Please don't sign up for Warhammer+

[Lightbox]

Gonna be honest I've been tempted to sign up ever since I saw Louise Sugden is doing one of the Masterclasses, I would love to learn how to do her vibrant painting style!

Also anime Sisters of Battle? Heck yeah! That and I've always quite liked the inquisition so at least 2 episodes the hammer and bolter series looks really fun for me, less interested in angels of death though as I'm not too big on its animation style or Space Marines in general.

Though I definitely agree with the fact it's a shame the lack of content at launch, but if they stick to their new content being added each wednesday then I could see the subscription being interesting especially if they start pushing out some actual AoS content and ideally some animations not just focused around stormcast (though ngl I do look forward to Blacktalon and it's nice to see the first announced stormcast animation having a female protagonist)

Loremasters could be quite an interesting series for sure though if anyone was interested only in AoS lore then honestly I'd recommend 2+ Tough to them on youtube/patreon as Doug does an amazing job with that. I think for most people there will need to be a mix of content they're interested in to actually warrant the subscription because whilst it's cheap for a subscription it's also for much more niche content unlike Netflix where you're bound to find something you're interested in watching.

Model wise it's a bit of a shame that the AoS one is for an army I don't collect (and that you have to wait a full year for it) but they are still gorgeous and characterful models which is actually really nice as they very easily could have made really basic boring looking hero models and charged a premium for them, so hopefully the trend of well designed subscription models will continue. 

As for the vault, I'm not sure how much use I'll have for a lot of old books or white dwarf content but hey at least old white dwarfs had cool conversion guides I can look at! I'd quite like to see recent white dwarf's being uploaded too as it would be great to have them in digital format in one place rather than having to go out and get a physical copy any time I want a few anvil of apotheosis rules etc.

[Ghoooouls]

Do we know if all the aos warscrolls will still be free? Loved the AoS app currently but never cared for the army builder as there are more simply, easier to use and better army builders out there for free.

What I did love was using the app for the warscrolls, adding them to your 'army' for quick access in each game. I hope this is still a feature. I subscribed to the 40k app on release and regretted it, never signed up again. Total poop compared to the AoS one.

[PrimeElectrid]

The only AoS content at launch is apparently a 1k battle report using only models from Dominion.

That being said I’m told that the BR does look to be pretty thorough, though this is only based on a quick scan through. Nice overlay.

[HollowHills]

What constitutes value is always going to be subjective. For some the Ironjawz model is worth the price alone.

But for me if you compare what other services offer and what WH+ could have offered it isn't good value.

Compare what you get included with Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc to what WH+ offers.

GW could have also included all current white dwarfs and digital books with WH+ but deliberately chose not to.

[Noserenda]

Sounds like  the usual launch day fun for this kind of thing too, subs vanishing, shonky servers, apps not working, all the bells and whistles  

Edited August 25, 2021 by Noserenda

[Overread]

11 minutes ago, HollowHills said:

But for me if you compare what other services offer and what WH+ could have offered it isn't good value.

Compare what you get included with Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc to what WH+ offers.

GW could have also included all current white dwarfs and digital books with WH+ but deliberately chose not to.

GW could have included more WD I agree, though I think it might be an experiment for them to see  how many people access that content to see if its worth investing in the rest being put up and hosted. Esp since going further and further back they will eventually reach a point where they have to invest money into working older titles into being digitally readable. 

 

As for Disney and such I think its rather mean to compare companies who have been in TV for decades and have decades of TV shows of their own and loads they've bought/have licence to show - compared to a company taking its first serious step into media and who has I think one or two lower budget films in the past (that even in their day did okish but not great). Ergo you really can't expect GW to launch with Amazon or Disney levels of video content. It's just totally unreasonable. 

[Kadeton]

23 minutes ago, Overread said:

Ergo you really can't expect GW to launch with Amazon or Disney levels of video content. It's just totally unreasonable. 

However, it's completely reasonable to compare your entertainment options and decide that spending your money elsewhere would provide a lot more value. Which it seems to me is all @HollowHillsis saying.

[pnkdth]

23 minutes ago, Kadeton said:

However, it's completely reasonable to compare your entertainment options and decide that spending your money elsewhere would provide a lot more value. Which it seems to me is all @HollowHillsis saying.

Exactly.

