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homullus posted:Duration cards are in Seaside, Adventures, and Empires, I believe, so only Seaside has them among the ones you're looking at. They are pretty easy to understand; you just have to remember that they're in effect, and remember that they're (generally!) going to go away on your next turn. It's stuff like "+1 Action this turn, +1 coin now and on your next turn." That's all, which means they play well with any other expansion and cards. They won't always be the best card in the kingdom, but that is true of literally every Dominion card except maybe Colony. Did you misspell Chapel? 
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May 24, 2017 19:47
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silvergoose posted:Did you misspell Chapel? Even Chapel and Colony can be bad in some extremely rare kingdoms. There are combos that end the game so fast that you can't really uses Chapel/hit Colony more than once.
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May 24, 2017 19:53
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CaptainRightful posted:"CMON products’ perceived value in the customers’ eyes will be enhanced, which is in the best interest of consumers..." Makes sense. I mean its all just a bunch of cheap Chinese cardboard and plastic in the end right? What separates a high end designer board game from a monopoly set or a dollar store chess set? Price and exclusivity! Highly priced games act as a status symbol in nerd boardgaming culture circles. How many people here have elaborate shelves to display their vast board game collection? How many of those games are played on a regular basis? Not very many in my estimation. That means that designer board games are primarily valued as status symbols, therefor higher prices and more exclusivity will increase customer value.
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May 24, 2017 21:54
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I have avatars off and I knew who wrote that post without looking.
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May 24, 2017 22:17
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Bottom Liner posted:I have avatars off and I knew who wrote that post without looking. Wow, you're good. He didn't even mention talisman.
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May 24, 2017 22:23
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Bottom Liner posted:In theory, maybe your line of thinking is correct. In practice, local shops already charged at least MSRP if not more, and big online stores increased prices across the board but remained cheaper than local shops. This helps noone in practice, just pads the Asmodee pockets a lot and hurts consumers that have no local shops. People that shopped online continue to shop online, because it's still the cheapest, just not as cheap as it was previously. Certainly there's people on the side of your example which you cite, but there's still plenty of people who will opt in for the immediate gratification of owning a game today over a difference of $5-10, vs the $20+ price gaps that occur traditionally in the industry. Acting like policies like this won't impact a percentage of consumers is simply refusing to see past your own circumstance/opinion. Canyoneer's post isn't a "theory", it's absolutely quantifiable and is how more businesses should operate to protect their brand (but historically don't in this industry, unfortunately). Just today amidst CMON's announcement I saw multiple people commenting on social media about how policies like this drive them to buy locally so they don't have to wait. It's a thing, and it helps support an entire channel of business for the industry that generally is incredibly difficult to thrive in (which is a whole other conversation in and of its self). vvv e: There you go. Merauder fucked around with this message at 22:36 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 22:25
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I always ordered all my games online. I'd happily pay an extra 5-10$ to a local shop, but not 20-40$.
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May 24, 2017 22:34
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It's the backwards and anti-consumer way of achieving that outcome, yes. This isn't my position I'm arguing for, as I'm lucky enough to live in a city with tons of local shops as well as CSI's headquarters. It's just a fact that despite Asmodee's faux "help the local shops" talk, these practices did nothing but increase consumer cost overall while not providing anything of value to either local shops or the consumer shopping there. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 22:47 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 22:45
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As a self employed person I'm probably more sympathetic than most to the small business owner's problems. But I'm in a very real sense not the kind of customer a FLGS is made to cater to. I know exactly what I want and all I need is someone to accept my money and hand me my game (or even better, drop it off where I live instead of 5$ in gas away) Online stores do that second one, and have much lower overhead and staffing costs compared to a brick and mortar place. And as consumers we don't allow the idea of one store with different prices for the same product and that kind of means the FLGS will never be able to serve me as a customer unless they also run "Discount Jane's Cash & Carry Games" on the sly out the back door.
