Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[Sothalor]

So there's an ongoing thread in the N&R subforum, but specifically from a Black Library products standpoint...

 

Holy Fething Rotting Corpse God Throne this webstore update is ATROCIOUS.

[Taliesin]

Yup. Abominable. And really thats what you would expect from them isnt it? I say that without viciousness or spite but more with a knowing smile.

Because you just knew that if they were going to replace G-W.COM, it would be with something that would actually function significantly worse, because thats the trend we've been seeing for years, you just knew that the chance that it would actually be an improvement was tiny. No more Weekenders, no more BL Live event, even less interaction with the fans, no more books on sale on bl.com which then became a meaningless website, barely any updates to BL schedule on Warcom, much more limitations on book availability such as regular hardcovers; and now, a poor website.

 

I didnt find the Games-workshop site difficult to navigate or hard to find my stuff on, worked well for me. Only had issues with traffic etc, the well known stuff. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Taliesin

[Ubiquitous1984]

1 hour ago, Sothalor said:

So there's an ongoing thread in the N&R subforum, but specifically from a Black Library products standpoint...

 

Holy Fething Rotting Corpse God Throne this webstore update is ATROCIOUS.

Good job there are no BL releases this weekend. 

[Kelborn]

Given how weird and unnecessarily complicated the new site is, it might delude bots and casual scalpers long enough for people to get some LEs, now. 

[theSpirea]

Abomination. It's already enough that I have to fight our product managers at work to slow down pushing everything to apps and incorporating these terrible, wanna-be apple-sterile-empty designs. GW is really taking it to a whole other level.

 

But it doesn't surprise me. Just take a look at the recent art books they published. It's all white spaces, trying to evoke a sense of luxury item while they are actually stripping down the content. Luckily I only buy LEs there and even on that front I'm giving up so I have no need to visit this pathetic excuse they call e-shop.

[Felix Antipodes]

4 hours ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Good job there are no BL releases this weekend. 

I sort of would have liked a one book release this week just to see how it went and to see if any new hurdles have been added to the buying process.  We will now probably have a multi-LE release new week just to confound us all 

[Sothalor]

5 hours ago, Kelborn said:

Given how weird and unnecessarily complicated the new site is, it might delude bots and casual scalpers long enough for people to get some LEs, now. 

 

Brother I want to hope you're right, but i have the sinking sense that navigating the new store is so clunky and user-unfriendly that actual customers would just end up losing out even more against automated programs or scalpers.

[DukeLeto69]

How much is GW worth? A little while back the shares were riding high and GW was an investors poster child. A company if that value has no place not having a decent webstore in the 21st Century. It’s almost as if they are trying to reflect their IP through their channels with Mechanicus stupidity and administrative chaos.

[System Sound]

6 hours ago, theSpirea said:

But it doesn't surprise me. Just take a look at the recent art books they published. It's all white spaces, trying to evoke a sense of luxury item while they are actually stripping down the content. Luckily I only buy LEs there and even on that front I'm giving up so I have no need to visit this pathetic excuse they call e-shop.

Comparing Liber Chaotica reprint against The First Founding, it's especially evident. Liber is just chock full of text and imagines that barely fit the page. Meanwhile in first founding you can writte a novel in the empty spaces...

[skylerboodie]

1 hour ago, DukeLeto69 said:

How much is GW worth? A little while back the shares were riding high and GW was an investors poster child. A company if that value has no place not having a decent webstore in the 21st Century. It’s almost as if they are trying to reflect their IP through their channels with Mechanicus stupidity and administrative chaos.

 

Share price is currently c. £100.30 this am and there are 32,914,491 issued ordinary shares, so valued at £3,301,323,447 (£3.3 billion).

 

Share price peak was c. £122.20 in Sep'21, so would've been worth c. £4.0 billion at its peak.

 

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/GAW/total-voting-rights/16190488

[DarkChaplain]

According to their Twitter presence, it'll also take another "few days" for wallet credit and order history / pending orders to be migrated to the new shop. They didn't even get that ready. Imagine you've got store credit sitting there, wanting to spend it, just to find that your balance says 0.

 

Quote

It looks like some Nurglings have found their way into the site. Don’t worry, we’ve released Neave and her Blacktalons to hunt them down, and any minor site issues will be fixed soon

 

No matter how cute you're trying to be, GW, your website is still :cuss:.

Edited November 1, 2023 by DarkChaplain

[cheywood]

We’re getting a Brutal Kunnin special edition: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/11/01/we-looted-the-entire-first-chapter-from-brutal-kunnin-and-you-can-read-it-here/

 

To celebrate Warcom has put the first chapter up for free. So kind of them. It’s not like the first chapter’s been available as a free extract for three years or anything 

 

It’s a good thing whoever runs Warcom doesn’t have actual power, they’ve weaponized incompetence far more effectively than the Imperium itself ever could.

