Official Wizards Feedback Thread - Take 2

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Junge Roman

(Except that we do need more than 2 trees for $20, and repaints of the glaciers are less than great. Intentions are good, though.)

Will the Aquilla general idea be discontinued altogether?

I definitely hear the voices on the jungle terrain. Our engineers are trying to get the cost of the product down, and any cost savings will go right back into putting more stuff into the packs. But, we're limited on what we can do.

Personally, I don't think the Aquilla general idea works well enough the way it's been done. But, I think there's a definite place for large figs in Heroscape. We're going to give it more thought (and maybe you guys can help too) to figure out how it could work.

Originally Posted by Finrod

But you didn't answer the question about Aquilla's Alliance...
(I want Zetacron...)

You're right - I didn't (sorry, the jungle stuff's so super-awesome that our primary goal has been to make sure that product happens). I don't have a plan that I'm happy with for that set. Releasing it as is could certainly be one option, but maybe we can come up with an even better plan.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by ej

You mentioned that the first Marvel expansion WOULD be released. Anything you can mention about plans for Marvel beyond that point?

Having the ability to sell to game stores is a great bonus. But concerning the big department stores, now that WotC is taking over distribution, is there more say you guys have over when the items appear on the shelves, or are we still at the mercy of their warehousing system?

Are there plans to change the distribution of individual packs in each wave? Many on this forum have suggested that 2 or 3 -to- 1 of commons to uniques would be a smart move. Is that a view shared by WotC?

Do the designers/playtesters hope that other licenses can be brought into the game? Specifically Star Wars, Transformers, DC, etc.

I don't have much more info on Marvel at this point. We're still at the mercy of the big stores' warehousing systems, but we can hopefully control things a lot better on our end. I hadn't heard the ideas on 3-1 or 2-1 common packs, but I'll take those ideas and think about them. We're looking at other potential licenses that could be brought into Heroscape. As for the Customer Service question in your other post, we've got a plan to improve that issue.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Teamski

This scares the hell out of me. I completely understand supporting the FLGS. Trust me, I'd love to get more backing from those shops, although I don't have one locally now that mine closed.

This is where my fears come in. Would it not hurt volume sales if the terrain packs are the propriety of the FLGS and wouldn't that affect over-all availability?? See, it's one thing to find Tundra at WM, Target and TRU, but it's an altogether another thing to not having a shop locally or one that decides to order one of everything, leaving me out in the wind. I usually get 3-4 of everything, and this, I fear will end that all.

I see what is going on. WOTC is attempting to control what it can: The online and FLGS market and doing away with what it can't control, the distribution of the major chains. I sure hope this doesn't end the widespread availability of Heroscape to the masses, however, I think it very well may. There will be less volume, less availability and possibly the Evilbay spinoff in search for terrain we all want. Be careful of what you wish for. I hate to be a naysayer, but we are in for bigger changes than what you think folks. We hated poor distribution to the major chains, but you will soon see no Heroscape outside Marvel at Walmart..... The writing is on the wall.

Actually, our goal is to control both the hobby stores and the major chains. The major chains love the master sets and the boosters. They're not so hot on the large expansions. So, if we want to ensure that large expansion-like things survive, we have to get a little more creative - put each item where it's going to sell best. This way, we maintain distribution at Wal*Mart (because we keep them happy), and build it up in the hobby channel.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by keglo

1.) Theres something I'm still unclear on. Most of the shelves are completely wiped out of Heroscape in my area. Are they going to remain that way until April or June? Or is someone going to continue to manufacture and distribute Heroscape in the mean time?

2.) And I have a Masterset question. Have we seen the end of Rise of the Valkyrie, with Swarm of the Marrow replacing it? I ask because many of us (not all) feel that Rise of the Valkyrie is by far the superior master set.

1. You'll probably see more product on shelf in Feb/Mar (I know there was some Wave 3 in the back room of one of our warehouses, and a few other things, so that should start trickling through). It's really hard to predict the stock control at the major stores.
2. The Marro master set is the current set. We're not planning on reprinting the Valkyrie master set at this time (although I think we may have some still in stock). I imagine we'll be looking at a potential new master set later this year. Maybe it's time for (yet another) new thread about what makes a good master set...

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Dartheyegouger

This is all very exciting after a drought of HS news!

I have some questions of my own, too.

1. Will new boosters include Glyphs (like Wave 1) or small terrain pieces, such as a rock or plant?

2. Can you tell us anything about the inclusion of figures that are often requested (such as Native Americans, ents, pirates, etc.)?

3. Are Marvel waves going to be released the same way as regular Heroscape, with four packs in a wave, large expansions, and terrain expansions?

4. Will the convention exclusives be re-released to those who couldn't/can't go to the conventions?

1. We've talked about this idea, but the first time it could really happen is wave 10.
2. Native Americans are a definite.
3. Marvel waves are 2 packs per wave.
4. No plans at this time, but things can change.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by IntheHood

One Question: Will all Heroscape items be available on Hasbro Toy Shop.com or some other online retailer?

