Worst Experience EVER

[heatseeker]

My girlfriend and I went to Orland Mall the other day because she needed to pick up contacts at Visionworks, two stores away from GW. After she picked up her contacts, I mentioned that I JUST (this is important for later) wanted to check out a few things at GW. We go in there and it is packed. I completely understand bc it is a Friday and a lot of freaks manifest out of their parents' basements, slogging like a horde of slogging zombies (I am not even being mean on that one; it is the truth). I check out a few Vampire Counts minis fending off the employees "What armies do you play?" and "Wow! Vampire Counts are good. Are you adding on to your existing army or starting a new one?" With I am just looking. However, I was wondering when the Black Reach box-set comes out. "Luckily" there was an associate there to help me with that answer. The only thing I asked him was, "When is the Black Rea ch box set coming out?" He replies with the date, Sept 13, then goes on a fucking tirade in long and boring detail how there have been over 100 pre-orders and I should not miss out on this box-set opportunity, how they are having events for the box-set and explaining the rules for them, what comes in the box-set, the events for the next two months that have nothing to do with the box-set. Just on and on. I felt like I was in a furniture gallery where the guy is up your ass about anything you remotely breathe on and/or that depressed bum that follows you down the street begging for change so he can buy some alcohol/drugs. Finally, when he stopped talking after I glared at him for 5 minutes, clenching my fist, motioning like said fist was going to explode through his face, I said, "Great thanks. I will think about it, we are going." We left, but then to my dismay, my girlfriend told me about all the fun things that were going on in the background that I missed. Not only was half of the people in the store under 10 years old, but also did not shower, literally laughed the stereotypical geek laugh (like Goofy), and started dancing the "Peanutbutterjellytime dance." She then went on about how she was literally scared for her life as she did not know what these weirdos were capable of doing. That is bad considering the only thing my gf is scared of is spiders, and even so, she does not feel as if her life is threatened.

In summation, GW Orland is 1. not professional at all as their customers act like morons and do not shower, 2. a free baby-sitting service in which the said baby-sitters do not even care what the babies are even doing, 3. full of a bunch of retarded, dorky teenage employees that honestly use the whole "we are going to talk the customer to death until they comply and buy our products" not even slightly honoring the fact that I said I was just looking three times before I even asked my own questions. Every time I go to GW in Orland it consistently gets worse. This is by far the worst experience I have had in any store and will never step foot in that GW again. They clean up their act and start treating the customers better instead of pestering them. They also need to kick out customers that are acting like retards and making their store and employees look foolish. Grow some fucking balls GW Orland.

[Andrew]

Heh. Southern Chicago stores must be run by retards. Northern and western stores are fine...

[RARE CHOICE GAMES]

I have been to other GW stores in other areas and they are not as bad as GW orland but usually not a pleasant experience either.

[dragonbait]

I too....have felt like punting the crotches of the GW employees at Orland. I went in, said I simply wanted to buy a thing of Tin Bitz, and it was like an interrogation with all the questions. I decided to tell them I don't play their games, but I was using the color to paint figures for another minis game. The two guys that were running the store just stopped talking, charged me the ridiculous price for the paint, and then I left. Good times.

[Pop goes the world]

GW Orland is fucking terrible. So is Fox valley, so is Geneva Commons, so is Downer's Grove, so is pretty much every one I have ever step foot into. I have separate horror stories from every one of those stores. I literally will not step foot into a GW store any more out or pure principle.

Seriously- the high pressure business model isn't working for them. it is sad that a Warhammer and/or 40K army is such an investment that they have to employ hardcore used car sales tactics. No, scratch that, when i bought my used car they were very pleasant and valued my patronage, and there were no 10 year olds running around.

The biggest fuck you? The Black Reach Boxed Set- 60 bucks. 60 bucks for TWO SMALL ARMIES AND ALL THE RULES AND TEMPLATES YOU NEED. The soul grinder I bought the other day? 40 bucks... FOr one model...