There are tons of services and channels out there that I'm not watching. It has nothing to do with me hating on them, I might even find lots of them very entertaining, but there's only so many hours in a day and I want to do more with my life than consume content.

I am thrilled for anyone who finds out this was just what they are looking for but I do not feel obligated to fund GW's first few steps (and learning process) into providing a streaming service. For the same reason I choose not to pre-order games, never pay for early-access or games which clearly wants me to front money to test their unfinished product, and so on.

More than anything, I wish people (in general) would stop talking about these things in a dichotomy of hater vs fanboy/girl. It creates a very toxic environment and it rarely actually represent how actual humans think and feel. We tend to get passionate about different things and similarly, react with varying degree of passion around certain issues.

TL;DR: Time = Value. No one is entitled to yours.

Edited August 25, 2021 by pnkdth

[RuneBrush]

2 hours ago, Honk said:

What rattles my bones most is the transition of free community/fan content, like the awesome warscroll builder, behind a pay wall. Same for the GW AoS App, with the „promise to deliver“…

They're not moving the web apps on WarCom to Warhammer+, so warscroll builder will still be available for all to use.  As far as I'm aware no existing freely available content will be moving to Warhammer+.

2 minutes ago, Kadeton said:

However, it's completely reasonable to compare your entertainment options and decide that spending your money elsewhere would provide a lot more value. Which it seems to me is all @HollowHillsis saying.

I actually sit somewhere between HollowHills and Overread.  I think it's natural for us to compare subscription services, however Warhammer+ isn't purely a streaming service so to compare it to other streaming services isn't a like for like comparison.  In truth we're better off comparing Warhammer+ to other hobby subscriptions like Duncan Rhodes' Painting Academy, or the plethora of content creators on Patreon - although that's still not a like for like comparison.

Ultimately how we gauge value for money is going to be a personal opinion and factor in what content we individually wish to consume - if you're only interested in one part of Warhammer+ then it's likely you won't perceive the subscription as great value.

[Elmir]

Yeah, you can't expect them to throw in a ton of animation content as an amazon or a Netflix at all. So that is a bit much to ask.  

You know what content they do have loads of and will make loads of in the near future: their rules...

If WH+ would be a guarantee that I can stay up to date with all the rules in the game I'm playing, for a £5 subscription, I'd actually be pretty happy about it. And it wouldn't mean I would stop buying the books I actually wanted... But it would be nice to be informed about other army's rules as well. "Gotchahammer" because you spring some rule on your opponent he never even heard about, is not really a fun game. 

And before people start complaining that it's unreasonable to ask for that much content for your £5 sub: 
- It's £5/month more than virtually every other wargaming company asks for their rules... Expand your horizons a bit. 
- It STILL wouldn't be anywhere near the amount of content other streaming platforms have for that kind of money. 

 

[Scurvydog]

My original plan was to subscribe, not because I think it is the BEST deal ever though, as most of the content can be found for free from many great creators, such as battle reports and painting guides. I thought that as I both like AoS and 40k, getting full access to both apps for 50 GBP for a year and that Ironjaw megaboss was sort of OK by itself, with some animations and whatever being fine to get. The old novels and WD's I do not care about at all.

Multiple aspects has just soured me to the whole thing, and I am much more on the fence right now, trying to make up my mind. As I have impatiently been waiting for the new stormcast book and models, this app fiasco and delays has ruined my plans for an upcoming event, where I am now locked into a faction with no models to buy as planned... In addition they have not even shown as much as a screenshot of the AoS app, which has me very worried, as that app and the access it should provide, is the main selling point for me to be a sub. 

The Bale Eye animation really did that aspect of the service no favors, as it really just seemed like an ultra cheap effort with very little depth. That this brings some excitement just goes to show how great an IP GW is sitting on and how tragically little awesome things they do with it.

In conclusion everything about this just screams "mismanaged", "cheap" and "incomplete" to me. They do not even launch with more animations than the length of a regular animated movie. Imagine that a subscription service launching and they hardly have what amounts to a single movie in length. Seeing them shut down stuff like the brilliant Astartes fan movies, to charge for a cheap animation, running at 5 FPS and at barely saturday morning cartoon quality, has left me even more cold to this.

