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Old January 22nd, 2008, 01:43 PM
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Official Wizards Feedback Thread - Take 2

This thread is a newly created copy of the posts from Truth and Wotcpbarclay that appeared in the original feedback thread found here.

Before posting in this thread, read the whole thing.

For more information visit the front page News article found HERE.

Additional topic specific threads can be found HERE

Have fun!

Summary so far, Feb 19th 2008 11pm Pacific

Important Statement:

WotC: We will NOT do blind purchase booster waves or master sets.

Design Questions:

Is the design team staying on HS?
WotC: Yes, kind of. There's been some shifting of responsibilities. The Heroscape playtester team have been given more responsibility for design and development of the sets. They've done a stellar job over the last 5 sets, and we're expecting them to do even better over the next 5 and beyond. Craig is working with them and with the R&D lead here at Wizards (Henry Stern, designer of Vegas Showdown) to keep everything running smoothly.

Will CVN play any role in future design/development? If so what specific role?
WotC: He's going to play two critical roles. First, as a consultant on design and development, and second, as a voice for maintaining the vision of the brand.

Craig is involved in the transition of Heroscape. Long-term, he's not assigned to the brand - he's got other Hasbro responsibilities that he has to do in order to feed his kids. However, we couldn't tear him away from Heroscape if we tried, so he's still going to be active on the playtest forums, and he's very involved in working with our team on the transition. He's also been very influential in making sure the vision and direction of the game stays the same.

Will the old cards receive much errata when re-released?
WotC: If they need errata (because there was a bad mistake), then they'll get it if we do more than just reprint a set. But, we don't make random power level changes to minis.

Will the rules be updated/cleaned up in any fashion in the near future?
WotC: Not in the near future, but I could see some clarifications in the medium-term.

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?
WotC: Right now, our RPG guys are a "little" busy with D&D 4th Edition.

Are we likely to see more terrain shapes upcoming such as 'reversed' 24 hexes, 24 hex sand, and multi-hex water?
WotC: 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).

Wizards of the Coast tends to have a business model based on recycling it's product line over a certain time frame within it's customer base—the new and old products are usually not entirely compatible. Will Heroscape continue to be 100% backward compatible?
WotC: Heroscape is going to stay backwards-compatible. I can't predict out past 3 or so years, but I don't see any major changes coming within that timeframe.

Wizards of the Coast stuff has a certain type of unified look and feel across it's product lines - a kind of gothic-punk fantasy look. Will Heroscape retain the more simple/classic stylization that it currently has?
WotC: We're keeping the Heroscape look and feel.

Are you and the new staffers players too? The best way to get into the HS mindset is by trying the game on for size to gain a better perspective of why we're after what we're after.
WotC: 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.

Are you going to change the card design?
WotC:We're keeping the card design as is - photos, and hex-shaped.

Would WotC support third party developers to produce officially sanctioned material in support of Heroscape? That would include, for example, publishing a book on how to customize Heroscape terrain tiles. Thanks!
WotC: We'd certainly be open to proposals. I'm not going to make any promises here, though, as any proposalwould have to be run through Legal.

We got Hasbro's Official stance on Custom units, which was a cool fact. Is WotC still agreeing to that? and should we change that phrase?
WotC: We're still agreeing to that exact statement. Since it's fallen off the Hasbro website, here it is in full.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hasbro
Question
What are "Custom" Heroscape figures and terrain?
Answer
HEROSCAPE has a large fan base that enjoys creating custom additions to the established universe.

Custom additions are figures and terrain that are not created or distributed by Hasbro. We do not support or suggest using custom figures on our official HEROSCAPE battlefields, and we never include them in official scenarios and battlefields. Custom additions may not be copied from genuine Hasbro HEROSCAPE product.

The HEROSCAPE name can only be used to refer to genuine Hasbro HEROSCAPE product, it must be clear that any custom additions are not created by, distributed, or endorsed by Hasbro, and the following credit line must appear: "HEROSCAPE and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. © 2006 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved."
Aquilla’s Alliance and Ticalla Jungle:

Is there any news on when Aquilla's Alliance and Ticalla Jungle will be released?
WotC: This is a tricky one. As you know, the Jungle set was delayed for a number of reasons, including having to go back and rebuild a couple of the components from scratch. The downside of this is that, with the changes, we'd lose money if we produced this set. And that's not good for our long-term survival.

