Hey folks! As I'm sure we're all aware, we've been in a state of relative stasis recently, owing to the massive delays and difficulties that FFG has had to navigate due to the collapse of Hanjin Shipping.

Currently, we have five major products lined up waiting, but there has been no movement on any of them since March. So, I ask the question: what, in your opinion, is worse: having continuous updates and new announcements for the products but not seeing any movement, or having no new products announced until they're ready to continue standard operating procedure?

For me, I actually think the current model is worse. We can see all the shiny new things out there, but they are delayed indefinitely, dangling out of reach until criteria we can't know are fulfilled. I would much rather be in the dark on what's coming until it's ready to go.

Especially because one of those shiny things is my Mystic book !

No announcements are worse. Imagine the pain in your wallet if suddenly all those new shiny toys arrive in your FLGS at the same day without any warnings! ;-)

Well, what I'm saying is if, instead of announcing things on the regular schedule and then waiting 6+ months before actually moving them through production, they wait to announce new products until they can begin printing them within a few weeks of announcement, just like they were doing before this whole mess?

I would agree that springing new, fully printed and currently in-store products on us would not be optimal. Although I wouldn't mind that on occasion !

And btw, unlimited power is not even jet scheduled for printing

edit: To clarify, the whole Hanjin shipping mess is most likely not involved at all in the long wait time for Fully Operational, Unlimited Power, etc

I'd prefer to know what FFG is working on. If I have to wait around, so be it.

I think the happy spot for most is in the middle. Seems like they're short-handed or something, as these used to be updated more regularly. I wonder how many of these negative-feeling trends coincide with the Asmodee acquisition. We're still hearing about the fallout from that.

13 minutes ago, themensch said:

I think the happy spot for most is in the middle. Seems like they're short-handed or something, as these used to be updated more regularly. I wonder how many of these negative-feeling trends coincide with the Asmodee acquisition. We're still hearing about the fallout from that.

I'm starting to wonder if there is some serious friction between FFG and Asmodee...

Yeah, I expected to be in the minority here, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought.

Especially on the Age forum, there are a bunch of complaints about the delays, mostly for Fully Operational (which has been In Development for 244 days and counting!), and I was curious if people would be feeling better or worse if we didn't know what we were waiting for .

My wife was complaining about the lack of engineering sourcebook before she even had special modifications. So I would say people would be impatient about the career books either way.
Now for those region and setting source books, we honestly don't need any in-development warnings. They don't do much for anyone and are just a PR message for us.

I would like them to eliminate the, "In Development" section from the Upcoming Releases section.

Don't announce a product until it is actually "At The Printer".

That's still a significant lead time.

Ah geez, that explains the delays for books. I had no idea their shipping partner had collapsed.

Whelp. Feel free to ignore this thread, starting now. The question just became moot.

2 minutes ago, Absol197 said:

Whelp. Feel free to ignore this thread, starting now. The question just became moot.

How's that?

5 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

How's that?

See her main thread; a bunch of stuff just moved.

Nevertheless, I'll answer the original question...

While I get where you're coming from, Absol; the problem with no announcements at all is that they can leave people wondering if the line might have died. As someone who waited a very long time for the Tome of Decay to complete the Black Crusade line and one of many people now wondering if the Iron Kingdoms RPG might be dead, I can say that I'd much rather be taunted by a light at the end of the tunnel than be stuck in darkness.

Just now, Vorzakk said:

See her main thread; a bunch of stuff just moved.

Nevertheless, I'll answer the original question...

While I get where you're coming from, Absol; the problem with no announcements at all is that they can leave people wondering if the line might have died. As someone who waited a very long time for the Tome of Decay to complete the Black Crusade line and one of many people now wondering if the Iron Kingdoms RPG might be dead, I can say that I'd much rather be taunted by a light at the end of the tunnel than stuck in darkness.

Link?

Just now, Tramp Graphics said:

Link?

Enjoy !

What would be better is getting the books printed in North America so that they didnt have to get shipped by dodgy shipping companies and have to go through customs.

Announcements that are just hot air are worse than no announcements. Saying once that there are problems with shipping is fine, but keeping up a stream of marketing babble when there's no product is just annoying.

11 hours ago, Absol197 said:

Whelp. Feel free to ignore this thread, starting now. The question just became moot.

Fully Operational at the printers! My wife will be happy
And I guess you, you did sound not unhappy either about Unlimited Power at the printers. As it will stake at least 3 months, maybe even 6 (for us Euros) till it arrives at stores, I guess that answers your question best.

10 hours ago, korjik said:

What would be better is getting the books printed in North America so that they didnt have to get shipped by dodgy shipping companies and have to go through customs.

I take the "dodgy" shipping companies (Hanjin was the 7th biggest one in the world) over paying 15 bucks extra on the product AND still needing shipping over the atlantic. Shipping from china to europe is dirt cheap, shipping from the US to europe cost a small fortune by comparision. Expertise for large scale printing and plastic model production (X-Wing, Armada, Legion, etc) is in china as well better than in the united states and cheaper on top. ;-)

So, nah, no thank you sir, I take my advantages from globalisation with pleasure.

11 hours ago, korjik said:

What would be better is getting the books printed in North America so that they didnt have to get shipped by dodgy shipping companies and have to go through customs.

Yeah, and put a big red MAGA sticker on the front!

3 minutes ago, Grimmerling said:

Yeah, and put a big red MAGA sticker on the front!

That sticker would increase the price by another $5 because of lost sales and compensating with increased prices. ;-)

34 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:

That sticker would increase the price by another $5 because of lost sales and compensating with increased prices. ;-)

Bah, easily countervailed by 'Cut Cut Cut', probably even down to half the price, or less.

I don't need detailed information, but would be nice to know if a book where we were told to expect in a given quarter is delayed to a later one.

Can understand the concerns about the time and cost of shipping, but we live in a world where these things are done globally, and US shipping costs are massively uncompetitive if you are outside the US.

On 11/3/2017 at 4:38 AM, Darzil said:

I don't need detailed information, but would be nice to know if a book where we were told to expect in a given quarter is delayed to a later one.

Typical problem for any of these small companies. If they give a date and miss it people throw a fit. If they don't say anything other people throw a fit (comments like "no news; this line is dead" fall into this category).