Tell us on what occasion you have been priced out by GW

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

As the title says. My next project involves a Boarding Action theme with every mini coming with a dedicated base to fit in with it´s surrounding. It´s supposed to take place in 30K and the antagonists of the marines (Shattered Legion IH/DG/WE) will be Mechanicum. So I took a look at the Mechanicum thrall box and was shocked at the price tag. Those models also have earned themselves a bad reputation by needlessly consisting of way too many parts. The consequence was that to create a bunch of cyborg cannon fodder for the marines I bought a box of Stargrave Automatons (20 models).

[Ahzek451]

Since 8th is when my shift started. I collected every book and codex since 2nd. No more. Throughout my hobby time I also found myself picking up a new army at least once an edition. I even managed to drop some coin on that expensive forgeworld resin on titans and early heresy before the plastics came. 

 

Ive since sold most of my armies. At first mostly due to the fact that I didn't have the time to sit and paint them all. But in the last few years pricing has been a growing factor. I only have 1-2 armies for 40k, heresy, and sigmar. And where prices sit these days im super selective on my purchases, typically only acquiring something if it related to one of my main armies. I dont buy any cards, dice, accessories, etc. anymore. Codex books only for armies I play that edition and even then ive skipped 1 or 2. And I never by from GW direct. Pretty much 99% of GW purchases come from a store with 20-30% discount.

 

Pricing isn't the only factor, FOMO is a part of it. I used to jump on special edition items like fancy BL novels and rule books. But limited runs on these sort of things...naw im good. Overcosted for what it is and not worth the effort trying to beat scalpers. Even those early access boxes for new armies or whatnot like kill team tomb world. A. Priced me out. B. Out of stock immediately. Ill wait for the models to be sold individually at a discount,  or not at all. Recasters must doing pretty well.....

[Gorgoff]

After I found some perticular chinese webshop online I stopped buing GW products even in the usual "get 20% off" webshops. 

They are clearly out of their mind when it comes to pricing. 

Some boxes are pretty solid though and I bought them. 

[Valkyrion]

What stops me from buying stuff isn't the price, it's the value I'll get from it, and that is a personal and subjective thing.

 

I treated myself to a Lego Tower of Barad Dur kit. I had fun building it, but now what? It's just sat there, near worthless, gathering dust, so I won't be buying the fancy new death star.

I don't buy the Fifa games (or EA FC as they are now). £89.99 isn't expensive in the grand scheme of things, but I don't want to spend my down time doing something that frustrates more than it excites.

I would pay £100 for Football Manager though, or Civ8, because I will get thousands of hours out of them, but I don't need to because they are usually only about £40-60. 

 

So to circle back to to GW, I haven't been priced out of Legiones Imperialis, Kill Team or 40k, it's just that I don't want to play them - I want to play 30k, so my hobby time and hobby budget goes there - ~£250 today on the preorders that I'll have fun building, painting and then playing with. 

My next 40k purchase will be the next launch box, because I'll want to try it and the models will be cool. I might get the odd other 40k release if I feel I can segue it into my 30k hobby, and I'll certainly buy Epic2.0, and I'd also buy a 30k Kill Team set, and battlefleet gothic reissue, an updated Warhammer Quest 95, a Space Crusade redux, Space Hulk etc.

 

It doesn't actually matter how much a *thing* costs as much as what I think it is worth to me.

 

[SvenIronhand]

4 hours ago, Ahzek451 said:

Since 8th is when my shift started. I collected every book and codex since 2nd. No more. Throughout my hobby time I also found myself picking up a new army at least once an edition. I even managed to drop some coin on that expensive forgeworld resin on titans and early heresy before the plastics came. 

 

Ive since sold most of my armies. At first mostly due to the fact that I didn't have the time to sit and paint them all. But in the last few years pricing has been a growing factor. I only have 1-2 armies for 40k, heresy, and sigmar. And where prices sit these days im super selective on my purchases, typically only acquiring something if it related to one of my main armies. I dont buy any cards, dice, accessories, etc. anymore. Codex books only for armies I play that edition and even then ive skipped 1 or 2. And I never by from GW direct. Pretty much 99% of GW purchases come from a store with 20-30% discount.

 

Pricing isn't the only factor, FOMO is a part of it. I used to jump on special edition items like fancy BL novels and rule books. But limited runs on these sort of things...naw im good. Overcosted for what it is and not worth the effort trying to beat scalpers. Even those early access boxes for new armies or whatnot like kill team tomb world. A. Priced me out. B. Out of stock immediately. Ill wait for the models to be sold individually at a discount,  or not at all. Recasters must doing pretty well.....

This sounds like a self-discipline problem, rather than being priced out.

[Ahzek451]

1 hour ago, SvenIronhand said:

This sounds like a self-discipline problem, rather than being priced out.

Maybe sounds, but not is.

[Jings]

Never bought books bar the main rulebook you'd get with starter sets after 8th. Only bought starter sets or larger boxes when I wanted everything in them. Liberal use of proxies because I like to convert. On the rare occasion I'd buy a single kit, I'd get it from a 3rd party site if there wasn't an LGS. Got a 3D printer two years ago, and now only print as I want stuff in particular. Only bought a couple things from GW since and I'm now down-sizing because I don't need to horde kits "just in case". 

