A discussion on Rumours

[Son of Darkness]

I thought a discussion on rumours was overdue, if the mod’s will indulge this.

I must say that GW is losing the plot, and are pissing people off by cracking down on rumours. People use to get excited and plan armies as we knew what is coming up, now we do not know if the Chaos Codex is even going to be this year! I had some money I would have put into doing a new Chaos army, now its been reallocated to other non-hobby projects. I have no idea when anything is due out so why should I save for nothing of substance?

When there was the whole affair of false rumours for Tau etc where was GW? They know what goes on these forums and by allowing people to get excited and be lied too for months only to be rudely brought down is their fault. With one statement they could have stopped it but they did not. Did they think it was funny?

I am just concerned that false rumours and hopes dashed are doing damage to the hobby, as well as the whole ‘my army is now not competitive- has been left behind’

Thank God for Forge World as it seems to be the ONLY thing keeping 40k fresh/interesting with constant new releases, FW Open Day photos and pics in their news letters etc. This generates interest and I see people doing whole FW model armies because of it.

GW needs to think about the future. What is GW going to do when 3D copiers come into general use and people can make their own models from images cheaply? Then GW will only have the books. They need to separate the books from the model releases as they only at most do three 40k armies a year, so many fall behind. New models are good but up to date books are better. If they co-ordinated with FW then they could do some models for them.

What about those people whose army is lagging behind and don’t want or have the money to get a new one. What’s keeping them engaged? Indeed in New Zealand hardly anyone plays actual marines anymore, its all the latest thing BA/GK. At the last tournament I went to out of 6 games I played against 4 GK armies.

Ultimately if we knew what was actually coming up like we use to, we can plan and save up. Rumours are important for the hobby.

Am I alone in this?

[Sildani]

Not to hijack the thread, but in the age of cheap and effective 3d printing GW will still have the universe, the rulebooks, and Jes Goodwin and Juan Diaz (their brains preserved in jars if need be) to provide the designs and sculpts. Then GW can sell the sculpt files to us.

As for the lack of rumors: I miss them too, but we're not entirely bereft of them. Hastings, Harry, Vegeta365 and others have all been heard from lately, with new sources popping in. Even if they're wrong, it's great to discuss and speculate.

And it just occurred to me that perhaps one of the reasons there are fewer rumors is because so much sculpting is done on computer these days, making it much harder to"accidentally" see a WIP sculpt. After all, if you can see it, you probably have a password to said computer, and thus very little incentive to blab about what you saw.

[burning crome]

The rumour crack down is directly due to the hobbit contract as has been stated by them may a time. TBH it really must be hurting them since not being able to push big release until the last min is not a great position it be in. As to them not actively patrolling the rumors and eliminating false one the problem there is that that to could be seen as braking there imposed embargo, since any information given even a denials makes it possible to work out what going on. It would become a game of twenty questions if you understand my meaning. eg R-Tau are the next release GW-No there not R-ok then dark angles are next GW- no R-ok then it must be chaos GW -no comment GW now in breach.

[Putty]

On the flip side, the lack of "rumors" or proper forecast of their future releases allow me to wholly concentrate on my existing armies.

Most gamers suffer from gaming ADD... this is the main reason why many don't "finish painting their armies".

I have no issues with this... I now hope that GW actually spends more effort catching up with their backlog of missing models for their range.

Where is my GW Hydra-Flak Cannon guys? I don't want to buy the FW Bendy Cannons yo.

[Starchild]

I used to hate GW's rumour policy until I realized the effect it has on my modeling. Instead of obsessing over what's coming out next I spend more time on the armies I already have. My interest in Eldar got rekindled and I got inspired to finish off my Dark Angels.

The game is still fun if you find the right opponent. For example, pitting Dark Angels against another 4th edition book like Orks, Eldar, or Tau makes a very enjoyable challenge. I still think the DA codex is a masterpiece of game balance and when played against a codex on the same relative power level it makes one appreciate what Jervis, Andy, and Gav were trying to do for the game before the Mat Ward wrecking crew came along.

[althathir]

I think the rumour lockdown has effected the hobby in a lot of ways and deserves a discussion but I'm not sure if the rumour section is the right place for it. Personally I don't mind it so much as the pace that they've been updating things, I really think every army getting an update every 3 years would be a great for existing players and GW (I have to think the DA update moved some termie models for them)

I used to hate GW's rumour policy until I realized the effect it has on my modeling. Instead of obsessing over what's coming out next I spend more time on the armies I already have. My interest in Eldar got rekindled and I got inspired to finish off my Dark Angels.

