FFG announces - Imperial Assault

Michael Barnes wrote: Who the fuck can afford all of this?

That's the problem right there. No one needs to afford that except OCD nerds drooling on any mention of Star Wars with poor impulse control. What is wrong with buying base game and no expansions? It's not fucking pokemon you really don't have to catch them all. Also Imperial Assault looks rubbish. That AT-ST can barely fit on the board. I'd rather have few more regular dudes than this nonsense.

I'm like Barnes. I like to have all the stuff, and keeping up with FFG is exhausting. Stuff like this is the reason I haven't bought anything FFG for a while, because I just can't predict how much the final cost will be after expansions and such.

black inferno wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote: But when you're just recklessly assuming that people are going to be throwing money at you...I dunno, it's going to be interesting to see if Armada is a sideshow to X-Wing, if it replaces it (I don't think it will) or if it just flops due to the cost ON TOP OF the other SW product.

That's basically what I meant by the hubris comment. Fortunately for Mr. Petersen, overreacting to the popularity of your product by rapidly oversaturating the market with more of the same never backfires...

Hubris? Fuck. This isn't hubris. Hubris would be resetting X-wing so that you had to rebuy dials and cards for all of your ships. That's GW-level hubris. This? This is just milking a license that they paid a shitload of money for. And it will either work, or it won't work. But as long as people keep throwing money at them, they'll keep producing these kinds of games.

Why do they make games that are serial lines? Because even when they make a game like Battlelore that's complete out of the box, the masses are practically immolating themselves in the parking lot at the event center to get their hands on new stuff. Descent is, according to the report, their biggest seller - no doubt because it has a steady stream of stuff. What are people speculating about Armada? Wave 2 - and the damn core set isn't even out yet.

FFG has made one-and-done games that were good. Where are they now? Out of print, because that's not what people want. They want the serial purchase. They want the endless expansions. Don't blame FFG. Blame the people buying the games. If people wouldn't keep throwing money at them, this wouldn't even be a point of discussion.

OK, I'm glad you brought this up because I was thinking about this the other day in regard to the new Tomb Raider game being an Xbox exclusive- a really, really stupid business move but whatever. The usual chorus of internet commentors, eager to show how "enlightened" they are, naturally chimed in here and there with their sage wisdom that "you don't have to buy it".

Fuck that. Comments like that show that you're cutting companies WAY too much slack for marketing products that are either crap or that are marketed under the assumption that the customer is an idiot. Don't give these people an excuse. If the consumer thinks like that- whether they buy the product or not- then FFG may as well sell a single AT-ST walker expansion for Imperial Assault and sell it for $500 and require that you send in a picture of your mother in a compromising position in order to preorder it five years in advance.

Or, Christian Petersen himself could take a dump in every Imperial Assault box. You have no grounds to complain if that's what they're selling and you choose to not buy it, right?

"You don't have to buy it so STFU". Gosh, that is some WISDOM right there. But the usual "I'm above it, their marketing doesn't work on me, I don't have the OCD gene" comments TOTALLY excuse FFG from the actual responsibility for what they are selling here. If the consumer thinks like that and reacts like that, they have the license to sell pretty much anything they want, however they want, in any way that they want.

FFG has made one-and-done games that were good. Where are they now? Out of print, because that's not what people want. They want the serial purchase. They want the endless expansions. Don't blame FFG. Blame the people buying the games. If people wouldn't keep throwing money at them, this wouldn't even be a point of discussion

This is really the bottom line here, isn't it?

FFG announces $200 worth of STARTER product, people on BGG post "Golly gee! This is gonna be expensive, guess I'll fire up the credit card! :0)" Or post the Fry "take my money" meme. Yet the people who say "guys, this shit is REALLY expensive, maybe this is not a great thing happening here" are told "STFU, you don't have to buy everything".

I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing with me. I'm also not sure if you know what I'm saying.

I dunno, I'm perfectly happy blaming the company instead of the consumer, but I'm also a socialist, so ymmv.

No, I do agreee with you- they are responding to the market, and I do agree that they're doing the right thing by that. But I'm angry and old and want the market to be smarter and different. And it's friday and I want to fight about something.

So why does the consumer - the one that creates demand, by definition - get a free pass? That's some dumbfuckery right there.

Should have quoted - I was responding to black inferno, not Barnes.

I'm not even sure what the hell is being argued here anymore.
Consumers are idiots, they make irrational decisions, a company is playing into that.
How dare they sell a game that I am under no obligation to buy? How dare they release a product line that you don't need 100% but cannot overcome the irrationalness of wanting 100%?