[skylerboodie]

Nothing against Mike Brooks or this book, but it seems like a strange choice to get a special edition after its original release. I recall his Warboss deluxe edition took a long time to sell out / be removed from sale, and I imagine most people interested in such an Ork story as this would've picked it up previously. Also, the face on this cover is just a cut and paste job from the original artwork, so not much effort has gone into this it seems.

[System Sound]

"Boss? We kinda don't have an article for BL on Wednesday..."

 

"Oh just post a entire chapter from... This book."

 

[Ubiquitous1984]

Nothing against the author at all, but I foresee Brutul Kunnin will be the least popular SE/LE release of the year.  

[aa.logan]

5 hours ago, DarkChaplain said:

According to their Twitter presence, it'll also take another "few days" for wallet credit and order history / pending orders to be migrated to the new shop. They didn't even get that ready. Imagine you've got store credit sitting there, wanting to spend it, just to find that your balance says 0.

I don’t need to imagine; that’s me.

 

Much as I love Brutal Kunning, Mike Brooks, and Limited Edition books I don’t think I’m going to be spending my vouchers on this one. It’s a really odd choice.

 

And the website is especially bad for BL books, really odd that the BL website is still a separate entity- not migrating BL ebooks over into mywarhammer accounts feels like a missed opportunity.

[Taliesin]

Clicked on "check out the Horus Heresy novels" on the site and just get blank page.

 

https://www.warhammer.com/en-NL/shop/the-horus-heresy/start-here/the-horus-heresy-novel-series

 

Also checked out "rulebook/army books" and didnt find Siege of Cthonia on it. I was like, has it sold out? But if you search for it in the search bar, it comes up.

Its the only campaign book so far and yet thats the one they dont include 

 

 

[Roomsky]

I think Brutal Kunnin's an awesome book and I still find this a mind-boggling decision.

 

Like, I'm less than a layperson when it comes to cynical business moves. I actively tune out things that try to teach me about them. But… surely they know why Limited Edition re-releases sell well outside of scalpers, right? A book that's ingrained itself as a classic but has been out of print for years is always going to drum up interest. Those who can't find a decent used copy will bite, as will those who enjoyed the book more than they expected to and want to swap out the half-mangled copy they already own or thrifted. Hell, I'd probably buy an overpriced LE of Lord of the Night just to have something other than that crummy little MMPB.

 

Brutal Kunnin' isn't old enough for that and, what's more, is one of the few books BL actually printed an appropriate amount of. It's still incredibly easy to obtain, new, at the price on the back. If you want to bend us over with a new LE release BL, why did you choose this book???

Edited November 2, 2023 by Roomsky

[Felix Antipodes]

This was a total head scratcher of a release.  Even I, an inveterate LE collector who prefers HB editions over MMPB, sees no reason to release this.  At least not at this time.  As pointed out, this is a relatively recent release and readily available already.  They have a plethora of titles that would benefit from a re-release in ANY format.  This isn’t one of them.

(and this is no disrespect to the author or the quality of the book itself)

Edited November 2, 2023 by Felix Antipodes
Fat fingers

[Noserenda]

On the upside, at least people who do want the book should have a more reasonable experience buying it eh? :D 

[Sothalor]

2 hours ago, Noserenda said:

On the upside, at least people who do want the book should have a more reasonable experience buying it eh? :D 

 

"Reasonable experience" and using the new GW webstore are antithetical terms.

[DukeLeto69]

7 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

This was a total head scratcher of a release.  Even I, an inveterate LE collector who prefers HB editions over MMPB, sees no reason to release this.  At least not at this time.  As pointed out, this is a relatively recent release and readily available already.  They have a plethora of titles that would benefit from a re-release in ANY format.  This isn’t one of them.

(and this is no disrespect to the author or the quality of the book itself)

 

BL obviously have a Kunnin plan!

 

Ok i’ll get my coat and shut the door on the way out.

[Sothalor]

Cunning plans and Black Library's pattern of behavior are antithetical terms.

[cheywood]

A few updates, courtesy of Fnac:

 

TE&TD Vol 3 has a new listing for March 6th. Amazon has it listed for January 30th. Both dates are wrong, but Fnac is probably much closer to being correct. Expecting the actual release to occur on the BL Celebration week in late February: https://www.fnac.com/a18833207/The-Horus-Heresy-siege-of-terra-3-La-Fin-et-la-Mort-Volume-III-Dan-Abnett#omnsearchpos=2

Sea of Souls (DoF book 7) by Wraight is coming a little earlier than expected! Fnac had the French edition listed for January 17th but the English version is arriving December 2: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a18860092/Chris-Wraight-Sea-Of-Souls#omnsearchpos=4 That means preorders will be up on the 18th. 
 

Strachan’s newest AOS novel, Temple of Silence, is also coming December 2nd.

 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

Still trying to get used to the idea of a Dawn of Fire novel written by Chris Wraight. Definitely not complaining, though.