 

I'd agree it's often a self-discipline problem. I haven't met a single person who doesn't have multiple sets of unbuilt/unpainted kits for every fully painted unit they have - myself included. I imagine its the same with most hobbies to be fair, but it's a lot easier to tell with model kits. 

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

I haven't been priced out yet. But there is only because I sacrificed literally every other hobby and made deep cuts elsewhere. Warhammer is of immense value to me. At the least without it my count of attempted suicides would be considerably higher. Heck I even cut back on groceries, medicine and home maintenance to a degree. With the latest pricing update in October I'm probably going to become very close to hitting the absolute limit though. 

 

Still, there's no point in living if you can't feel alive. Death is preferable to living my life without Warhammer in it. 

Edited Saturday at 08:50 PM by The Praetorian of Inwit

[ThePenitentOne]

I didn't buy the new Kill Team box... and I actually had a chance. Getting two of the Deathwatch KT's was cool, and I don't have any Necrons, so getting the NPOcrons would have been a nice perk. But I just couldn't do it. From GW's perspective, that's a real missed opportunity- it would have put me on the path of collecting another faction. But now I still don't play necrons.

 

The Drukhari on the other hand: I bought one of the combat patrol boxes off the shelf the day they sold out online- such a great box! But my instincts were good- the next combat patrol is Coven-based, and I'll need it too. The two boxes really compliment each other. Almost every Drukhari unit I have came from a boxed set.

[Scribe]

I'm not sure at what point it crossed the line, but the combination of.

 

1. Price per box.

2. Required boxes per army.

3. Increasingly trash rules.

4. Increasingly flirting with dire lore.

 

Eventually tripped the alarm, and I was officially done with GW as my primary hobby, it took the Siege of Terra fiasco to swear me off of Black Library.

 

Between 8th and Godblight for 40K proper.

[darkhorse0607]

Havent been priced out completely although I have definitely scaled back. I dont have many hobbies though so we will see if that changes over time if it pick up something else

 

Honestly the big reason for scaling back is how they handle releases now. Before the big box phenomenon (which I think stated during the Pandemic with the necron vs admec box?), when they would release a kit and you could just buy it, I tended to buy a bit more. Or same thing with characters/heroes now because its a one and done thing  

 

But now, almost every single new release is locked behind a $230-250 box, and Im sorry but that is too much right now, especially when a lot of the time I just want the one thing (the Deathwatch for example from the last kill team box).

 

That causes me to stop, by the time it comes out I am either waiting on a different release, actually get it (assuming its in stock which is the other big part of this), or just skip and wait for something else. 

 

The other part of the time is that I feel like half the time where I go to buy something its out of stock and you never know the time frame of when its coming back 

[Felix Antipodes]

The three year cycle started a back pedal on purchases.  This was quickly followed by a lack of value WRT the codices.  There is hardly a scrap of new content (lore or artwork) in most of them nowadays so why buy them?  The rules themselves can be found in the BRB or online.

So, not priced out as such - more a perceived lack of value. But it is getting close.

[Redcomet]

90% of all Forgeworld kits are priced higher than what I would pay for them now. I used to buy a lot of Forgeworld, but I have bought 1 model the last 5 years. 
 

I can’t tell the exact time of product that made me go “no, I am out” though.

 

Other than that, I have generally slowed down my purchases of Big Boxes. 

 

The two week pre order window has also had an impact. I generally pre order less and it has reigned in a lot of my impulse purchases.

Edited Sunday at 05:51 AM by Redcomet

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

6 hours ago, Scribe said:

I'm not sure at what point it crossed the line, but the combination of.

 

1. Price per box.

2. Required boxes per army.

3. Increasingly trash rules.

4. Increasingly flirting with dire lore.

 

Eventually tripped the alarm, and I was officially done with GW as my primary hobby, it took the Siege of Terra fiasco to swear me off of Black Library.

 

Between 8th and Godblight for 40K proper.

I only have a couple of HH novels. When I heard the Siege of Terra books were filled to the brim with filler it was pretty easy to say "No" to this scam.

[Scribe]

20 minutes ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

I only have a couple of HH novels. When I heard the Siege of Terra books were filled to the brim with filler it was pretty easy to say "No" to this scam.

 

It was a sunk cost fallacy for me. I had to see it through. 

 

Then they added a book of shorts lol, shameless. 

[Pacific81]

I hadn't bought any new GW stuff for years, and ended up getting into Legions Imp & now Heresy, and after playing other games for some years (ASOIAF, Frostgrave, Infinity) have to say the expense was definitely a shock. The worst part is perhaps not the mini price itself, as some of the plastics are reasonable if bought from retailers, but how many you need and having to buy so many expensive rulebooks and then them being recycled so quickly. 

 

Another notable thing was the step down in tech (lack of gameplay & army building apps, community engagement & support etc.) Which is remarkable as GW are the industry giant vs other very small companies who can manage it, but it must be a purposeful business decision to keep people buying the books. The painful part is that books like the new HH, which are appallingly written, obfuscating & will serve as a barrier to new players, could really do with some apps & army builders to help them along.

