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Age of Sigmar weekly survey: Games Workshop Price Changes (Results 23rd February))


SirSalabean

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Greetings,

Welcome to this weeks AOS survey, the second of its kind. This week we will be investigating the effects of Games Workshops increasing prices on the AOS community.

This weeks survey has developed a lot from last weeks on army popularity based on the tremendous feedback received. I will be also trying to make this a weekly thing but it’s early days so it could change to bi weekly. 

As before this is purely for fun and any and all participation is appreciated. I’m trying to make this as representative of the community as possible so please answer honestly and I’ll be posting this in various other AOS communities.

Behold the second survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduAqhkfUv6oEToCUMiTiw6rPTCuXE50jPo-Sa8NeQEuE1aYA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Thank you again for the participation any feedback is greatly appreciated results will be posted next Tuesday! Stay tuned! 

Update: Today is results day for the second Age of Sigmar survey where we investigated the effects of the price changes in our hobby. Please see the results below:

We had 314 participants this week however results showed the same general proportions throughout the study, with further results we might be able to support the idea that people are spending less than they would on the hobby.

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As you can see most people were aware of the price rises in recent years, there is a small portion who don't however.

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This question showed mixed results with half of participants buying less due to these changes, and almost the other half not being affected buy this with a minor amount of people no longer purchasing warhammer due to these rises. It will be interesting to see if these change at all if prices continue to increase.

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I apologise that some of these answers aren't fully showing however we can see that the majority of participants have moved to third party shops/sites or have always consistently used them, this could include all stores that aren't Games Workshop whether  they offer a discount or not to warhammer products. However the majority do provide discounts normally around 15% - 20% which is significant and could imply participants find the prices at games workshop too high.

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Almost half of participants said they would buy and spend more on warhammer i prices were more reasonable with a quarter saying they'd spend the same amount but buy more products. 

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Surprisingly a quarter of participants said they'd start buying from Games workshop directly if the prices were lower with 38% saying maybe. Games workshop could see more direct support if prices were lower.

 

That concludes this weeks results, I think they are very interesting and with a higher participant count they might further support the idea that people are spending less on Warhammer. I hope people have found this interesting as always please let me know if I could improve or if there are any survey topics you'd like me to cover in the future. 

 

Edited by SirSalabean
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I dont know others people,but for me the price is veeeery big factor.

Per example i started a full dwarf city of sigmar army,but when i had 2000 points of dwarfs then i started to buy other units that i never liked.

Now i have around 4000 points,because at a start per example free people are old models and i tougth were ugly when i started........but when i can buy 10 free peoples for only 22€ vs the 40€ of dispossesed units.....then the ugly and old free peoole seems more beautiful and this same is the reason that i bougth 2000 points of non dwarfs units for half money than i spent in my 1800 points dispossesed army

10 free people for 22€

Big behemoths as phoenyx or black dragons for 45\50€

Vs

5 lumineths hammerers for 45€

Teclis 130€

I know people arent as me,but when the money is a big factor for me it is imposible compare these prices and buy lumineths and not citys.

Even if i liked more lumineths,i feel that im being stolen my money with that price tag.

 

I really hope that gravelord have similar prices to bonereapers or slanesh and not the ****** that was done with lumineths

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On the topic of prices, I think we've had some outliars, but they feel like they started really high in AoS, then went down, and now are creeping up again. Without going through all AoS prices and taking an average per year (would just take me too long), I'll instead focus on the battleline troops of the armies. Why troops? Because 90% of the time that'll be what you're buying most of and so it dictates most of an armies overall cost. Also it takes me less time :P

I apologise if I missed some out

Death

Skeletons: 10 for £20 

Zombies: 20

Easy to build chainrasps: 10 for £25

Mortek guard: 20 for £35

Order

Sequitors: 10 for £37.50

Liberators: 10 for £37.50 

Vanguard Hunters: 10 for £37.50

Tree-Revenants: 5 for £27.50 (are these troops?)

