Malign Portents

[Turgol]

1 minute ago, chord said:

There is no data to prove it did quite bad.  It's #FakeNews.  Fact is we'll never know the truth.  

No quantitative data, you are right, but we do have the acknowledgment by GW itself that it was a very bad release. 

[chord]

Just now, Turgol said:

No quantitative data, you are right, but we do have the acknowledgment by GW itself that it was a very bad release. 

No we don't.   again #FakeNews.

Some people have been told it was doing very well, others told it was doing poorly.    This is OT, please create a new thread if you want to discuss 

[Turragor]

1 minute ago, chord said:

There is no data to prove it did quite bad.  It's #FakeNews.  Fact is we'll never know the truth.  

I thought this was all covered just as GHB 2016 - the first one - launched (ie before the numbers in the reports reflected that change) -

 

Anyway, mucho OT in this thread now and I am involved and I will now bow out of all non Malign Portents related stuff!

 

[Sete]

Well good time as any to start a death army. Some spooky skellies and I will absolutely need the Shadespire champion (dude with a Greatsword) as a Lieutenant.

Hopefully the Knight of Shrouds will buff deathrattle.

[Turragor]

3 minutes ago, bsharitt said:

some people white knighting GW

Hmm I'd rather not use the term white knighting GW as it seems to me ridiculous for a corporate entity. Fanboyism is too strong too. I admit GW can do wrong.

I think you're right they could learn to manage hype better - I mean they can say 'we didn't promise this, just put up a countdown, everyone got overworked!' which is part true but yeah, when marketing this kind of stuff is not a total unknown factor. Some marketing guy probably has a chart of what kind of reveal creates least to most hype.

[Infeston]

4 minutes ago, Turragor said:

So my jokes are against overreactions - yes I make my own judgement where a reaction becomes an overreaction...  but my sense of amusement is my own!

I just fear they'll do what I'd do if I'd made something nice and ppl disliked it due to a hype they'd built themselves and then reacted in such a poorly raised, manchild fashion (again I'm not talking about anyone I've seen on TGA - it's mostly FB where I see some complete lunatics at the moment and it's just ridiculous all over the internet this weather in all sorts of spheres) - I'd not bother sinking resources into this kind of entertaining marketing again.

Luckily! I don't run GW so those that enjoyed this (like me) can hope they continue producing this kind of thing

Okay. I am totally with you. I also think there went a lot of work in those videos and in the website for the people who produced this. And I think this work should also be honored. And the people who worked on all the videos and the website and the artwork did a pretty good job. I like it very much. 

But GW is also a company which should know which reactions they would get if the hype things up this much. They shouldn't have hyped it that much with a countdown etc.

If they wouldn't have done this the reactions would have been much different. And the people would propably have reacted more grateful, because they got a full website etc. But I think the lack of releases for AoS in the last months has left its mark on the playerbase.

[Turragor]

Just now, Infeston said:

But GW is also a company which should know which reactions they would get if the hype things up this much. They shouldn't have hyped it that much with a countdown etc.

If they wouldn't have done this the reactions would have been much different. And the people would propably have reacted more grateful, because they got a full website etc. But I think the lack of releases for AoS in the last months has left its mark on the playerbase.

Yeah, maybe their marketing team now has 'BE CAREFUL WITH COUNTDOWNS' up on their white board.

If I were them I might even joke about it in a release video when they've a bunch of models at a later date.

They could even name a sinister, laughing death model "Count of Down".

[Lysandestolpe]

58 minutes ago, Riluo said:

 

Oh Egor, it is on the site tho. Just not spelled out in the most basic lingual form... its not like GW will release a whole new story and setting with this much work put into it and just stop making models or do something so completely unrelated to what they just spent a handsome sum of money producing. 

Im so stoked to see what they will release for both Death and Destruction, when it eventually happen. #letgrandfatherhavehismoment

[Lysandestolpe]

1 hour ago, Riluo said:

 

[Turgol]

Hype and disappointment was so foreseable, that I think anyone minimally aware could have predicted it. What's amazing is the fact that so many people DID predict that could happen and GW kept on its initial plan, just inflating the hype. I guess for someone who knows what they will reveal at the countdown and after seeing that they had gotten the attention they wanted but that there was not so much to be revealed yet, the sensible thing would have been to use some "expectations management" tools. I do not mean go away from the original plan (creating hype), as it was clearly working to get attention, but instead of "all will be revealed" slightly change with "revelations only begin on (counter)"; "this is only the beginning of a major ride for death players and all fans of the AoS"; show the background of a new model; etc. Just sticking to the original plan is what failed I think; not that it was a bad idea, but they do not seem to have much in the way of adaptation. 

[wayniac]

Let's not confuse this for it being BAD.  I don't think it's bad.  I think it didn't live up to the initial hype, mainly because it was nothing we didn't know already.  Most people already assumed it was a new campaign like the Realmgate Wars, and probably a new Season of War.  So GW saying "It's a new campaign" tells us nothing we didn't know already.  We already saw the heroes, so them making a big deal about those isn't telling us anything either.  That's where the disappointment comes.  There was a 30 day countdown for a website that has no real substance, just things we already knew (it's a campaign), things that are interesting but won't get expanded (the interactive map with cool place names, that they never do anything with) an a lot of "More things are coming, we can't tell you what they are yet but stay tuned to find out!" vaporware.  So while there is excitement over what it might be, we still don't know what it will be.