So, we've taken a step back, and looked for other ways that we can put trees into your hands. Our leading contender is something that solves two problems in one fell swoop. It'll give you the trees you want, and it gives the hobby stores the ability to sell terrain to people (they can't easily carry the master set because they can't make enough money on it).

Here's the plan: Cut the packaging down to a simple box with no window (saves a bunch of $), and put the following components in the box: 2 Trees, 2 Brush, and around 20 swamp/jungle-themed hex tiles (1, 2, 3, and 7-hex). At the same time, we're also looking at a desert terrain pack, containing rock formations (using the ice molds), with 5 rocks and a similar amount of sand/rock-themed terrain. Both of these would sell for $20, and would be sold in hobby stores.

Both of these will be a big test for how well future terrain packs will do. We're working on a plan that will put brand new terrain features (graves, statues, columns, walls, whatever else we can come up with) out in similar packs for 2009. Look for another thread some point soon to discuss desired new terrain features.

Will the Aquilla general idea be discontinued altogether?
WotC: 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 [Alliance Large Pack] 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.

Am I understanding correctly, Aquilla may be scratched completely?
WotC: 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.

Regarding the already completed figures for the Aquilla's Alliance set. Can we expect to see them eventually, somewhere?
WotC: Yes. We'll definitely release all of them. I don't have a timeline yet, but it will happen.

If the terrain is going to be repackaged as stated, what's going to happen to the spiders?
WotC: We'll release the spiders somewhere. Not yet sure where, but they're done, and they're cool, so they'll come out. The trees and brush look exactly like they did when you saw them.

Have you given any thought at all to the previously discussed 2(or more) terrain packs to every one large pack?
WotC: Yes. It's better than the current packout, but it might not be enough better.

If you could say, what are some of the ideas you guys are batting around to handle the jungle trees situation? Anything new in the past few weeks, or is the plain-packaging/game-store-only approach still the most likely resolution?
WotC: We're talking some ideas through with our distributors. I imagine we'll know a lot more sometime next week. I think that approach is the most likely solution, but it's not the only one on the table.


Future Units and Releases:

Not all feel that Rise of the Valkyrie is the superior master set. Have we seen the end of Rise of the Valkyrie, with Swarm of the Marrow replacing it?
WotC: 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...
*additional notes: RotV is not scheduled for reprint at this time, but nothing is slated for discontinuation. Future reprints of RotV are not out of the question.

Can you tell us anything about the inclusion of figures that are often requested (such as Native Americans, Ents, pirates, etc.)?
WotC: Native Americans are a definite.

Will new boosters include Glyphs (like Wave 1) or small terrain pieces, such as a rock or plant?
WotC: We've talked about this idea, but the first time it could really happen is wave 10.

Will we see an Einar war elephant and an Ullar tree village set?
WotC: Heh. Actually, the elephant could be really cool if we could get it to fit on a base.

What are the chances on another figure like the hive? A soulborg factory or something?
WotC: Interesting.

Any Ideas for a Aquilla flag bearer?
WocC: I don't, but I'm sure our playtesters have thought about it.

Any more orc heros like a grut riding a pteridactyle?
WotC: I haven't thought that far yet.

Are there any thoughts on general specific fortress sets?
WotC: None yet.

Will the convention exclusives be re-released to those who couldn't/can't go to the conventions?
WotC: No plans at this time, but things can change.

Are hard to find exclusives (Elite Onyx Vipers) ever going to be made available to the public at large? (Want badly, but not $79 badly.)
WotC: We'd have to do some serious thought before we'd consider doing that. On the one hand, they were released as exclusives. On the other hand, $80 is way too much to have to pay for a mini.

Will store exclusives be discontinued or will they be remade (i.e. Volcarrean Wasteland and Flagbearers)
WotC: We're not discontinuing anything at this time.

So, with Wizards' staff members on this site, does that mean they will look at custom threads for ideas of what HS fans want? I understand there may be a legal problem with this, in regards to whose idea it was, but what if the thread had something like:
"I NAME give permission to and encourage Wizards of the Coast staff members to use the ideas presented in this thread*"

WotC:As for customs, no, our designers won't look at the customs area of the site - we get into all kinds of sticky legal issues if we do, even if there are disclaimers etc. We'll mostly be looking at the various threads that have been set up for us to look at, so if you have anything you want to suggest, let us know in one of those threads.

Any chance on giving us the stats of the Wave 8 figures?
WotC:You'll get wave 8 stats before the wave comes out. Just not yet...