Vulkite Bezerkers: 10 for £35

 Vanari Wardens: 10 for £36.50

Witch Aelves: 10 for £35

Namarati Thralls: 10 for £30

Arkanaught Company: 10 for £30

Ironbreakers: 10 for £30 

Wildwood rangers: 10 for £27.50

Dryads: 16 for £27.50

Phoenix Guard: 10 for £27.50 

Saurus Warriors: 20 for £25

Skinks: 20 for £25

Deadspears: 10 for £22.50

Freeguild guard: 10 for £17.50

Black ark corsairs: 10 for £17.50

Chaos

Chaos marauders: 20 for £25

Ungors: 10 for £17.50

Hellstriders: 5 for £20

Gors: 10 for £20

Daemonettes: 10 for £22.50

Bloodletters: 10 for £22.50

Pink Horrors: 10 for £25

Horrors of Tzeentch: 10 for £25

Plague Bearers: 10 for £22.50

Plague Monks: 20 for £25

Clanrats: 20 for £25

Kairic Acolytes: 20 for £30

Blissbarb archers: 11 for £31.50

Chaos Warriors: 16 for £32.50

Bloodreavers: 20 for £35

Bloodwarriors: 10 for £37.50 

Destruction

Mournfang: 4 for £40

Savage Orruks: 20 for £32.50

Ogor Gluttons: 6 for £30

Squig herd: 10 for £27.50

Stabbas: 20 for £25

Spider riders: 10 for £20

Ardboys: 15 for £35

 

I went into this thinking that there'd be a massive difference, but in general the split is between AoS and Fantasy and there's been a gradual price rise across all ranges.

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I would also like to touch on this topic. 

I do have expendable income but just like anything else in life I'm always trying to find the best deal. (Welcome to adulting) I 95% of time purchase third party as I can get more. Why wouldn't you? Now those third party sellers don't just manifest product out of thin air and GW still gets paid for those so I do have a hard time justifying these recent prices. Hell ALL of my homies like these little fellas but NONE will get into it simply based on price alone. 

GW isn't stupid and they have to be aware that mainstream 3d printing is right around the corner and with these prices it'll be hard to compete. Just my opinion. 

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Personally, it's not that I can't afford the higher prices, it's that they leave a really bad taste in my mouth. Nobody wants to feel milked, even if they can afford it, and GW has gotten more and more upfront about the milking. 

The other big thing that bothers me about it is how tone-deaf it is to the ways the world has changed. GW has gone from being a moderately expensive hobby in a world with lower inequality to a premium-priced hobby in a world with massive inequality, and therefore feels like it's part of the problem, not the solution. And it is absolutely not justified by necessity. GW hasn't raised prices because it needs to to keep the lights on, it's raised prices because it can. It's doing better than it ever has. 

The prices makes it both difficult to get friends into the hobby, and, frankly, difficult to justify recommending that they do, unless I know they have more money than they know what to do with. 

Edited by yukishiro1
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3 hours ago, Enoby said:

On the topic of prices, I think we've had some outliars, but they feel like they started really high in AoS, then went down, and now are creeping up again. Without going through all AoS prices and taking an average per year (would just take me too long), I'll instead focus on the battleline troops of the armies. Why troops? Because 90% of the time that'll be what you're buying most of and so it dictates most of an armies overall cost. Also it takes me less time :P

I apologise if I missed some out

Death

Skeletons: 10 for £20 

Zombies: 20

Easy to build chainrasps: 10 for £25

Mortek guard: 20 for £35

Order

Sequitors: 10 for £37.50

Liberators: 10 for £37.50 

Vanguard Hunters: 10 for £37.50

Tree-Revenants: 5 for £27.50 (are these troops?)