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May 24, 2017 23:01
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There are plenty of stores that operate successfully because they cultivate a community and an open atmosphere for gaming, despite not competing with online retailers with prices. They also tend to make money from snacks, drinks, tournaments or other organized events, etc. It's not all about the cost for every consumer, like yourself, but you're the one hurt the most by these practices. These big publishers aren't focusing on anything but raising the price floor instead of building real incentives for retail shopping. Make no mistake about it, it's a thinly veiled way of increasing revenue across the board because the vast majority of shopping is moving online and they know that. Basically, online shoppers pay more, everyone else pays the same as before, who wins? Shoppers that care about pricing are still shopping online and the small percentage that are now willing to pay the difference locally are probably negligible. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 23:42 on May 24, 2017 |
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May 24, 2017 23:39
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Bottom Liner posted:There are plenty of stores that operate successfully because they cultivate a community and an open atmosphere for gaming, despite not competing with online retailers with prices. They also tend to make money from snacks, drinks, tournaments or other organized events, etc. It's not all about the cost for every consumer, like yourself, but you're the one hurt the most by these practices. These big publishers aren't focusing on anything but raising the price floor instead of building real incentives for retail shopping. Make no mistake about it, it's a thinly veiled way of increasing revenue across the board because the vast majority of shopping is moving online and they know that.
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May 24, 2017 23:47
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I agree, that's my point. If Asmodee etc really cared about cultivating local game shop's customer loyalty to combat online retailers they could do more to support that type of stuff. FFG's organized play kits are a good baseline for that, and CMON has that half brained "earn Kickstarter exclusives at our game nights" thing coming up.
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May 24, 2017 23:51
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My cutoff for online vs b&m is $20. If it's $20 cheaper online I buy online. If not, I buy from my local store. I feel this helps keep my local guy in business but still makes some sense for my pocket book.
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May 24, 2017 23:52
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I've spent money happily on food, drinks, and table fees to use the play area. There's definitely value there.
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May 24, 2017 23:56
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Bottom Liner posted:There are plenty of stores that operate successfully because they cultivate a community and an open atmosphere for gaming, despite not competing with online retailers with prices. They also tend to make money from snacks, drinks, tournaments or other organized events, etc. It's not all about the cost for every consumer, like yourself, but you're the one hurt the most by these practices. These big publishers aren't focusing on anything but raising the price floor instead of building real incentives for retail shopping. Make no mistake about it, it's a thinly veiled way of increasing revenue across the board because the vast majority of shopping is moving online and they know that. I'm not sure about that...our local FLGS, Game Empire is financially healthy and is filled with people on a nightly basis. And I doubt it's the only one. It sells at MSRP. They let you bring in your own games as well, although they don't let you tell potential customers about online pricing. Which I'm fine with, it's rude to go into stores (any store) and start telling people where to buy stuff.