I wouldnt mind seeing the old aquilla's alliance figures and name transported to the new master set thus making the new master set titled: Aquilla's Alliance. Put all the new large figures in there along with many other creatures and things proposed on the forums. My question here is would WOTC think that a simple solution to the problem of finding a home for there newly found large figures?
WotC: I think that's an option. Maybe not at the top of the list, as it would reduce the total number of figs you could put in the set, but it's definitely on the list.

Would WOTC consider revamping or making any new glyphs?
WotC: Yes, definitely.



Marketing/Distribution:

What is the expected time between Wave releases?
WotC: I'd expect 4-6 months on average. We're going to try to make things more regular.

Would there be the possibility of offering the figures in waves of their own?
WotC: Possible - something like an "all-stars" set could be great.

Will Heroscape see an extended surge in marketing?
WotC: We're working on marketing plans too.

Will there be more official WotC scenarios like those done by Hasbro?
WotC: We're planning on doing more official scenarios.

Is it possible that we will see a LEGO like system over Heroscape.com allowing you to buy bulk of exactly what we want.
WotC: 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.

Most of the shelves are completely wiped out of Heroscape in my area. When can we expect more product?
WotC: 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.

You asked what we wanted to see distributed, but will you also take into account where it is sent?
WotC: 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)

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?
WotC: I don't have any control over Canadian prices at all, sorry.

What can you tell us about European distribution?
WotC: I do talk to the guys in Europe whenever I get the chance, but I don't control what they do - I can only suggest things to them.

I work for a local gaming store and I have the owner bring in what Waves I tell him if they have them, but they only have 7, I'm not really sure where he orders from, I will have to ask him... but will this change so he could order any Wave at any time
WotC:I imagine that it'll get a bit easier for you to get backlist product. Maybe not every wave, but definitely some. (and no, this won't happen immediately - we'd have to reorder, and that takes some time)

Will the old tree and road set make it back into production in some form, soon?
WotC:Yes. We've managed to secure a bunch of those packs for distribution to stores right now. We'll talk to the big chain stores (although this always takes time); if you want to see them in your local hobby store or online retailer, you should go in and ask them to order some.

Will the price for LGS owners go down now that WoTC has control of the brand?
WotC: Yes. With the changes we've made to discounts for FLGSs, they should find it a lot easier to compete with the big box stores.

Will you be supporting Heroscape in other languages than English? I'm thinking specifically French for the Canadian and European market.
WotC: Not at this time, but maybe sometime in the future.

Are you going to continue trying to expand the fan base of Heroscape or are you going to focus more on the current fans?
Wotc:Importance of current fans to the game's success: 100%.
Importance of gaining new fans to the game's success: 100%.
We need both, plain and simple. To that end, there's a fine line we have to walk between accessibility (simple, clear rules), and keeping people interested (clever, new mechanics).

Can you assure us that Heroscape is currently a profitable product?
Wotc: Right this minute, it's profitable. We have some problems with some of our costs that we've got to get under control to keep it that way. It's not a major issue - we've solved much bigger cost problems before. Our aim is to make sure it'll be profitable for the next 5 years and beyond.
The real key to continued profitability is you guys. Getting your feedback is part of this. Another piece is going to be asking you to help us persuade store owners to carry it, and persuade players in those stores to pick it up.

If we had a current order or an order to be called in with hasbro before the transfer would Wizards take care of us and our predicament?
Wotc:It's still Hasbro (or one of our distributors) for now, depending on what the order was. After April 1st, it's definitely Wizards (or, again, one of our distributors).

Does this mean that WotC will start distributing Heroscape in Australia as well? So far, we've had nothing down under, so it's a huge untapped market here.
WotC Oz are already distributing HS down under and have been doing so since July '07. I have proof as they mailed me replacement figures for some faulty ones in my Marvel Set.

Is WotC and Heroscape making an appearance at GenCon-Australia? (July 3-6, http://www.genconoz.com/ ) If so, this would be massive new for us Oz heroscape fans.
WotC Oz replied that they would be there, but were uncertain about HS related activities.
WotC:(actually, they've been doing the distribution all along, as Hasbro Australia and WotC Australia are the same people) I've known Dale and the team down there for years, and they're a great group. They'll know what they're doing way more than I would.