Edited Sunday at 07:14 AM by Pacific81

[Redcomet]

2 hours ago, Pacific81 said:

I hadn't bought any new GW stuff for years, and ended up getting into Legions Imp & now Heresy, and after playing other games for some years (ASOIAF, Frostgrave, Infinity) have to say the expense was definitely a shock. The worst part is perhaps not the mini price itself, as some of the plastics are reasonable if bought from retailers, but how many you need and having to buy so many expensive rulebooks and then them being recycled so quickly. 

 

Another notable thing was the step down in tech (lack of gameplay & army building apps, community engagement & support etc.) Which is remarkable as GW are the industry giant vs other very small companies who can manage it, but it must be a purposeful business decision to keep people buying the books. The painful part is that books like the new HH, which are appallingly written, obfuscating & will serve as a barrier to new players, could really do with some apps & army builders to help them along.

GW have always been anti modern IT solutions. It is just part of their corporate culture.

[ZeroWolf]

59 minutes ago, Redcomet said:

GW have always been anti modern IT solutions. It is just part of their corporate culture.

See, for most of their IT stuff, I can only imagine they went with the lowest bidder (and getting exactly what they paid for). The one exception is the website which we know they paid too much for (and got crap in exchange). Have to wonder if there was some kind of dodgy deal there like funneling money to a friends company kind of thing.

[Grotsmasha]

I priced out from a Gaming perspective, GW removing units, and changing squad compositions / loadouts between rule sets made it all too much for me. I now buy for modelling projects, and commissions.

However, I'm a sucker for their smaller, self-contained boxed games. I've found them to be great value. SMA: Rise of the Orks and Gretchinz are my go-tos when itroducing people to the universe.

[phandaal]

For me it is more about whether the kits feel like they are worth the price GW asks for them. I can afford GW prices if I choose to buy the kits. It just has to feel like the price is justified by more than GW's Quest for More Money.

 

That became a "no" some time in the last year or so I think. This latest Votann release came and went, and even though I am actually planning to build myself another Votann army (what else do you do after finishing one Votann army?), I passed on this latest release wave after seeing the kit prices.

 

Does not mean I have stopped building armies. I will just do it with 3D printed parts, from discount resellers selling at a steep price drop, or from other companies selling hard plastic at more reasonable prices.

[Orange Knight]

I don't know if Priced out is the right descriptor for me, but I absolutely refused to spend money on the Forgeworld Invectarus Suzerains, and I also didn't want to invest my money and time into creating a truly suitable proxy. It's not hard to make a unit with axes and shields, but not one that is ostentatious enough to truly capture the intent behind the unit.

 

To simply put, the Forgeworld kit is grotesque and ugly, and I would never spend that kind of money on two of those kits to make a 10 man squad.

 

I guess if I had less commitments or more money I would have invested in making this unit happen.

[Vassakov]

I don't think "priced out" is the right language - its a luxury hobby, not food or shelter. The language used in this thread isn't "I literally cannot afford to buy this" it is "I don't think it's worth it anymore." And half of that isn't exclusively to do with the prices either.

 

People might decide that the price GW is asking for their product is no longer justifiable, but if you're literally not able to afford to buy toy soldiers at the end of the month you probably shouldn't be focusing on toy soldiers in the first place.

[siegfriedfr]

Priced out? Not yet, but you have to be reasonable. I usually do the new edition box, 1 combat patrol, and 2 characters/vehicle a year. 

 

I think it's easier when you don't actually play 40k and chase the meta. 

 

I know how to efficiently strip paints so . also make good use of the second hand market. 

[Halandaar]

17 hours ago, Vassakov said:

The language used in this thread isn't "I literally cannot afford to buy this" it is "I don't think it's worth it anymore." And half of that isn't exclusively to do with the prices either.

 

Agree - What's pushed me out of 40K isn't the price of the models, it's the incessant churn of the rules and the costs associated with that. A Combat Patrol's worth of models would still be useable in 10 years time regardless of whether you paid £95, £100 or £105 for it. But you'll have needed 3x ~£42 core rulebooks and 3x ~£37 Codexes to keep those models playable in the current edition of the game over that same timeframe, to say nothing of whatever seasonal Chapter Approved books they put out too.

 

I continue to find value from models, so I continue to buy them, but I don't feel like I get the same value from the game system anymore so I have stepped off the 40K treadmill. It's not like I can't just play a previous edition if I feel like it. 

[Robbienw]

18 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

I don't know if Priced out is the right descriptor for me, but I absolutely refused to spend money on the Forgeworld Invectarus Suzerains, and I also didn't want to invest my money and time into creating a truly suitable proxy. It's not hard to make a unit with axes and shields, but not one that is ostentatious enough to truly capture the intent behind the unit.

 

To simply put, the Forgeworld kit is grotesque and ugly, and I would never spend that kind of money on two of those kits to make a 10 man squad.

 

I guess if I had less commitments or more money I would have invested in making this unit happen.

 

That's not priced out mate, you just don't like the models