder" sets would be a good idea IMO.

I know I would by bunches of stormtroopers, rebel troops, skeletons, etc.

Be careful what you wish for. If they cherry pick out Stormies, the rest of the ranges become less good. And the range perhaps collapses.

I have large amounts of Stormtroopers, Rebels, Droids. All bought off eBay or direct sellers. Who needs packs?

I like this turn, but feel that this could be the end of D&D minis. Have they given up on the Minis game all together? Maybe I can get a Dragonborn now before production stops for a reasonable price.

The skirmish game is gone, they jacked the prices up.
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Now instead of randomly getting the miniature we want we can suffer the horrendous supply issues that make Hasbro so great!

A few "Army Builder" sets would be a good idea IMO.

I know I would by bunches of stormtroopers, rebel troops, skeletons, etc.

Be careful what you wish for. If they cherry pick out Stormies, the rest of the ranges become less good. And the range perhaps collapses.

Agreed, remember they HAVE to make all the crap miniatures. It's not like people want to buy Storm Troopers or Rebels or Clone Troopers or Jedi, they all NEED many multiples of Twi'lek with a knife! Apparently it's a law or sumving…The "Jar-Jar Binks Effect" of Random Packaging?

I have large amounts of Stormtroopers, Rebels, Droids. All bought off eBay or direct sellers. Who needs packs?

I don't.

Agreed, remember they HAVE to make all the crap miniatures.

You are only seeing the range through your particular desires. WotC are fortunately wiser than this. They don't make many crap miniatures -- in the sense of being unneeded.

You and I might not want many Ugnaught Demolitionists, but the Star Wars Miniatures players do. They complain about the Rodians, but the RPG players like races to have more than a couple of representations. Neither of those see much point in having reprints of Battle Droids -- but I love them. And the kiddies love the fact that you can get 8 different Darth Vaders.

If they move to making what non-SWM gamers want – packs of Stormies, Rebels etc – then the other four markets will fall apart. (Collectors, SWM gamers, RPGers and kids).

People can whinge all they like about random packaging, but the alternative has been tried and does not work as well. It's not like West End Games were tearing-the-world-apart successful in their attempt.

Non-random packaging has to be aimed at one particular sector of the market -- it cannot realistically hope to be aimed at all of them. It therefore automatically sells less well than well thought out random packaging.

The secondary market works well enough for gamers. Be grateful that we have any SW figures at all.

There is something to be said for the way that WotC packaged the SWM figures. I have a lot of figures dating back to the first release. The fact is that there are tons of useful commons like Storm Troopers. Buying a case or so gives you enough variety to play pretty good SWM games and any other rules you care to adapt for bigger battles like Two Hour Wargames or Starship Troopers.

I am still not sure which way I prefer it: the random sets like the SWM and DDM games or the packaged squads like AT-43 and Mutant Chronicles. I've been a SWM player for a long time, but I'm really getting tired of all the duplicate commons, especially from this new Clone Wars set.

You have to wonder whether the SWM game has run its course. I mean how many more clone troopers, storm troopers, and battle droids do I really need? As for "unique" characters…I suppose there are still plenty to be found in the Star Wars novels, but I've read only a few a the motivation to own a figure of some obscure character in a paperback book just isn't there for me.

Don't get me wrong. I really like the miniatures. I just have enough to form into millions of combinations to from squads. There ample figures of various types (especially the most recognizable characters from the seven basic movies/books) to do any RPG.

D&D even more so. I would buy a every single miniatures (and muliples of the level monsters and swarms) if they re-introduced them in metal. I would even buy them if they sold them as plastic non-collectible pre-paints like Reaper is doing.

I think WotC has realized that these CMGs have run their course.

The skirmish game is gone, but random packaging of D&D minis continues.

I wish they would do this for WAR at Sea

I told some friends I will not order more boosters minis and they were surprised. WOTC relaunch too many minis from the same character. For example there are like 10 Darth Vaders and like 8 Luke Skywalkers. In other mini games like Warhammer, they only make one copy for every hero and that copy lasts even for 10 years in the market. You dont need a hero in 10 different positions on every four months release.

I am planning on selling a lot of useless stuff I have. Also the new commons are better than the rares from the first sets, so the older ones are useless.