Vulkite Bezerkers: 10 for £35

 Vanari Wardens: 10 for £36.50

Witch Aelves: 10 for £35

Namarati Thralls: 10 for £30

Arkanaught Company: 10 for £30

Ironbreakers: 10 for £30 

Wildwood rangers: 10 for £27.50

Dryads: 16 for £27.50

Phoenix Guard: 10 for £27.50 

Saurus Warriors: 20 for £25

Skinks: 20 for £25

Deadspears: 10 for £22.50

Freeguild guard: 10 for £17.50

Black ark corsairs: 10 for £17.50

Chaos

Chaos marauders: 20 for £25

Ungors: 10 for £17.50

Hellstriders: 5 for £20

Gors: 10 for £20

Daemonettes: 10 for £22.50

Bloodletters: 10 for £22.50

Pink Horrors: 10 for £25

Horrors of Tzeentch: 10 for £25

Plague Bearers: 10 for £22.50

Plague Monks: 20 for £25

Clanrats: 20 for £25

Kairic Acolytes: 20 for £30

Blissbarb archers: 11 for £31.50

Chaos Warriors: 16 for £32.50

Bloodreavers: 20 for £35

Bloodwarriors: 10 for £37.50 

Destruction

Mournfang: 4 for £40

Savage Orruks: 20 for £32.50

Ogor Gluttons: 6 for £30

Squig herd: 10 for £27.50

Stabbas: 20 for £25

Spider riders: 10 for £20

Ardboys: 15 for £35

 

I went into this thinking that there'd be a massive difference, but in general the split is between AoS and Fantasy and there's been a gradual price rise across all ranges.

This is quite interesting, these UK? Prices don’t look too different from each other, but when you look at different currencies like New Zealand
Death
-Skeleton (10) $54
-Zombies (20) $71
-Chainrasp Horde (10 ETB) $83
-Crypt Ghouls (20) $85
-Mortek Guard (20) $115
Order
-Blackark Corsairs (10) $48
-Freeguild Guard (10) $48
-Dreadspears (10) $50
-Skinks (20) $71
-Saurus Warriors (20) $75
-Ironbreakers (10) $80
-Witch Aelves (10) $80
-Phoenix Guard (10) $81
-Arkanaught Company (10) $90
-Dryads (16) $90
-Namarti Thralls (10) $99
-Lumineth Wardens (10) $115
-Vulkite Berzerkers (10) $115
-Liberators (10) $124
Chaos
-Ungors (10) $48
-Gors (10) $54
-Plaguebearers (10) $64
-Clanrats (20) $71
-Pink Horrors (10) $72
-Marauders (20) $75
-Tzaangors (10) $90
-Chaos Warriors (16) $92
-Kariac Acolytes (20) $99
-Bloodreavers (20) $116
-Blood Warriors (10) $124
-Varanguard (3) $200
Destruction
-Spider Riders (10) $64
-Stabbas (20) $71
-Gluttons (6) $85
-Squig Herd (12) $90
-Squig Hoppers (10) $99
-Savage Orrucks (20) $105
-Brutes (5) $105
-Ardboys (15) $114
-Mancrusher Gargants (2) $180

i agree that the ‘cheaper’ units are leftovers from fantasy with some that stand out (units that used to be Elites in fantasy having ‘elite’ pricing but are now Battleline in AoS but the price didn’t change to reflect that. Witch Aelves, Ironbreakers etc). It also shows that early AoS kits (Blood Warriors) were priced higher than newer kits (Namarti Thralls)

I buy exclusively from a gw store because I’m friends with the manager and play games regularly at his house. Buying from elsewhere is a bit of a slap in the face to one of my best friends. I dislike the pricing and I’ll complain about it when I can, but ultimately I still buy the stuff, I just buy a bit less as I’m on a fixed income and any price increase decreases how much I can buy

Edited by Joseph Mackay
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It has changed. I was interested in Underworld warbands and recommended them to others, but almost 50% price increase stops that (powercreep doesn't help either).

I still want to buy an Ironclad, but really don't want to pay the price. I'll find a good STL of a dwarven airship and make my own. Ironclad + Frigate is the same price as a 3d printer +1kg resin.

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It’s great to see a conversation going. This topic hit me a bit personally since the Hedonites pre orders with the cavalry price rise mainly thinking £40+ for 5 models is a ridiculous amount especially if you wanting a few sets. I appreciate the quality gets better and better but I’m curious if there will become a point where it’s just too much for most people. 
 

4 hours ago, HollowHills said:

I think the wording on the questions regarding third parties may need amendment.

I’d be happy to amend it, I put third party stores/sites to covers all non GW stores including those that give a discount. It’s mainly what I’ve seen then referred too and it’s difficult to put flgs due to nothing being open here for some time so I hoped what I wrote would encompass everything.