I fully expect that everything will be available on HasbroToyShop.com at one time or another. Maybe not all at the same time, but everything should rotate through there.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Soul Shackle

Am I understanding correctly, Aquilla may be scratched completely? Whatever will my lonely Master Woo do with no one to look up to? Maybe General Einar will have some compassion.

By "Aquilla", I was specifically referring to the Aquilla's Alliance set, not the character Aquilla - she's here to stay. If I said anything bad about her, she'd probably send some of the scarier parts of her army to kill me. Monks and spiders, I can deal with. But not those things.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by HS ~ KNT

You're ditching RotV?! NOT a good idea. People are deffiantely not done buying multiples of that. Me included. I only have two... I want at least five, and I don't want to pay $100 each for the rest of them.

New terrain, such as deserts is mucho appreiated! But maybe rocks at least a bit different than the glaicers?

So! Questions:

1. It seems apparent, but are you going to take fan-based ideas more seriously? As in, a thread of posts that say what type of units we want, what type of abilities we want, and keep up to date on it?

2. You said that you want to know what we want distributed, but will you also take into account where? Like, in Ontario if we have surplus Wave 6, will you send us Wave 7, even though say, Arizona has a surplus of it there? Or will you let us figure out how to 'Redistribue' it all, much like done in the past?

3. When I compare the prices of CAN 'Scape to that of AMR 'Scape, even though our dollar is higher now, it still costs more than in the US. Do you have any control over this, or should I go yell at my Wal-Mart?

4. I already said this, as have many people, but is it possible that we will see a LEGO like system over Heroscape.com allowing you to buy bulk of exactly what we want.

And 5. Are we likely to see more terrain shapes upcoming? Such as 'reversed' 24 hexes, 24 hex sand, and multi-hex water? THese are something I've wanted for a long time, and I've seen disscussed at multiple other times on these forums. Esp. the water would be great, because, if you put a lot of water tiles together, for whatever reason, they tend to buckle, so a seven and three hex of water could reduce that somewhat.

We're not ditching RotV, it's just not on the shortlist for reprints right now.
1. We'll definitely take fan suggestions seriously. However, it'll usually take the form of asking a question in a thread or on a website, waiting a while, and then pulling out the answer.
2. The addition of hobby stores to our arsenal should help out the "where" a lot. (and yes, for the Canadians present, we do have Canadian distribution for hobby stores too)
3. I don't have any control over Canadian prices at all, sorry.
4. I like the idea of a hex-by-hex store, but I worry about the effort that it would require to put it into place and get it running. I'm going to keep the idea in the back of my mind - there could definitely be a right time for it.
5. Our effort's going to be sculpting (1) new figures, and (2) new terrian elements. New hexes are going to be a third priority (with something like 24-hex sand, or other different colors being the easiest to do)

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by STAROCEAN980

8. What is the expected time between Wave releases? 4 months, 6 months, a year?
9. What are the chances on another figure like the hive? A soulborg factory or something?
10. Are there any thoughts on general specific fortress sets?
11. Any Ideas for a Aquilla flag bearer?
12. Any more orc heros like a grut riding a pteridactyle?

Sorry for reposting the whole thing. I just was hoping for a response since it will easily get lost in the thread.

8. I'd expect 4-6 months on average. We're going to try to make things more regular.
9. Interesting.
10. None yet.
11. I don't, but I'm sure our playtesters have thought about it.
12. I haven't thought that far yet.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by zanter

Since my first post was lost in the fistfight to submit questions, Do you have any plans for star wars Heroscape? if not, what branch-offs of HS are you planing? Nice avatar while i am at it.

I'm not going to say what branch-offs we are or aren't discussing yet - I wouldn't want to jinx anything. And yes, I like the avatar too - thanks, Truth!

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Fatespuppet

1. Would there be the possibility of offering the figures in waves of their own?
2. Is there also a possibility of creating a set of world books and things to bring the HS world to life in the D20 rule system?
3. When it's all said and done, will online stores like amazon and housemouse be able to carry the complete line at competitive rates or will we be treking between box stores and hobby shops to collect new expansions?

1. Possible - something like an "all-stars" set could be great.
2. Right now, our RPG guys are a "little" busy with D&D 4th Edition.
3. I can't speak for the purchasing and stock control abilities of other companies, but we don't actively prevent people from stocking everything that we sell.

[wotcpbarclay]

Originally Posted by Wind Lane

Only question I have is: Are you and the new staffers players too? Seems like it'd be the best way to get into the HS mindset by, at the very least, trying the game on for size to gain a better perspective of why we're after what we're after.

I've played some, but not a great deal - normally, I'm lucky if I get to play even a couple of games of the products I work on. I'm not a hardcore (or great) player by any means, but I've held my own against the Hasbro designers in the past.

There are also a bunch of people around the office who have been players forever, and since it's now in our product room, the number of players is growing rapidly. Strangely, people seem to like it.