You mentioned that we should be seeing some more scape hit the shelves in February. Could you possibly be more specific as to what we will/might start seeing? Is it new or is it old scape? If old, what Wave or Waves.
WotC: It's existing product - it takes a while to make stuff in China and ship it to the US. I know there's Wave 3 out there (either now or soon), and there's some other stuff coming over from China too. Then, more Wave 7's going to start hitting shelves in April

What is being done to help FLGSs--or is the plan to incorporate them better in HS distribution still a ways off?
WotC: We're still trying to build up the core stores. It'll probably take a little more time for them to get fully behind Heroscape, but we should have much better core store support by the time the Wave 7 reprint comes in.



The future of Tournaments:

Will there be any attempts to create an "official" competative environment including official tournament rules, tournament standings, and official tournament maps?
WotC: We're working on that question at the moment. It'll take us some time to get the right answer.

If and when WotC starts running official tournaments, will there be a restricted or banned list?
WotC: Too early to think about this yet. Ian will take these thoughts into account, I'm sure.

Any chance we could see some non-game related HS merchandise? Keyrings of the general's symbols, t-shirts with nifty slogans, etc. would probably sell well to us addicts
WotC: I like swag as much as the next gamer, but it's going to be a lower priority than some other stuff.

Marvel/Licensing Questions:

Is Marvel staying with Hasbro?
WotC: Marvel, yes. The Marvel booster wave is going to come out - our engineers are working on it now. We don't have a date for it yet, as it wasn't as complete as Wave 8 when it transitioned.

Are Marvel waves going to be released the same way as regular Heroscape, with four packs in a wave, large expansions, and terrain expansions?
WotC: Marvel waves are 2 packs per wave.

Does this open up some more leeway for DC Comics to sneak into the MARVELSCAPE line?
WotC: We're definitely releasing the already revealed expansion. But, I wouldn't expect DC Heroscape any time soon.

Will WoTC puruse other licenses like Marvel? Will we see Star Wars HS and the like?
WotC: We're looking at other potential licenses that could be brought into Heroscape.

Does new control mean that Heroscape will be further leveraged as an open combat-mechanics system?
WotC: We've talked about it, as Heroscape's such a good game system. I'd love to hear more thoughts about this in a little while (probably "ways to expand Heroscape" is a good topic for another thread, if there isn't one already).

Web Questions:

Will there be an updated Rules Clarification/FAQ section on the main Web Page?
WotC: Our web folks will probably look at the whole site and figure out what's needed. But, I don't want to speak for them.

Will WOTC actually have a continued presence on Heroscapers.com or insist those who want to communicate use WOTC forums?
WotC: We're planning a continued presence here, both directly and through our playtester team.

Will WOTC have a more liberal policy in linking to non-company sites? Such as a link on heroscape.com to heroscapers.com?
WotC: Our policy may be the same, but our ability to ignore the policy is considerably higher. We just have to wait for the guards to be looking the other way.

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

What will become of HouseMouse, Heroscapers.com, and the old official website?
WotC: I can't speak for HouseMouse or Heroscapers, because we don't own them. The official site will continue to be updated in various ways.

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 trekking between box stores and hobby shops to collect new expansions?
WotC: 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.

Now that Heroscape is under WOTC's wings, and Craig is no longer "in charge" of Heroscape, is it possible that he could, if he so chooses, post on Heroscapers.com?
WotC: I don't get to decide whether Craig's allowed to post or not. That's up to Craig's boss.


Is WOTC also taking control of the website? We were all very happy to see the updated sight last year and I would love to see that sight actively maintained.
WotC:Yes, we're taking control of the website within a couple of months - we have to get people freed up from a couple of other big projects before we add more work to their plates.


Idea Factory:

I Many posters are tournament players and would like you to gear the game towards them. They may not reflect the casual player, though. Will you take everyone’s voice into account and how will that change the game?
WotC: Yes. I have other, far more nefarious, sources of information too.

We're not looking to change the direction of the game. Rather, we know that tournament players are one of the big driving forces behind the game (casual players being the other one). Casual players will generally be served by new booster waves, and tournament players are more important when thinking about reprints and about new products.

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?
WotC: 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.

Game Support:
Is the problem of conflicting answers from the WotC support team being addressed?
WotC: We're taking steps to make rules answers more accurate - you should see some improvements in the coming months. Even with the best system, however, there will always be incorrect answers. So, if you recieve an answer from customer service that you believe is incorrect, the best thing to do is to contact them and politely let them know (our CS folks have to be experts on every one of our games, not just on Heroscape, and that's a very hard job to do).