The game is still fun if you find the right opponent. For example, pitting Dark Angels against another 4th edition book like Orks, Eldar, or Tau makes a very enjoyable challenge. I still think the DA codex is a masterpiece of game balance and when played against a codex on the same relative power level it makes one appreciate what Jervis, Andy, and Gav were trying to do for the game before the Mat Ward wrecking crew came along.

I honestly think that ward and crew are doing well, the 4th edition books never seemed to follow the same development pattern for very long. I feel like this is the most consistent set of books since I started playing (not that it doesn't have its lowpoints mainly nids & GK), its just a different style than those 4th edition books. The longer the current crew keeps updating the books the better the hobby is gonna be IMO.

[Friedrich von Offenbach]

They need to separate the books from the model releases as they only at most do three 40k armies a year

Indeed in New Zealand hardly anyone plays actual marines anymore, its all the latest thing BA/GK. At the last tournament I went to out of 6 games I played against 4 GK armies.

I agree with separating books and models. I think that would solve countless problems with heaps of armies and stop the cycle of armies going from useable to useless and back again as different editions are released.

The rumour crack down is directly due to the hobbit contract

Is that confirmed though? - or just another unconfirmable rumuor/speculation

[Shas'O'Stormblade]

Is that confirmed though? - or just another unconfirmable rumuor/speculation

GW never actually said anything officially so this is just speculation, but has stuck throughout the months.

Its one of those things where you assume it to be true, because it sounds like the stupidity of GW.

[eldargal]

How do you go from 'contractual obligation as part of licensing lucrative IP' to 'GW stupidity'? Getting hte LOTR/Hobbit license has bene the veyr opposite of stupidity for GW, every time you use one of your beautiful big, compelx plastic kits you are handling the proof of that.

[Lord Squidar]

I made a terrible mistake at my local GW. When the necrons appeared on warseer, i went down the the GW and said, hey have you seen the new models on warseer? Bearing in mind the continent I originally come from has not a single official GW store on it, so didn't know the protocol. Well they sh@t on me from a dizzy height.

Basically what they said was that they already have so many problems from the leaked pictures. Problems with customers wanting the goods that are not going to be released for a while. I think with GW, its a place to get your warhammer cocaine fix right then and there, and you assume that they always have full stock of everything (mostly right). If people see stuff, they come in and ask for it, and get disappointed that its not there. The leaked pictures are one thing, they say the white dwarf is a whole other kettle of fish, and when that comes out a week or so before, it causes a huge hoohah of customers wanting stuff and they have to constantly explain that its still coming. This is the official GW perspective on this.

I don't like it personally, I would love to know what is coming out sooner so that it doesn't mess up with your mojo. I very recently bought many models because I wanted to paint, and then empire got released after, and I now regret it because that stuff is much cooler. Had they advertised earlier, I'd be up to my puffy sleeves in empire right now.

[The Dude]

This thread is more appropriate to the GW General Discussion forum.

Thread Moved.

The Dude
The Warseer Inquisition

[Avian]

Basically what they said was that they already have so many problems from the leaked pictures. Problems with customers wanting the goods that are not going to be released for a while. I think with GW, its a place to get your warhammer cocaine fix right then and there, and you assume that they always have full stock of everything (mostly right). If people see stuff, they come in and ask for it, and get disappointed that its not there. The leaked pictures are one thing, they say the white dwarf is a whole other kettle of fish, and when that comes out a week or so before, it causes a huge hoohah of customers wanting stuff and they have to constantly explain that its still coming. This is the official GW perspective on this.

Trust GW to present customers coming into their stores as a BAD thing and not an opportunity to sell them other stuff.

"You saw those cool new Triarch Stalker models? They'll be out soon enough and they'll work great in tandem with these Warriors here. Here, have some of the new metallics to paint them with. And some glue. And some dice. You want fries with that?"

[Friedrich von Offenbach]

Basically what they said was that they already have so many problems from the leaked pictures. Problems with customers wanting the goods that are not going to be released for a while.

Really? that sounds like people going to the cinema and trying to see a movie they just saw the pre-release trailer for

[Daniel36]

Just finish assembling, painting and/or playing (depending on what you want out of the game) with what you have lying on your table right now instead of obsessing over what may or may not lie there in half a year.

[canberraguy]

The rumour crack down is directly due to the hobbit contract as has been stated by them may a time. TBH it really must be hurting them since not being able to push big release until the last min is not a great position it be in. As to them not actively patrolling the rumors and eliminating false one the problem there is that that to could be seen as braking there imposed embargo, since any information given even a denials makes it possible to work out what going on. It would become a game of twenty questions if you understand my meaning. eg R-Tau are the next release GW-No there not R-ok then dark angles are next GW- no R-ok then it must be chaos GW -no comment GW now in breach.

