Just Talked One-On-One With a GW Rep

[Lucidum]

Regarding the future of Inquisitor, after having emailed GW with a 12-page outline of my thoughts on what should be the future of the game and models. I recieved a shockingly quick reply and a phone number to talk to the man in charge of Customer Service regarding that. I was actually really impressed, I spent a good twenty minutes or so discussing Inquisitor with the very knowledgable representative (who's name I don't recall). He informed me that, "as far as the future of Inquisitor goes, Fantasy Flight's Dark Heresy is it." He said that most of the stuff covered in my document is stuff which is, right now, being worked on to add more depth and a greater range of details to the Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, and Deathwatch game systems, and that, unfortunately, it doesn't look like anytime in the near future will any of the OOP Inquisitor 54mm models be re-released or brought back into production; and that most players may want to work with their 28mm models instead.

Anywho, at least I did my part to let them know that there were still =][= players out there in the world, and that they still had loyal fans.

[Kaled]

Is that the same document you discussed with me and PO a while back? Why not post it and you might find a few fellow players willing to help turn some of your ideas into reality.

I think everyone here probably already knew most of what that guy told you - or had at least assumed as much, but it was good of him to talk to you and say so explocitly. Personally I think it's a good thing that the future of Inquisitor sits with the fans. Sure, it'd be nice to see some ofthe OOP models return, but there's no shortage of 54mm models out there and Dark Heresy etc provide more than enough new background material (plus rules that are easy enough to convert). Dark Magenta could do with more writers and contributors, but otherwise I think it does a much better job of supporting the game than GW did or could (and even if it doesn't at the moment, it certainly has the potential to do so!).

[Lucidum]

Yeah, that was the same article. :3

And yeah, I had assumed Dark Heresy was the future of Inquisitor too, but I appreciated that they wanted to talk to me about it and that they indeed seemed a bit excited that someone was still interested in Inquisitor. As for Dark Magenta writers, as soon as I get my sourcebook finished, I'll definitely be contributing ^_~

[Heroka Vendile]

Sounds just like the type of "opinion article" (as I believe they are called) that DM could use, rather than just sticking it up on the forum. After all if it's 12 pages on a word processor then that's just gonna hurt your eyes trying to read it all in a forums limited formatting.

I can't say i'm wholly surprised by the FFGs thing, makes perfect sense for GW. Inquisitor is after all a slightly unusual crossover between wargame and RPG, so handing it over fully to another company to continue the wonderful setting as a pure RPG is probably the best we could expect from the modern GW that seems to keep the SGs hanging around just because all the staff would feel guilty if they flat-out axed them. (the prior sentence fills my daily quota of cynicism)

[GAZKUL]

is it,just me or are GW actually trying to piss off the specialist gamers among us, even Blood Bowl has taken a downturn in releases and attention, when i first got into GW there were specialist releases every month which helped to keep interest going.  i hope you can put it up on the forum soon 

[Kaled]

I don't see that they're trying to piss anyone off. I'm not sure what new releases we need (and I'm even less sure what they could release that would be profitable or worth their time to write). They released a game plus expansions and models, now it's left to us to go away and play and expand it - sounds good to me...

[GAZKUL]

true, but even you can admit that they are aiming the games more at beginners with less and less for the veterens. in manycountries blood bowl is the 4th core system so i'd have thouht that they'd at least keep releasing stuff for that, okay a few models have come out but not like they used to when i first got into GW gaming

[MarcoSkoll]

true, but even you can admit that they are aiming the games more at beginners with less and less for the veterens.

Yes, but that's because GW's marketing strategy works on the assumption that most people stay with the hobby for a year or two at most. After they drop out, there's a new person taking their place in the accounting figures.
Those people who stay part of the hobby for many years or even decades represent only a relatively small portion of GW's turnover.

It is disappointing that GW does relatively little to actually try to retain their customer base - and surprising, given the rather dismal economy means that you would want to try and keep customers rather than relying on newcomers who have enough disposal income to take on a new hobby - but that is a business model that, presumably, is managing to work for them.

Inquisitor is not a game system I think needs much support. Its "throw the rules out of the window" nature means that new articles aren't particularly necessary after you've covered core concepts - given the imagination of the player, rules can exist for anything.
I would, and indeed do, complain about the reduction in support, but not that there is no new support.

The loss of the Specialist Games site and the Annuals going out of print was something of a blow - obviously all that stuff is available "elsewhere" (should you think I need to be told that, you're a right numpty), but as reasonably regular posts like "I can't find the article on X" (both here and on Warseer) are testament to, "elsewhere" is not a good substitute for on the Games Workshop site.

And, it was the loss of stuff like the bitz packs that originally drove me to start sculpting my models. Without the old bitz service, it is more work than it used to be (although I can hardly blame them for ending that one, given the way it had to work!) to create models, and despite things like the Arcadian Smugglers Ring, that's not really going to change.

In short, no, the game does not enjoy the same support as it once had (although we try anyway), but I don't think it needed more than it used to, nor further advancement.

[Elva]

I think its a double edged sword. One, it is nice that Inq is in the hands of fans, especially such brilliant ones as us  . On the other hand, their "disposable customer" policy gives me a sick feeling in my gut. In fact, wasn't GW started by a bunch of hard core gamers, if I recall my knowledge of the Golden Age of Gaming correctly?

[MarcoSkoll]

On the other hand, their "disposable customer" policy gives me a sick feeling in my gut.

It's not solely "a policy". Most people who get into GW stuff do drop out of it again in fairly short order.

The percentage of people who last more than 2 or 3 years in the hobby is fairly low, and the number of people who become real veterans with more than a decade or more to their name is even lower - although we have several of that sort on this very forum, myself included. (I've been playing about 11 years now, but I know that still makes me a relative newbie compared to many here.)

They have to consider that and not cater solely to the hard-core. However, it is certainly disappointing to see practically no attentions dedicated to the dedicated fans.

[GAZKUL]

i often pick up a white dwarf from 01-04 and think "damn that was the golden era", i've been playing for 10 years which is good going considering that i'm 17. true that there is a very small number of veterens but even so i don't think we should be totally ignored, i loved the really complicated articles like Jeff Leong's "Art of Warhammer" series which was running when i first started getting WD. there may be a small number of us but surely they should at least try to do an article now and again which is  aimed at someone other than newcomers.

[Ynek]

Just to throw my two imperial credits in...

I agree that GW's philosophy with regard to the 'veteran' gamers is disheartening, but these days, games like Inquisitor are largely driven by the gaming community, rather than being driven by the company.

Let's face it, given the fact that the company has become so commercial, I think that it's better that games like these have fallen into less greedy hands.

[Elva]

What I truly miss from the golden age of GW, which I was too young to truly enjoy, was the Warhammer summer campaigns. I never got my army started until after they stopped, which really got me upset.

On a more Inquisitor related note, I guess the fact that it is in the hands of fans rather than some high up board members is a blessing. And I am glad that my local GW still supports specialist games.