So the Black Reach boxed set proves that they could be charging a LOT less for their plastic minis, they just don't. Once again, I will point out that you can go into any dollar store in America and pick up a baggie of army men that exhibits the same level of detail and the same amount of plastic as an Imperial Guard regiment. Except for it costs one dollar.

Not only are they horrible to us, they rip us off because they have a monopoly on the system. It is like an abusive relationship that we just keep going back to.

GW hits us because they love us.

Allthough that Privateer Press has been looking pretty good lately, all bent over doing some gardening... Damn I would like to...

[Leudast1215]

in all fairness (i wasn't sure what your comment regarding privateer press was really implying) all miniature companies in this kinda hobby over-price for the same reason game stores sell blobs of plastic and a colored piece of card board for $50; very very small market for these kinda hobbies so they gotta make it worth their while so they charge a lot. GW is indeed slapping all mature gamers in the face by revealing that they're WILLING to sell their minis at significantly reduced prices. However, Privateer Press is raising prices I heard and they're even more expensive than GW. in fairness to them they produce miniatures with more detail, but even so they're ridiculously costly (the primary factor keeping me from instant buying an army). The primary benefit of them seems to be that they're perfectly willing to share the love with all their armies, not just space marines (who ironically have some of the least cool sculpts in the game i feel).

[siriq]

oh doesnt like watching gardening......... hmmm gardening

[Pop goes the world]

Aug 26, 2008 19:58:30 GMT -6 Leudast1215 said:

However, Privateer Press is raising prices I heard and they're even more expensive than GW. in fairness to them they produce miniatures with more detail, but even so they're ridiculously costly (the primary factor keeping me from instant buying an army).

One of the big things setting the two companies apart is Privateer Press' openness about their finances. Yes, Privateer is raising their prices on some of their older miniatures, but they are a MUCH smaller company than GW (so the niche market model does apply to them), plus all of their models are metal. Metal prices are at ridiculous all time highs right now, and Privateer has been very transparent as to exactly why their prices are raising. Plus, as you said, their sculpts tend to have greater detail and more parts than comparable GW minis.

As far as total price goes, Privateer is still much cheaper. For a total investment of $200, you can have a complete 750+ point warmachine force (which is to say the average tournament/ league size) plus an extra warcaster and/ or warjack (or two). For the same price, you will likely build half a 2500 point force from ANY GW faction, plus the lion's share of your minis will be plastic. And you will only be able to play with 10 year olds most of the time, where as Privateer promotes alcoholism amongst it's players.

Matt- sorry for hijacking your thread. You know I have to fight the good fight.

[siriq]

YES!! we should drink and play miniture games. yah adam is right about this one, Privateer press is over all cheaper

[Leudast1215]

as far as completing an army? yes. as far as getting more miniatures for the same price? no. Anyways I'm all for drinking and minis ;D

[siriq]

I personally hate having to paint alot of small minis, it takes too long and its hard to get really detailed. While the privateer press minis arent too bad in quantity and are very thematic. But i have people to play 40k with up herE

[Pop goes the world]

I agree completely. The detail level and smaller total number of models means I can paint my Warmachine/ Hordes armies at a competition level of quality, as opposed to 'slumming it' with huge units for GW games.

Plus, in Warmachine, each of your models actually DOES stuff. In GW games, 90% of your models are essentially wound markers. How many times have I removed 20-30 models from a Warhammer or 40K army in a turn due to casualties? Boy, painting those minis so they can be on the table for 5 minutes before dying sure is satisfying... (I played Imperial Guard)

[Leudast1215]

I'd prefer to leave mine where they die to inspire the others not to follow in their example

[siriq]

ah yes the exarch deployment method of thinking. 5th ed has sort of changed that where chapions, sargents, exarchs, and what not take wounds. While this can be minipulated so the squad overall takes less wounds with less saves it has serveral times killed heavy weapons and hidden power weapons quite well.