All in all a very disappointing start, and if any less content was present it would not even be a product at all. Once I see the AoS app and features and if they ramp up some more and better animations, I will strongly consider committing to a year, although who knows if I even keep my Ironjawz army for so long for the model to be of use (Waiting a YEAR to receive that model is madness and should have been ready to ship for anyone making the 1 year sub commitment day 1).

[HollowHills]

34 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

I actually sit somewhere between HollowHills and Overread.  I think it's natural for us to compare subscription services, however Warhammer+ isn't purely a streaming service so to compare it to other streaming services isn't a like for like comparison.  In truth we're better off comparing Warhammer+ to other hobby subscriptions like Duncan Rhodes' Painting Academy, or the plethora of content creators on Patreon - although that's still not a like for like comparison.

I think this is pretty close to what my main concern with WH+ is. If it was marketed and presented as a primary hobby service that focused on adding lots of good hobby content then I'd be more interested. 

Instead it seems to be marketed mostly as a streaming service with most of the content beyond the animations being vague and unclear.

If it was a service that focused on releasing loads of painting, modeling and gaming videos plus access to a digital library of up to date rules and lore I'd be much more interested. They could even do cool stuff with the app, like keep the warscrolls and basic features free but add an "aos reminders" type function as the premium option.

Right now it isn't really clear how much hobby stuff there will be, how often it will be added and of what quality. They mostly seem focused on pushing it as a streaming service which is why I compare it to Netflix or Disney.

Right now there is nothing that is useful to me from a gaming perspective, no rules content access, no app etc and the hobby side is completely unknown.

If you subscribe to Duncan you know what you are going to get. High quality painting videos that are presented by someone who comes across really well.

[HollowHills]

16 minutes ago, Elmir said:

If WH+ would be a guarantee that I can stay up to date with all the rules in the game I'm playing, for a £5 subscription, I'd actually be pretty happy about it. And it wouldn't mean I would stop buying the books I actually wanted... But it would be nice to be informed about other army's rules as well. "Gotchahammer" because you spring some rule on your opponent he never even heard about, is not really a fun game. 

Exactly. I would be really happy with this even without any animation content or free models. 

Most people know there are ways to get access to all the rules without paying for them, but I'd much rather there be a legitimate way to do so.

If you want to play competitive matched play you really need to be able to check out rules for popular lists.

I used to torrent tons of films and TV shows because they either weren't available in the UK or the only option was to buy them on DVD which cost £10 to £15 each. Now I subscribe to multiple streaming services and never torrent. Plus I still buy physical content sometimes, but it's more likely to be a big limited edition of something I really love.

If GW had this approach I would still buy physical books for the armies I play, but I'd have legitimate access to all those I don't play but need to know the rules for.

 

[Sarouan]

Like people said already, Warhammer + isn't simply a streaming platform. Subscribing to it actually unlocks others things : a free miniature, access to Warhammer Vault, access to Warhammer 40k and AoS apps in addition to the animations / videos on Warhammer +.

For the price asked per month in comparison to what you pay separately for Warhammer Vault and the apps, well it's a bargain right now.

Not saying it will stay that way in the future, so I can only look at the situation when I'm subscribing obviously. First I did when I subscribed was to look at the Warhammer Vault and read a few older books.

Calls for boycott are useless, anyway.

[Honk]

1 hour ago, RuneBrush said:

As far as I'm aware no existing freely available content will be moving to Warhammer+.

Well, my FREE AoS App with all the warscrolls will not receive any more updates and services … the new Kruleboyz are not in it and Nagash can still cast mystic shield 8 times.

And WSB page… we‘ll see, I hope, but if I hear hooves, I think horses not unicorns 🤣

the things I heard about the animations are underwhelming (for professional efforts). With all due respect, I won’t pay 5£ a month for TTS shenanigans no matter how funny and with all the GW blustering and peacocking, I expected 30 min „Astartes“ level of awesome, not some wonky Orc bedtime story, where everybody knows, that grots are to be kicked! Even the fundamentals are off…

 

I really liked how MWG seduced me into subscription: nice content, cool guys/gals , funky things and if you really think this is cool, look behind the  curtain into the members area of our club, where things are escalating hard.

i can understand the transition of Azyr or whatever subscriptions into WH+, but for „outsiders“…  

not feeling it (ymmv)

[Sarouan]

Besides, comparisons to other businesses doing exactly the same is really funny. When Duncan started it, there wasn't many videos as well at the start. Yet the monthly / yearly subscription wasn't far from what GW asked.