I guess I just want some assurance that this transfer wasn't just to fill some perceived void in WotC left by Dreamblade's cancellation, and that Heroscape will be treated better than that game was.
WotC: Heroscape's transfer had nothing to do with Dreamblade at all. That cancellation happend way before anyone even thought of transferring Heroscape. However, I think you're right - we do have a habit of not giving enough support to games that are going through change, and that's a habit that I want to break us out of. (I don't want to use the term "struggling games" because Heroscape is definitely not struggling)

Once April 1 hits, what kind of changes are we likely to see first? Website changes? Online purchasing changes? What kind of work is being done before then and what kind of work can you not do until the changeover is official?
WotC: Good questions. Probably not many website/online purchasing changes. And, we can do just about any work before April 1st, so I think you'll see a pretty seamless transition (it's really the big stores that will see the biggest changes, but even those will be invisible unless you're actually looking at the computer).

Will HS become available to order on the WotC website the way it has been at Hasbro.com in the past.
WotC: It'll still be available through www.HasbroToyShop.com - that isn't going to change. And, I hadn't actually thought about whether an exclusive terrain pack would be available through www.HasbroToyShop.com. Off the top of my head, I'd think that it would be better all round if it were. I'll take the question back to the folks upstairs.

Are you really wizards?
WotC:I used to be. But arrows crit for x3.

Job opportunities:

Are you guys hiring?
WotC: Yes (although not necessarily for Heroscape) - you can find our jobs page here: http://hasbro.recruitmax.com/main/ca...al/default.cfm

Last edited by bunjee; October 3rd, 2008 at 04:06 PM. Reason: Information about the thread copy.
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Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soberman
Okay, wotcpbarclay has told me in the announcement thread that the playtesters, while given more responsibility, are under the direction of Craig, but the frontpage article says Craig is not on the game...so, it this just a transitional thing for him?
Craig is no longer designing the game but is still on the playtest forums, so still has sway on final versions of card powers and stats.
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Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:11 PM
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WotC Answers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Riggler
Some questions that come to mind:

1) Will WOTC have a more liberal policy in linking to non-company sites? Such as a link on heroscape.com to heroscapers.com?

2) Will WOTC actually have a continued presence on Heroscapers.com or insist those who want to communicate use WOTC forums?

3) Will CVN play any role in future design/development? If so what specific role?

4) Will there be any attempts to create an "official" competative environment? Such as official tournament rules? Tournament standings? Official tournament maps?

5) Will Heroscape see an extended surge in marketing?
1. Our policy may be the same, but our ability to ignore the policy is considerably higher. We just have to wait for the guards to be looking the other way.
2. We're planning a continued presence here, both directly and through our playtester team.
3. He's going to play two critical roles. First, as a consultant on design and development, and second, as a voice for maintaining the vision of the brand.
4. We're working on that question at the moment. It'll take us some time to get the right answer.
5. We're working on marketing plans too.
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Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Pyre
Kind of off-topic, I think, but.....

Quote:
2. When is this effective?
The transition has already begun and will be complete by 4/1/08. Wizards is already working on future SKUs at this time.

What's an SKU?
An SKU is a new product. It stands for Stock Keeping Units.
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Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenjib
I posted these questions in the other thread, which was locked and redirected to this one:

1. Wizards of the Coast stuff tends to have a certain type of unified look and feel across it's product lines - a kind of gothic-punk fantasy look. Will the usual in-house and contracted WotC art staff now be working on the Heroscape miniatures so that we will be seeing more of the typical WotC style in future Heroscape figures or will Heroscape retain the more simple/classic stylization that it currently has?

2. Rather than finding new customers to sell product to or continuing to sell expansion products indefinitely, it seems that Wizards of the Coast tends to have a business model based on recycling it's product line over a certain time frame within it's customer base with the hopes that loyal customers will repurchase everything and replace their old items with every product cycle. It seems that you typically do this by introducing product cycles such that new and old product are not entirely compatible. Will Heroscape start to be produced in various series' or versions following the usual business model or will it retain it's current model of expansion via new sets that are 100% backward compatible?

3. Will we see an Einar war elephant and an Ullar tree village set?
1. It's our staff, but we're keeping the Heroscape look and feel.
2. Heroscape's going to stay backwards-compatible. I can't predict out past 3 or so years, but I don't see any major changes coming within that timeframe.
3. Heh. Actually, the elephant could be really cool if we could get it to fit on a base.
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  #6  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kepler

1) How will previews of up coming product be handled?
I can tell you that they've already sent me a preview of wave 8 packaging. I'll be releasing it in a couple of days after everyone has had time to soak in this news.
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  #7  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:42 PM
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Jungle Trees

Quote:
Originally Posted by Billtog
I'm happy about Wizards being in control of production and distribution, I just hope they do us right in the design of Heroscape. Long live Heroscape!