[iamblakkmetal]

Ive had decent experiances at the GW in Downers Grove. Mostly because I started telling over-zealus GW employees to shove it, so they back off me now unless I ask them a question.

[heatseeker]

It's fine Adam. I will let it slide...this time. I understand what you mean about how compared to GW's main competitor Privateer, there is such a huge difference in getting more bang for your buck as Privateer you do get more detailed and worthwhile figures instead of one trillion guys that you are forced to half-ass paint bc you just want to play Warhammer, a better system, and an overall smarter company. That is just the vice grip GW has on the miniature market. The company has been around for what over 20 years and has no sign of slowing down. It just pains me to know that the employees, corporate, and freaks associated with the hobby really do give gaming in general a bad name and make the average gamer look like a total douche bag. I mean last year my parents had a family get together and my 9 year old cousin was talking about how much he loves 40k and how "Space Marines are soo cool." It sucks that these youngins are making the company look like fuckin morons.

Josh and I even had tens of conversations about comparing the two companies on what system is better. We ended pretty much on reluctantly agreeing that Warhammer is better only bc more people play it, it is on a larger scale with tons of guys on the board, and more tactics to engage in. I just pray that one day GW will fix all the errors of their company and possibly actually do things right for a change by targeting older gamers, lessen the car salesman tactics, lower prices, make better quality models, fix the rule set, and give the gaming community a better incentive to play instead of just because everyone else is.

[Pop goes the world]

Aug 27, 2008 22:20:35 GMT -6 @heatseeker said:

...The company has been around for what over 20 years and has no sign of slowing down...

Josh and I even had tens of conversations about comparing the two companies on what system is better. We ended pretty much on reluctantly agreeing that Warhammer is better only bc more people play it, it is on a larger scale with tons of guys on the board, and more tactics to engage in.

Oh, they are slowing down... Just take a look at their stock portfolio...

As for a better system, I have to disagree on that one. More popular, yes, but better? Pretty much every game of Warhammer goes the same way- first couple turns moving and misfiring warmachines, then two or three turns of one big clusterfuck of combat in the middle, with the eventual winner being whomever played Chaos. I'm not saying it is not fun, only that it is a bit repedative. Every warmachine game I play goes entirely differently based on my warcaster, my unit choices, and my opponent's force. Since the game can be won or lost on a single dice roll, tactics play a much larger part in it.

Warhammer is like a World War 1 trench assault, while Warmachine is like modern era dogfight... In warhammer, there is an inevitable battle of attrition as huge units get whittled down to the last few men and whomever took fewer casualties is the winner. With warmachine, you have quick, brutal engagements with a smaller number of units, ending with a swift manuver that leaves one pilot spiraling earthbound in a fiery wreck while the other soars triumphantly away.

[Leudast1215]

said triumphant victor may soar away missing an arm or two if it's warmachine ;D

[tkaz84]

When comparing costs, you also have to take into account the various rulebooks, sourcebooks, etc. The main reason I decided to go into Warmachine instead of Warhammer/40k is that I didn't want to have to keep buying books for my army (seriously, i have never seen so many different rulebooks for a non-RPG). Warmachine/Hordes only requires you to have the base rulebook-the other books are just for fluff, as any new mechanics are explained on the unit cards.

I know nearly all of you already play GW, but I would love to see some more PP action. From what I have seen I like the PP game system better, if only for the compactness of it. While I cannot deny that rolling 30 dice at once can be very satisfying, there is something to be said for rolling 2-3 dice for all attacks and damage (sometimes 4).

On a side note, as soon as i get paid i am plopping $200 to expand my Cygnar force. If anyone is interested in painting them let me know, as I don't paint myself.

[Leudast1215]

I may be interested in painting them; if i have fun with it, i'll consider expanding probably into Hordes (cause it's same system, different look basically) and pit beasty against giant walking tin can. What color scheme were you thinking about? Did you want the models based (their bases made to look ground)?