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May 25, 2017 00:01
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Lorini posted:I'm not sure about that Mister Sinewave posted:I've spent money happily on food, drinks, and table fees to use the play area. There's definitely value there. Agreed. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 00:07 on May 25, 2017 |
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May 25, 2017 00:05
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Bottom Liner posted:Speaking of, the Jaipur app just came out on both platforms and is on a launch sale. Seems solid so far. I miss the old art.  e: They also changed it from spice to tea for some reason? Magnetic North fucked around with this message at 00:49 on May 25, 2017 |
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May 25, 2017 00:36
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Bottom Liner posted:Basically, online shoppers pay more, everyone else pays the same as before, who wins? Shoppers that care about pricing are still shopping online and the small percentage that are now willing to pay the difference locally are probably negligible. The biggest reason why manufacturers want price parity across all channels is that when retailers can actually make some margin selling a product, they continue to carry it and sell it. My local game store almost stopped carrying X-Wing and FFG stuff because despite having 60 people show up to X-Wing tournaments and hosting Imperial Assault regionals, they barely sold any product at MSRP. Once the price changes went into effect, they started selling a lot of it. Game companies want their products sold in a specialty store with experienced, knowledgeable staff who can run demos, explain rules, and make recommendations to customers. When that happens, they sell more games because they expand their market. A board game publisher is competing with other board games, but in a broader sense they're competing with every single other product people spend discretionary entertainment dollars on. They're competing with a night at the movies, DVDs, video games, concert tickets, and fidget spinners (lol) The price protections aren't about grabbing a bigger piece of the pie (because the manufacturer is selling at wholesale anyway), it's about expanding the pie and selling to more people. It's one of the reasons why Apple is strict about selling at MSRP, because they really want people to get the ~*~*Apple Experience~*~* in an Apple Store. If it was consistently 10-20% cheaper to buy it from Amazon or Best Buy, customers would be disincentivized to use Apple's preferred distribution method (their own stores)
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May 25, 2017 00:48
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So some guy who hates KickStarter did a "statistical analysis" of the BGG ratings of KS games vs. Traditionally published games https://opinionatedgamers.com/2017/05/23/kickstarter-skepticism-why-were-not-eager-to-play-that-game-you-backed/ but forgot things like "statistically significant" and "publication bias." I think this commentator kind of hit it on the head: quote:I guess my concern is that the article makes a claim (” The statistics available, while limited, bear this out. The fact that the game was on Kickstarter doesn’t mean it is a better game: if anything, it probably means it isn’t.”), but the claim is only *supported* if the differences discussed have statistical significance. I mean, it’s a pretty big deal. If data are being used to support a conclusion, then, IMO, we should expect some rigor when it comes to how those data are analyzed. I truly appreciate the effort to involve data — that alone is commendable — I’d just like to see some indication that the conclusions are supported by the data instead of the data being used to support an a priori conclusion. Thanks again. T-Bone fucked around with this message at 00:54 on May 25, 2017 |
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May 25, 2017 00:50
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Huskalator posted:My cutoff for online vs b&m is $20. If it's $20 cheaper online I buy online. If not, I buy from my local store. I feel this helps keep my local guy in business but still makes some sense for my pocket book. canyoneer posted:The biggest reason why manufacturers want price parity across all channels is that when retailers can actually make some margin selling a product, they continue to carry it and sell it. My local game store almost stopped carrying X-Wing and FFG stuff because despite having 60 people show up to X-Wing tournaments and hosting Imperial Assault regionals, they barely sold any product at MSRP. Once the price changes went into effect, they started selling a lot of it. The local shop I always went to did the bold move of setting their in-store prices at the same level as online. Why don't they all do that? It seems like a losing move to make in-store prices 25% higher than online for no reason. I always went there first before going online, and picked up a few things I wasn't planning on. Good way to bring in customers to play at your tables and buy overpriced snacks too.
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May 25, 2017 00:51
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Rutibex posted:The local shop I always went to did the bold move of setting their in-store prices at the same level as online. Why don't they all do that? It seems like a losing move to make in-store prices 25% higher than online for no reason. I always went there first before going online, and picked up a few things I wasn't planning on. Good way to bring in customers to play at your tables and buy overpriced snacks too. Wait, pricematching online on their own store or on any retailer? My LGS likes to tell a story about how Wal Mart was selling Lords of Waterdeep for less than the store's retailer direct price. As in, a customer could buy it at Wal Mart for less than the lowest possible distributor price that a retail game store could get. Cause man, if your store wants to sell Machi Koro for Amazon prices at $32 and the store's cost is $28 from distribution, you're gonna need to move at least 5 discounted copies to make up the margin to the retailer from just selling one copy at MSRP at $50. Retail sucks as a business. Hobby retailing even moreso
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May 25, 2017 01:02
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canyoneer posted:Wait, pricematching online on their own store or on any retailer? He price matched Amazon, not just any old online retailer. And it wasn't as if you had to ask, that was just the price on the box in-store. He always had lots of signs around the board game section advertising "Most game 25% cheaper than MSRP or more!!!". Without shipping cost and wait times it was always better to go down to the shop rather than order online. They made it up selling heroclix, and card sleeves, and Magic cards, snacks etc.