[tcrfelton]

Being excited an optimistic regardless here, I just finished 2k Nighthaunts and took them for a spin this month and I love them! So fun and thematic. Can’t wait to get all four champions for my armies! All I see is more reasons to play games. I loved Season of War/Seeds of Hope, and if this is purely a reason to play games and advance a story sign me up. If there are new models, kick ass bonus! 

[Turragor]

1 hour ago, BrownDog said:

Best bit of the website for me

I just watched it as work draws to a close and it is a fantastic background. The realms almost feel a bit like Stephen King's The Dark Tower world to me. Which I will finish reading one day if I ever paint enough to feel I can reward myself!

[Turgol]

3 minutes ago, wayniac said:

Let's not confuse this for it being BAD.  I don't think it's bad.  I think it didn't live up to the initial hype, mainly because it was nothing we didn't know already.  Most people already assumed it was a new campaign like the Realmgate Wars, and probably a new Season of War.  So GW saying "It's a new campaign" tells us nothing we didn't know already.  We already saw the heroes, so them making a big deal about those isn't telling us anything either.  That's where the disappointment comes.  There was a 30 day countdown for a website that has no real substance, just things we already knew (it's a campaign), things that are interesting but won't get expanded (the interactive map with cool place names, that they never do anything with) an a lot of "More things are coming, we can't tell you what they are yet but stay tuned to find out!" vaporware.  So while there is excitement over what it might be, we still don't know what it will be.

Please don't confuse this with white-knighting, as I do agree with most of what you say, but there is more in that website than simply the announcement of a new campaign and the already known models. The videos are all of them pretty amazing. Of course, they do not show anything new,  hence the disappointment. But it is first quality non-new stuff in the set of videos leading to the end of the countdown, in the behind the scenes one and especially in the traveler's guide. 

[Rogue Explorator]

 

14 minutes ago, Lysandestolpe said:

Oh Egor, it is on the site tho. Just not spelled out in the most basic lingual form... its not like GW will release a whole new story and setting with this much work put into it and just stop making models or do something so completely unrelated to what they just spent a handsome sum of money producing. 

Im so stoked to see what they will release for both Death and Destruction, when it eventually happen. #letgrandfatherhavehismoment

I think that is to harsh. Yes, we can guess all that from the existing information, but guessing is a very different think from proper confirmation. If GW wants people to know more is coming, they ought to put that explicitly into an official announcement.

 

I do agree that how close the Nurgle release and its very solid reveal and this are next to each other is really damaging the appreciation for both.

 

8 minutes ago, wayniac said:

Let's not confuse this for it being BAD.  I don't think it's bad.  I think it didn't live up to the initial hype, mainly because it was nothing we didn't know already.  Most people already assumed it was a new campaign like the Realmgate Wars, and probably a new Season of War.  So GW saying "It's a new campaign" tells us nothing we didn't know already.  We already saw the heroes, so them making a big deal about those isn't telling us anything either.  That's where the disappointment comes.  There was a 30 day countdown for a website that has no real substance, just things we already knew (it's a campaign), things that are interesting but won't get expanded (the interactive map with cool place names, that they never do anything with) an a lot of "More things are coming, we can't tell you what they are yet but stay tuned to find out!" vaporware.  So while there is excitement over what it might be, we still don't know what it will be.

This pretty much hits the nail on its head. As far as art and lore goes we got far more than I expected, but the actual announcement is so thin on real info on the actual subject matter that I yet can not help but feel left hanging.

[Spiky Norman]

Maybe I have too low expectations, but I'm pretty baffled by some of the responses here, which to me, seems overly negative and jumping the gun way too soon.

I love that new site and it does have information that is new to me at least. That Travellers guide video  is awesome, and at least it explains the realms to me in a lot clearer ways than what I've known previously.

It seems that some put way too high expectations into something just because there is a countdown clock on the site, let alone expecting what could be a years worth of releases to be revealed on day 1.

 

[Hamartia]

Im curious to know when this event ends and if its going to lead into or be the summer campaign event for this year.

[bsharitt]

The way I kind of see the reaction to this is if George R.R. Martin had a count down on his web site and dropped few teasers as it counted down, but once the count down was done, he released a chapter or two from his up coming book and a little more background info, but not indication of when or even if his next book is coming out soon(I know we got confirmation of a book, but in this context the book represents basically anything related to expanding Death). People would burn down the internet if that happened, but if he did all that without a count down, people would be ecstatic for what they got.

[P5ychoDuck]

5 minutes ago, Spiky Norman said:

Maybe I have too low expectations, but I'm pretty baffled by some of the responses here, which to me, seems overly negative and jumping the gun way too soon.

I love that new site and it does have information that is new to me at least. That Travellers guide video  is awesome, and at least it explains the realms to me in a lot clearer ways than what I've known previously.