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Prices in Australia suck. It's beyond a joke how expensive it is now. My group has recently moved into 40k and none of them purchased anything new. They bought off buy/swap/sell sites on facebook or ebay to minimise their expenditure. They ended up getting 2k armies but a lot of redundant models they then sold on. I can't bring myself to invest in 40k again. 

Even paints from Citadel are over-priced for the quality. 

GW models are by far the highest quality, they make some beautiful models but i feel like they need to come back to reality with their pricing. As others have said, it's hard to get friends into GW games because the starts up costs are absolutely potato. 

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I was going to play Sons of Behemat until the price of the mega-gargant got revealed. When I realized the price of two of those is equivalent to almost 2000 points in another army and that you could get a 4k resin printer for less money, I decided that buying GW models isn't feasible for me anymore. Turns out nobody makes decent giant models, and now I'm this close to learning traditional sculpting just to get something to ally in with my ogres.

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Personally, I mostly answered that the recent price increases have not yet made me buy less, but I think that's because money is not really the limiting factor for me, but time. I like to paint most of my stuff before buying new models, so while I am working through my backlog I usually feel little incentive to buy new stuff. And since I don't get much painting time, this lasts for a while.

Plus, I have just not felt a need to buy into any post-Sons army yet. Like, even if the Mega-Gargants were a lot cheaper, I probably would not have bought one just on a whim. I don't feel that impulse very strongly when I still have models to work on that I have actual plans for. We will see what happens when Cursed City and Gravelords roll around. Especially for Gravelords, it could see the price becoming a deciding factor. If I can pick up a workable list for relatively cheap, I'll probably go for it. If they turn out to be more expensive, I'll probably finish some of my ongoing projects first.

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The price rises over the last 18 months have affected my buying habits but it is not the only thing. I have only bought one battleforce box and one start collecting box in the last year following the culling of the dispossessed range after I had only just bought numerous boxes of warriors, quarrallers, and cannons. Whilst the new models are beautiful, I find them overpriced and I now find purchasing anything that was in the Fantasy range very risky.

With the prices for the new ranges (Lumineth and Slaanesh) I will probably only look at Cursed City (if reasonably priced) and the new edition starter set (if Stormcast aren't in it). If Cursed City isn't reasonably priced and if there is no new edition this year, I will get a battleforce box at Christmas or maybe Archaon. The only other spending I will do with Games Workshop this year is buying some new paints. 

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I'm in a position where I've never really budgeted for my hobbies, and simply buy the things I want. If I can't afford it, I simply wait  and save until I can. As such, my buying habits haven't really changed despite the price rises. 

What has changed, however, is my enthusiasm for starting new projects and collections.  End of last year, I planned to start a Lumineth Realmlord collection and even bought myself a box of Vanari Wardens to pin down the paint scheme I was hoping to use. I'll admit,  even then the Dawnriders were pushing the threshold of what I considered to be reasonable for a box of 5 cavalry, never mind the cost of Teclis. Even at discounted 3rd party prices.  Then comes along the  Slaanesh release, admittedly a beautiful range of models but just not what I would  collect, and the staggering price for the new Seekers. Then I think about the upcoming not-kangaroo tree runners and quickly think: Nope!

I took some time to think about where my projects were and finally made the decision to shelve my Lumineth Realmlords and Daughters of Khaine projects (in total it equates to 30 models), consolidate what I already have and focus more of my attention on my combination of Nighthaunt, Fleasheaters and Bonereapers.  

Will I buy into the upcoming Quest and rumoured Vampire release? Probably, I've always had a place in my heart for the undead, but dropping the two Elven projects seems to be a form of damage limitation.

Would I like to support Games Workshop and buy my models directly from them? Of course, but they would need to drop their prices and expectations before I could justify the cost. Maybe not as much as 3rd party retailers, but not at the current prices they are pushing. For UK prices, 10% reduction, maybe rounding down to the nearest £ and I think I would willing support my bricks and mortar store. With head math, that would make the new Seekers £37 . Still expensive, but not quite as bitter a pill to swallow.