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May 25, 2017 01:07
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MikeCrotch posted:One thing to note is that it's not great with 2 players in case that's how you usually play Carcassonne. Shoot, it is. I was hoping that I could get the game as a gag thing, but also that I could keep playing it afterwards, which would be mostly 2p. FulsomFrank posted:I'm quite fond of it but like someone else already said, the tile placement is secondary to the cool and fun auction system. That said, the more I play it the more you start to notice how goddam important it is to put tiles down properly. So what you just successfully acquired/saved the tiles with the right icons on it? You didn't pay enough attention to the fact that they're nearly impossible to place in a way that really benefits you. It's a great game that goes quickly and frankly is dirt simple to teach and grasp (as long as you remind people to focus on the objectives and what you should be aiming for). It sounds good, but maybe not good enough to justify having both, especially when Glen More is already so adorably stereotypically Scottish. My Glen More is also in German, and it's definitely tricky getting it played. I've made laminated copies of all the special locations in English which helps quite a bit. btw I just started working at my FLGS and they make the vast majority of their money from buying and selling MtG cards
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May 25, 2017 01:45
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canyoneer posted:The biggest reason why manufacturers want price parity across all channels is that when retailers can actually make some margin selling a product, they continue to carry it and sell it. My local game store almost stopped carrying X-Wing and FFG stuff because despite having 60 people show up to X-Wing tournaments and hosting Imperial Assault regionals, they barely sold any product at MSRP. Once the price changes went into effect, they started selling a lot of it. High five for this post. I agree 100% with everything here.
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May 25, 2017 02:25
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I get that there are reasons why companies benefit from doing stuff like this. What I take issue with is the idea that this benefits me as a consumer when all I end up with are higher prices. Especially on high ticket stuff like many CMON projects or FFG's big box miniature-heavy products like 2E Mansions of Madness where the online discount was the difference between me being willing to buy the game at all or not. Even the wider audience thing would maybe be a benefit with collectible games like TCGs or Warhammer, but with a traditional boardgame I'm the only one that needs to own it to play with anyone that might be interested in playing it.
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May 25, 2017 02:28
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malkav11 posted:I get that there are reasons why companies benefit from doing stuff like this. What I take issue with is the idea that this benefits me as a consumer when all I end up with are higher prices. Exactly, everyone here is basically in agreement with my point that the end goal here is profit and revenue growth, not "helping the little guys" like Asmodee tried to sell it. canyoneer posted:
This isn't really true anymore, especially with Asmodee aquiring and spreading everything along with the hobby gaming explosion into big box retailers like Target, Walmart, B&N, etc. They are quickly leaving behind hobby gaming specific stores in favor of mass distribution, a natural trend as board gaming rises in popularity. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 02:37 on May 25, 2017 |
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May 25, 2017 02:34
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Lest we forget that Games Workshop went so hard in the direction of "we need these things to be sold by brick and mortar stores and we need experts right there to teach the buyer every little thing about why they should buy our paints and brushes too" that they wouldn't even let stores use official Games Workshop art and photos for online retail listings. The stores literally had to rely on self- and customer-submitted pictures of the products.
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May 25, 2017 02:49
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MikeCrotch posted:One thing to note is that it's not great with 2 players in case that's how you usually play Carcassonne. I like a variant from BGG where you draw two extra tiles out and have them cost the round number +1. Helps open up the 2 player game to more strategies, otherwise you see too few tiles and it gets really swingy.
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May 25, 2017 02:55
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dropkickpikachu posted:Lest we forget that Games Workshop went so hard in the direction of "we need these things to be sold by brick and mortar stores and we need experts right there to teach the buyer every little thing about why they should buy our paints and brushes too" that they wouldn't even let stores use official Games Workshop art and photos for online retail listings. The stores literally had to rely on self- and customer-submitted pictures of the products.