It seems that some put way too high expectations into something just because there is a countdown clock on the site, let alone expecting what could be a years worth of releases to be revealed on day 1.

 

I agree. I am super excited for this. They never used a countdown reveal, a new website and a logo update for a faction release or models update. This was already hinted to be way bigger than models release.

A new narrative chapter will give birth to new stories and fiction, thus new characters, lore, and probably models and maybe factions. We will hopefully get battleplans, skirmish scenarios, Path of Glory rules and an AoS Global Campaign. All this set in a gritty, dark world threatened by the power of Death.

Just thinking about it gets me super pumped!

[Planar]

From watching the videos I get this feeling that the heralds will bring some sort of "destiny dice" option for every GA

[jascarr4]

4 hours ago, VoodooChileIRL said:

Context for what the realms actually are. 

Oh dear!  Phil Kelly is a Flat -Earther!

[bsharitt]

Okay, so back on the topic of what's actually been announced instead of how GW bungled the hype machine, I have to say I'm a little disappointed that the new terrain is releases of old stuff being re-released. I've also never been a fan of the slightly overtop 80's cartoon style of those kits(but they're not nears as bad or over the top as the chaos terrain), so I was hoping we'd see a new style for AoS. But at the same time I'm almost glad to see it. Between this and a lot of the old Dwarf, Empire, and Dark Elf stuff getting released in box sets and getting allegiance stuff in the GHB17, I feel like GW isn't trying to run away from the past as much as they were when AoS first came out and we'll start to see some of the older stuff that still holds up get a real place in the game and gives me just a twinge of hope for the high elf stuff still out there.

[BURF1]

6 minutes ago, Spiky Norman said:

Maybe I have too low expectations, but I'm pretty baffled by some of the responses here, which to me, seems overly negative and jumping the gun way too soon.

I love that new site and it does have information that is new to me at least. That Travellers guide video  is awesome, and at least it explains the realms to me in a lot clearer ways than what I've known previously.

It seems that some put way too high expectations into something just because there is a countdown clock on the site, let alone expecting what could be a years worth of releases to be revealed on day 1.

 

Ignoring the strawman at the end there.

Basically what happened here is the same thing that happened to Nintendo when they unveiled the WIIU at E3. They spent the entire conference talking up this brand new faux tablet controller thing they were doing, but never once actually showed a picture of the console.  So everyone who saw the release thought that the WIIU was just a tablet controller for the WII at first and hype died pretty instantly.

GW did the same thing here, they unveiled the cool new features of the thing(Narrative/Book/Campaign) But didn't actually show the new console(models). So the angriest people are people who are assuming (accurately based on the information that has been presented officially as part of the advertising campaign, even if further context suggests otherwise)  that 4 models and a campaign book is what Malign Portents is. If you were following the website as a casual(non-TGA) consumer and you get to the end and it's a book and 4 models you already knew about. So that's why they're upset.

Then you have matched play people who are looking at this and saying; Why do I care? How does this effect me? So they mostly just shrugged and walked off except people like me who are now waiting for the other shoe to drop because the book supposedly has rules content in it, which is historically(Firestorm, All of 40k 7th edition) bad juju.

Then you have lore heads who followed the portents and the videos religiously and after a month of waiting got...a video explaining how the mortal realms work in slightly more detail. Think about the questions we had at the start of the timer and now; they're all the same. We haven't gotten a single answer about anything yet, we don't even really know why we should care other than that it's Nagash and he's evil and powerful.

[Noserenda]

Well that was overhyped... 

Some cool info and fluff in the videos but not something that needed a countdown, that kinda implies a really big reveal like the Dwarf one last year for example. 

Ah well, return of the older Warhammer terrain kits is awesome, it was such a good range and im gutted i couldnt get more of it first time around, heres hoping some of the other kits from that era come back too

As for AoS' launch being bad, i mean GW itself has said its what lead to the big changes to new GW (Long may it continue) which certainly implies a poop storm behind the scenes and i seem to recall the annual report for that year had a dip in sales despite some astoundingly popular 40k releases (Like Genecults and Plastic Heresy kits)  not to mention anecdotal evidence which is ofc rubbish Though it did make us laugh a few months after AoS dropped there were 4 games of 8th ed Warhammer going on at WHW on a friday night and no AOS... Ofc the Saturday was a dozen games of AoS and no Warhammer

[Twitch of Izalith]

People need to manage their own expectations.

It was apparent to many people that the countdown timer was related to the website launch and not related to a model launch. The preview of the Nurgle models pretty much confirmed that long before the countdown ended. The idea that GW would blindside a model release they had told us about with one that they hadn't is fairly unrealistic.

Sure, its disappointing that there are only 4 models + some scenery so far but anyone who was seriously expecting a big model release only has themselves to blame really - there was nothing in GW's official media to indicate this. 

I would rather enjoy the models and information that have been announced instead of kicking off about things that haven't - If that means i'm a "white knight" for GW then fair enough. If I didn't like their games and mini's I wouldn't be on here talking about them...