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The last direct from GW thing I bought was the Feast of Bone box, which I split with a friend. Since then I have bought mostly from third party sites (wayland and elements are a bit harder now because of Brexit and all that), but also from classifieds and other "second hand" sites. In Germany we have something called "Ebay Kleinanzeigen", which is just a classifieds site / app that ebay run. Guess what? Its really awesome. I just have a few keywords saved and I get notifications when those keywords are in the title of newly listed items (I have "warhammer" as a keyword and get like 10 notifications a day at least) and with enough patience you get can some crazy good deals even on new things. 40k related, but I got 2 boxes of custodes praetor bikes, one box of allarus custodians and a box of custodian guard for 90€....New in the box...INCLUDING SHIPPING! I almost passed out from disbelief when I confirmed the deal with the seller. At GW that is 175€! Sure this was a very rare occasion. I also managed to snag a Katakros new in the box for 55€ including shipping. Its not that hard to get some good deals on unpainted but built stuff as well. 

Like I love the hobby as much as the next person, but GW just force me to be more efficient with my money and the more I look elsewhere, the more I see that GW rely heavily on the hype and the need for people to buy things instantly. Im already looking into other paint brands as well. 

 

Edited by Heijoshin
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Form filled in. :) It's a weird one, I stopped buying in store years ago as the staff members I knew all left to work at GW HQ.

I buy direct from GW (online) apart from if it's a big model and/or a model I want painted better than my skill will allow, then I'm on ebay or dedicated model painting sites.

Edited by El Syf
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To actually answer the question, I buy from where I play; to me it feels wrong to not support the shops I play in especially if I don't pay to play there. This is a mix of third party and GW stores. 

Increases or decreases in prices doesn't massively effect me because I buy only one army really. However, it does impact my want to buy other armies or bits for conversion. If I want a few bits off a new model then I just have to hope I get lucky on ebay! 

So I might buy more if the prices were cheaper - I'd certainly be more open to it - but because I only buy one army anyway I don't know if it'd make a massive difference. 

That said, on the one time I've moved out of army (to LRL), I stopped due to the pricing.  

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On 2/17/2021 at 12:03 AM, SirSalabean said:

I’d be happy to amend it, I put third party stores/sites to covers all non GW stores including those that give a discount. It’s mainly what I’ve seen then referred too and it’s difficult to put flgs due to nothing being open here for some time so I hoped what I wrote would encompass everything.

I think the issue wasn't about the intention but about the fact that currently half the answers are duplicated:

"Yes I currently buy from Third parties but I would start buying from Games Workshop directly"

"No I currently buy from Third parties but I would start buying from Games Workshop directly"

While the other half, that should logically exist (for instance i buy from third pary and would still be buying from third party) seems to be missing.

Until you amend it, you'll be getting some real skewed results.

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Some points resonate well with me in this thread.

As an adult in I guess a well paying job, it's not that I don't have the expendable income, it's just with the hikes over the years, it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth to fork out $100AUD for 10 basically monopose (even if they are nicely posed) infantry models, or worse, 5!

It was bad enough when everyone was hankering for elite infantry to be bought into plastic, and to be fair, the first ones were actually well priced, and then Goldswords came in at $70AUD when people were expecting them more like at $40-50 like with Temple Guard. Basically charging us the same price for plastic miniatures as they did for metal (When at the time, stuff going into plastic usually meant it was a fair amount cheaper and more affordable, not just that the material was easier to work with).

 

The only reason I have a Lumineth army, is because I found some good deals on the army set which were a bit too hard to pass up. In some respects I regret it a bit, because I haven't found the time to actually start the army yet, and by the time I do I'll likely need/want to buy more new models with the Broken Realms update.

 

So yeah, I have the money, but coupled with increasing prices, and a backlog of miniatures that in some respects I'll probably never finish it is a lot harder to justify purchasing new models (it's not just a price thing for me). At this point, I think the prices are beyond what I think are fair, and Lumineth will likely be the last 'army' I collect. I'm happy enough to pay a bit of a premium for nice models for stuff like Warcry where I only need a box or two, but when it comes to armies that premium quickly adds up.

Edited by someone2040
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I think prices do lift the bar of the point of entry. If I lived in Australia, I would never have bought my first GW miniature box just out of curiosity.

It also may have an effect in the decision to get into a second army. That’s the point where I am now. 

Edited by Beastmaster
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