In both cases, it's the same question of having faith in the creator to actually keep posting content on a regular basis that is worth keeping your subscription. That's how it works.

And if it's not ? You just cancel your subscription, that's all.

Which is why I find this topic highly political as usual. It's all about your personnal opinion on GW, in the end. Not the real content.

[Newtype_Zero]

4 hours ago, AaronWilson said:

The only thing I'll miss from the AoS app is the accessibility to quickly check scrolls at any point, will that functionality be inside Warhammer+?

We don't know at this point. Other than that we are getting "a Beta" of the app "sometime in September", we know nothing else about it at the moment.

[Sarouan]

9 minutes ago, Newtype_Zero said:

We don't know at this point. Other than that we are getting "a Beta" of the app "sometime in September", we know nothing else about it at the moment.

It's better to subscribe in september, anyway.

[AaronWilson]

15 minutes ago, Newtype_Zero said:

We don't know at this point. Other than that we are getting "a Beta" of the app "sometime in September", we know nothing else about it at the moment.

Okay in that case I'll just sub when the AoS app lands. 

[HollowHills]

This is sad but funny...

So in addition to an extremely buggy sign up process (from what I've heard) the app isn't even called Warhammer+, it's Warhammer TV.

The battle report is also a 1k game using only models from the starter set.

🤣😂

[Honk]

1 minute ago, HollowHills said:

This is sad but funny...

How to announce your presence as the big new content creator  🥳👍👻

[Overread]

The service is Warhammer+

It links to different subscribed systems - Warhammer TV, Warhammer Vault etc... 

What they could improve on is that the warhammerTV link in the subscriber page of your Warhammer Account (which is where you end up when you join) links to Warhammer TV the youtube page instead of the one inside Warhammer+. The Warhammer+ page instead has you scroll down past the subscribe/update link (which is very dominant) to find the actual links below which work well. Page just needs a different landing page which might happen after they get over the first few days and shift the focus from a big "subscribe button" focus. 

[Gareth 🍄]

19 minutes ago, HollowHills said:

This is sad but funny...

So in addition to an extremely buggy sign up process (from what I've heard) the app isn't even called Warhammer+, it's Warhammer TV.

The battle report is also a 1k game using only models from the starter set.

🤣😂

Sign up went surprisingly smoothly for me here, just subscribed there now. 

I would think the name of the video streaming app is Warhammer TV because that's solely the video streaming part of Warhammer+.

A Warhammer+ subscription includes the Warhammer TV streaming app, the Warhammer 40K app, the Warhammer Vault, and the upcoming Warhammer AoS app etc.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Gareth 🍄

[Sarouan]

Yeah, what was annoying for me is that I had to look for the link to Warhammer + website.

Signing in was a bit troublesome but I think it was linked to having too many people signing in at the same time. Now it's fixed. Just watched Bound for Greatness, I liked it. Really translates well how horrible life in the Imperium is...and how easy Chaos can find its way in your mind.

As for the battle reports, they follow the same pattern than their twitch channel, I think. TBH, that's not really my main interest (that's the reason why I stopped my subscription to Miniwargaming), but the way it's presented is quite clear and helpful for those wanting to analyse the tactics and flux of the battle. Lots of effects used too in their videos. The difference with "competition*" will be quite clear as they keep adding content with time, IMHO.

 

*Amateur channels can't even compete, here. Only true professionnals investing time and money in making videos / adding special effects would apply for this. Miniwargaming "normal battle reports" aren't really in this category, IMHO. Their narrative campaigns do use more tools for the presentation of the background, but barely for the battle reports themselves.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Sarouan

[PJetski]

4 hours ago, Ghoooouls said:

Do we know if all the aos warscrolls will still be free? Loved the AoS app currently but never cared for the army builder as there are more simply, easier to use and better army builders out there for free.

What I did love was using the app for the warscrolls, adding them to your 'army' for quick access in each game. I hope this is still a feature. I subscribed to the 40k app on release and regretted it, never signed up again. Total poop compared to the AoS one.

Warscrolls will almost certainly no longer be free. They are not included in 3.0 reboxed stormcast units, and they will never update the old AOS app again.

The writing is on the wall - you have to pay for rules in AOS going forward.