Scott Rouse
Was the 8-mini for $15 model not profitable? Why the change to a 5-mini for $15 model. What exactly does WOTC see as the value-add here?
I tried to explain this in my post but I have to be careful on the level of detail I provided (publicly traded and all).
Costs were (are) climbing so to maintain the business at its current level something has to give to offset that. More times than not it was the quality of the minis in the packs (deco for example).
In the new model we are able to actually increase the quality of the minis. Some of this is driven by a higher price and some of it is driven by a reduction in costs (no skirmish development, less tooling with smaller set sizes etc).
All the minis will see an increase in quality. Highlights are:
PC packs – 3 very high quality visible non-random PC minis (similar or greater than our current rare)
MM packs – 1 high quality (similar or greater than our current rare) large monster mini and 1 high quality mini below (sometimes another large).
MM Huge packs. 1 high quality (similar or greater than our current rare) visible huge plus you get a rare below, sometimes a med and sometimes a large. You will always get a large in the huge pack.
Scott Rouse
What about the Starter Set Minis & Maps?
The starter is canceled and if appropriate those minis will go into other products.
The maps for the new starter were never created. As for the old maps we have been giving them away when we could (like on the checklist posters). I am sure we’ll continue to look for ways to get maps out there but nothing has been decided yet.
Peter Lee
Ultimately, the increased price covers increased costs for manufacturing and to give a better quality product.
Every time there is a common miniature that sells on the secondary market for a 25 cents, we have a problem. I don’t want consumers buying things that they perceive as disposable — how many of you open boosters and only care about the rare miniature? That’s a problem. When someone opens a case or two of miniatures, I want them to care about every single miniature that they get, not just a rare.
For the model going forward, we’ve increased the average paint steps per figure by 50%. Many of those paint steps are going on the visible uncommon miniature, making it look better than the average rare figure that we have now. All the rest of the figures are getting increases as well; the two commons will be closer to uncommon in quality, and the other uncommon will be closer to rare in quality.
I don’t want to go into much more right now — I’ll need something to talk about in a couple of months, after all.
I’m still happy with how the paint looks on Demonweb; it is a considerable improvement over the past two sets.
I am also sad that the miniature skirmish game is ending. I’ve been involved with the community for a long time, and it is through that community that ultimately brought me to where I am today. I’ve met a ton of wonderful people over the last 5 years through a passion for the game. The RPG group that I was in back in Madison came together through the miniature game, and they ended up being very good friends of mine. I wish that I had had more opportunities to design for the game, but at least I will have my involvement with the freelancers doing the restats.
Scott Rouse
Scott, that sounds like a whole lot of clamshell packaging — likely taking up more surface area than the other four minis in the box. It also implies that the Huges themselves will be constrained by the packaging — no rampant Dragons with outstretched wings, but multiple Giants or whatnot in non-dynamic poses.
Sure, you probably wont see something like the white dragon from AoG but so far what I have seen looks pretty freakin good. There is a dragon that is one of the best minis poses I have ever seen and the hive mother beholder is super bad (in a good way)
Also, as long as I’ve got your attention…what happens to Eddie Jr.’s Championship mini (Elf Ranger w/Falcon)? And will Guillaume (now the last-ever sanctioned DDM Constructed Champion) still get to design his mini?
The Ranger will be in a martial pack and looks great.
I am not sure about Guillaume. Maybe Pete or Shoe can answer.
Scott Rouse
I am not sure we are announcing the rarity scheme at this point. There are 8 visible mini per MM set.
The sets will have monsters in them. If it is in the MM then that would be a good rule of thumb for being in the sets. Humanoid type NPCs will be of the drow, orc, duragar, goblinoid persuasion.
As for farmers and drunks I am not sure. Could be a future product like a village or town set if this proves to have potential.