Is there any news on when Aquilla's Alliance and Ticalla Jungle will be released?
This is a tricky one. As you know, the Jungle set was delayed for a number of reasons, including having to go back and rebuild a couple of the components from scratch. The downside of this is that, with the changes, we'd lose money if we produced this set. And that's not good for our long-term survival.

So, we've taken a step back, and looked for other ways that we can put trees into your hands. Our leading contender is something that solves two problems in one fell swoop. It'll give you the trees you want, and it gives the hobby stores the ability to sell terrain to people (they can't easily carry the master set because they can't make enough money on it).

Here's the plan: Cut the packaging down to a simple box with no window (saves a bunch of $), and put the following components in the box: 2 Trees, 2 Brush, and around 20 swamp/jungle-themed hex tiles (1, 2, 3, and 7-hex). At the same time, we're also looking at a desert terrain pack, containing rock formations (using the ice molds), with 5 rocks and a similar amount of sand/rock-themed terrain. Both of these would sell for $20, and would be sold in hobby stores.

Both of these will be a big test for how well future terrain packs will do. We're working on a plan that will put brand new terrain features (graves, statues, columns, walls, whatever else we can come up with) out in similar packs for 2009. Look for another thread some point soon to discuss desired new terrain features.
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  #8  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clonedpoop
I had a couple questions for WOTCBARCLAY:

1) What does this move mean for the Marvel Heroscape line?
2) Does this open up some more leeway for DC Comics to sneak into the line?
3) If the Marvel line is still going to continue, can we expect to see the already revealed expansion?

Thanks for any info!
We're definitely releasing the already revealed expansion. But, I wouldn't expect DC Heroscape any time soon.
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  #9  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jexik
Since people seem to like the numbered questions, I'll do it too.

1. If and when WotC starts running official tournaments, will there be a restricted (4th Mass/Deathreavers limited to 1-2 squads) or banned list (Q9, old Raelin)? What about something like Uncommon squads released in the future which would be limited to 2 squads in army, or something similar?

2. Will there be more official WotC scenarios? I actually like a lot of the Hasbro scenarios and would like more of the same. As someone else mentioned, I also recommend checking out the Battlefields of Valhalla project.

3. Are you guys hiring?

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about any and all news. Thanks for the time.
1. Too early to think about this yet. Ian will take these thoughts into account, I'm sure.
2. We're planning on doing more official scenarios.
3. Yes (although not necessarily for Heroscape) - you can find our jobs page here: http://hasbro.recruitmax.com/main/ca...al/default.cfm
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  #10  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 02:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dryden
One thing I would be interested to know is whether or not this means Heroscape will be leveraged further as an open combat-mechanics system?
We've talked about it, as Heroscape's such a good game system. I'd love to hear more thoughts about this in a little while (probably "ways to expand Heroscape" is a good topic for another thread, if there isn't one already).

And now, lunchtime.
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  #11  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 05:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djsmith
Quote:
Originally Posted by NecroBlade
Alright, it needs to be asked - if the terrain is going to be repackaged as stated, what's going to happen to the spiders?!
This is what I would like to know. And, will the trees look as they have been shown or will it be from a new or old sculpt?

You will have lot's to read when you come back from lunch..
We'll release the spiders somewhere. Not yet sure where, but they're done, and they're cool, so they'll come out. The trees and brush look exactly like they did when you saw them.

Lunch included a delicious flat tyre. That was fun.
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  #12  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 05:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrnix
Here's a some questions for Paul:
1)Will the old cards receive much errata when re-released?
2)Will the rules be updated/cleaned up in any fashion in the near future?
3)Will there be an updated Rules Clarification/FAQ section on the main Web Page?
4)What will become of HouseMouse, Heroscapers.com, and the old official website?
1. If they need errata (because there was a bad mistake), then they'll get it if we do more than just reprint a set. But, we don't make random power level changes to minis.
2. Not in the near future, but I could see some clarifications in the medium-term.
3. Our web folks will probably look at the whole site and figure out what's needed. But, I don't want to speak for them.
4. I can't speak for HouseMouse or Heroscapers, because we don't own them. The official site will continue to be updated in various ways.
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