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May 25, 2017 02:55
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Hey, quick question - what size are the cards in Dominion? Last night I bought the 'Second Edition Big Box' (for $86AUD new! Only slightly more expensive than a first ed expansion for it, down here) and I'm thinking of getting sleeves for the cards, seeing as all the copper, etc. cards my friends have are battered to all hell, after years of use.  (Might be a bit insane due to the sheer number of cards I'd need to sleeve, what with three expansion packs inbound, but well, I'll get through them eventually...)
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May 25, 2017 03:01
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Major Isoor posted:Hey, quick question - what size are the cards in Dominion? Last night I bought the 'Second Edition Big Box' (for $86AUD new! Only slightly more expensive than a first ed expansion for it, down here) and I'm thinking of getting sleeves for the cards, seeing as all the copper, etc. cards my friends have are battered to all hell, after years of use. Standard European.
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May 25, 2017 03:02
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Major Isoor posted:Hey, quick question - what size are the cards in Dominion? Last night I bought the 'Second Edition Big Box' (for $86AUD new! Only slightly more expensive than a first ed expansion for it, down here) and I'm thinking of getting sleeves for the cards, seeing as all the copper, etc. cards my friends have are battered to all hell, after years of use.
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May 25, 2017 03:35
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CMON's terms are much friendlier than Asmodee's. Stores can't advertise lower prices and this is where you get things like "add item to basket to see price." Asmodee's terms were so ridiculous that a vendor at Origins invited me on a smoke break to offer an FFG game 25% off because if an Asmodee representative overheard they could stop distributing to them and have apparently threatened to do so.
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May 25, 2017 04:17
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Bottom Liner posted:This isn't really true anymore, especially with Asmodee aquiring and spreading everything along with the hobby gaming explosion into big box retailers like Target, Walmart, B&N, etc. They are quickly leaving behind hobby gaming specific stores in favor of mass distribution, a natural trend as board gaming rises in popularity. Where are you getting the notion that the two are mutually exclusive; that any publishers selling to the aforementioned stores means they're "leaving hobby behind"? Which publishers are you suggesting have this approach?
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May 25, 2017 08:47
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Are there any good two player worker placement games? Most of the ones I've played or seen feel like they wouldn't work well with two. A strong theme (Sci-fi/Fantasy would be cool, but understand that most are probably historical, no straight up horror though) that lends itself to some kind of implied narrative would be good and not too complex, this is for a 9 year old, but he has a fair bit of boardgame experience and can play games that skew a little older than that. I've seen Lords of Waterdeep suggested in the past. Is that any good for two? I guess there's probably a recommendation thread for this kind of thing, but I'll try here for now.
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May 25, 2017 10:51
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Gravy Jones posted:Are there any good two player worker placement games? Most of the ones I've played or seen feel like they wouldn't work well with two. A strong theme (Sci-fi/Fantasy would be cool, but understand that most are probably historical, no straight up horror though) that lends itself to some kind of implied narrative would be good and not too complex, this is for a 9 year old, but he has a fair bit of boardgame experience and can play games that skew a little older than that.
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May 25, 2017 10:54
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Tekopo posted:Agricola: All Creatures Great and Small is specifically designed for 2 players and plays pretty well. Thanks, I'll try and check out a video and see if I like the look of it. The theme will be a hard sell, it's relatively expensive as well. We're each allowed to buy one game at the expo though 
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May 25, 2017 11:03
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Talking about the UK expo, do people fancy meeting up at 2 pm on the Saturday? Not 100% on what the layout is gonna be this time around so not sure where to meet, exactly.
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May 25, 2017 11:14
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Tekopo posted:Talking about the UK expo, do people fancy meeting up at 2 pm on the Saturday? Not 100% on what the layout is gonna be this time around so not sure where to meet, exactly. Sounds good
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May 25, 2017 11:19
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A Feast for Odin plays excellently at 2 player, imo.
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May 25, 2017 11:27
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