Where did this hobbit/rumor crackdown info come from, it sounds like speculation to me. I don't see the point of them doing it and I do not see why the studios would ask them to "prove" they can keep control of rumors.

I think it simply a case of GW only promoting company men to positions they are not qualified for and therefore they make stupid decisions.

Eg ex store boys promoted to marketing positions.

[Scammel]

I don't see the point of them doing it and I do not see why the studios would ask them to "prove" they can keep control of rumors.

Because there's a helluva lot more money in movies than models and GW will have been entrusted with a large amount of media from the films. Any leaks (which will equate to spoilers) and GW will be in deep doo-doo. It makes a lot more sense as an explanation than 'Herp derp GW are stupid'. I believe the original source of this explanation was Yabbadabba.

[shelfunit.]

Because there's a helluva lot more money in movies than models and GW will have been entrusted with a large amount of media from the films. Any leaks (which will equate to spoilers) and GW will be in deep doo-doo. It makes a lot more sense as an explanation than 'Herp derp GW are stupid'. I believe the original source of this explanation was Yabbadabba.

Whilst the potential for leaks is there, it really would only apply to a very few things - Beorn, Smaug and a couple of other bits and pieces - there is an official "hobbit blog" http://www.thehobbitblog.com/ which is updated several times a month with behind the scenes vids and pics etc, so letting out images of models in sync with the official film images would not be hard to arrange.
Another reason the "no leaks contract" theory is wobbly is that there were plenty of Warhamer/40K rumours during the Lord of the Rings films and no GW material was leaked in relation to those films - had there been, GW almost certainly would not have gotten the license for the Hobbit films, and if there were no leaks then, why would a contract stipulating harsher clampdowns be needed for the Hobbit? To be fair to the Hobbit, it is not going to have the same impact LotR had when it first came out.

[Unexo]

As one who is coming back into the hobby after a few years, I must say it is a bit disappointing to not know what will happen. My main army has always been Black Templars. But before I buy anything new, they need a new codex. So it would be awesome to know which army is next, as it seem to be 1-2 years out by now. So BT is currently on hold, and I've looked into Dark Eldars recently. But it would be devestating for me if BT came out the moment I had just started a new project. If BT suddenly had their release this summer, then I would feel like I just wasted money on a new army. So rumours are a nice thing to plan money usage around. To save for new release and not feel like you wasted it

[canberraguy]

Because there's a helluva lot more money in movies than models and GW will have been entrusted with a large amount of media from the films. Any leaks (which will equate to spoilers) and GW will be in deep doo-doo. It makes a lot more sense as an explanation than 'Herp derp GW are stupid'. I believe the original source of this explanation was Yabbadabba.

That's fine, agree to disagree, but I think it's a silly explanation, and also, never underestimate the capacity of people to be stupid. I have worked in large scale retail and than business for 15 years and people make terrible decisions all the time. I think GW just has bad people making decisions at the moment.

[Satan]

Trust GW to present customers coming into their stores as a BAD thing and not an opportunity to sell them other stuff.

"You saw those cool new Triarch Stalker models? They'll be out soon enough and they'll work great in tandem with these Warriors here. Here, have some of the new metallics to paint them with. And some glue. And some dice. You want fries with that?"

Stupidest thing I ever heard. Wonder if it happens to stores that sell computer games as well?

"Yeah, I'm looking for Diablo 4, do you guys have it?"
"No... it was announced for 2020 yesterday..."

I sure dislike the policy, but hey - if it nets them sales they're going to keep it up. Question might be academic for us to discuss, but I guess it's the only one worth discussing.

On the other hand, I personally think what the rumour clampdowns' done to the forums is the worst thing - threads of endless wishlisting and namecalling as people clearly cannot fathom the meaning of the word RUMOUR as opposed to FACT, which is another thing entirely.

That's fine, agree to disagree, but I think it's a silly explanation, and also, never underestimate the capacity of people to be stupid. I have worked in large scale retail and than business for 15 years and people make terrible decisions all the time. I think GW just has bad people making decisions at the moment.

Agreed.

People make terrible decisions within business everywhere, all the time. It's human nature and I don't understand why people on forums like this would believe GW are immune to this. They are not. Saying this does not equate to each and every random guy complaining about GW on a forum somewhere is in the right, but yeah - they can be thick, just like every other company, hurrdurrr....