New price hikes down the line?

[crimthaan]

Talking to a friend of mine today who has a friend in GW US, said he has heard rumors of a potential new price raise a few days after the Chicago games day.

True or not we all know GW will eventually raise prices again...my question to you guys is when do you finally say enough is enough? 1000 Land Raiders? 75 dollar Terminators? 50 dollar Tactical squads? What do you guys think?

[fishboy]

I buy a lot of GW stuff but I must admit I am about at my limit. I foresee GK and my DE being the last armies I do for a while.

This is why I am looking seriously into Malifaux and why I think so many people are really starting to like the game.

[Ranger Dude]

I'm at the point where I rarely buy stuff. I've started going back and repainting old armies rather than buy new ones to work on. Unless I win something at an event or in a league, I'm unlikely to buy anything new. I used to get every codex, but I can't even afford to do that anymore. It's frustrating since I do enjoy the games. But between price hikes and constantly making a need for more models in an army, I just can't keep up.

[travis]

Couple things on this. They do a price adjustment every year in June/July. The only thing that ever moves this is the release of a core rule set. The grey knight codex will be soft cover. More then likely the fantasy army books will be hard cover going forward.

My guess is that next summer we will see a new 40k rule set. Typically, when a new rule set comes out the first new codex is Space Marines. Let's say that happens. What exactly do they have to release for Space Marines? The core for that army looks solid as is.

At least your game is around and being played. Look at how many mini games have come and gone by the wayside. You have a game, that you play, that is healthy. GW is going to be around for a long time. You have to buy a new rule set every time that comes out. Every 4 or so years you drop 60 on a rulebook. If you play console games you pay 50 a crack. How many of those do you buy a year? After you play the game for a bit how often do you ever pick it up and play it again? Now go and try to sell that game. What's it worth. Do you play PC games? Do any of them have monthly fees? How about paintball. When you get done buying all of your equipment and go and play do they refund you all the paint you shoot out of the gun?

Don't think that I am defending GW. Keep in mind I have to sell there stuff to make a living. Don't you think it would be easier for me if the prices were lower? The reality is you are lucky enough to play in a hobby that you also gain a tangible asset that doesn't depreciate much from the day you bought. It's no like you get your Space Marines 10 and next year you have to have Space Marines 11 like Madden does. Try complaining to a Magic player about prices. They buy cards for upwords of 20 dollars that they need 4 of and know that in two years will have to replace. Maybe in two weeks they have to replace them because a better deck came out.

What are you gonna do? You have this much time and effort invested already. Veteran player's will probably take Gabe and Joe's approach. They will buy stuff here and there but are happy with the armies they have. New player's will be harder to get into the hobby due to barrier to entry issues. Games Workshop will stop raising prices when they stop selling product. If they stop selling product not only will you have no one to play against, you will also have nowhere to play and your models will not have the same financial value as they do right now. Anyone have any Warzone Models? What are they worth right now? Games Workshop is roughly 23% of my overall sales. Take 23% off of what you make and see how if feels.

So like any hobby it's a choice. You, as a consumer, have to decide if your getting enough value out of your purchase. When you take the cost of your army and divide it by the hours you spend painting, modeling, traveling to tourney with friends, playing, talking about the hobby, is the financial cost worth your investment? If you took that money and did something else with it, would you be able to recoup your costs? Would you enjoy what you are doing with the money as much? Wouldn't you have to make an initial purchase for that hobby as well and update your gear every so often?

It's your choice. If your here, your probably already invested. Enjoy the game as you like.

[fishboy]

Just meeting you Travis was worth all the money I have invested so far hehehe.

I agree with the vast majority of what you said and by biggest fear is the difficulty getting people into the game. I used to play paint ball and yeah your talking about $100 a weekend plus all the equipment. I used to race Pro RC cars and your talking about $$$$$$$$ every weekend you race. I stopped when I inventoried to find I had over $10K worth of stuff and was still spending.

Another big fear is the stores that sell. They will be hit the worse because fewer people purchase at a store and buy online at the discounts. Personally I make it a point to buy at the stores even though it costs me a little more. Call me silly but I like to have a place to play and congregate.

Oh well.....off the soap box and on to the store to place my order for all my GK stuff heheeh. Travis I will see you tomorrow to ogle the book (Time?) and do a preorder.

[crimthaan]

Trav - thanks for the answer you gave. Honest and to the point, and I really didn't think of it that way.