Is this game dying?

[Fenton Crack]

I think most of the stuff on eBay being dumped are the old metals.  Whether the sellers are getting out of the game or simply "upgrading" to plastics is hard to say.  There are certainly the NIB plastics up there for below MSRP, but that can be said for most games and reflect a discount not unlike many online retailers. 

 

 

I know anecdotally some communities had a hit around books three or four, whether it was the introduction of the Avatars, perceived power creep, or just the life cycle of the game,  I could not tell you. 

 

I know it was also hard personally to get some players into the game during the beta because things were in flux, then books were hard to get, and some players, upon seeing the art and fluff for the models that were waiting for Wave 2 release, seemed a bit frustrated that they could jump in with Dreamer or whomever. 

 

Whether there are as many "card carrying" Malifaux players now as during it's former "peak" is something I would be interested in knowing, although it may be impossible to calculate.  I know it appears that participation at Adepticon was quite strong, although I guess it is always possible "competitive" play is up and "casual play" is down, although I see no reason to jump to that conclusion.

 

Even if the number of players were to be down, I think the game is poised for growth if for nothing more than the new rule set seems easier to teach than 1.5.

[wadesauce]

My local gaming store, and from what I could tell from the online community in general was that in the adjustment period from 1.5 to 2e, the game was rough. peoples familiarity were getting shaken, people were afraid of their investments becoming worthless, and overall just plain feared change. And with having to release rules in Waves, Malifaux did not receive a speedy recovery. 

 

I think once people started to see that the game was still fun and more balanced than ever, a little faith was restored; however,  we follow the game closely and know about all the beta rules, and printed rule cards for wave 2, the average potential new gamer seeing half metal, half plastic, new vs old rulebooks, and what i imagine piles of old malifaux stuff in clearance bins across all their FLGSs, I could see it be daunting. 

 

I'm pretty certain that Wave 2 will be released around gencon, and with that, If they keep up with a decent release schedule along with henchmen doing their part, I see a bright future for Malifaux. 

[Webmonkey]

Not to mention,.. (from what I've seen at least),.. there seems to be a bit of a grand exodus from the GW players. Don't get me wrong, GW will be around for a long time and they will always have their "diehard fans". However, an ever increasing volume of players are getting fed up with various policies that GW employs. (such as raising the prices constantly, and/or getting less figures per box, their inability to balance the game, the blatant favoritism of certain armies over others,.. such as the wood elves that haven't been touched or addressed in years,..etc,..) This in turn has been leading to the migration of a lot of players to search out other miniature games. Most people tend to find warmachine first (as it has a larger presence then most besides GW), but after that wears off, they start to seek even more "small" games, where they don't have to buy 100's of models to play. And that's one of the great appealing factors for games like Malifaux,.. you can paint just 6-8 models or so, and you are ready to play.

 

This isn't intended to be a post for bashing GW,.. I'm simply saying that as they lose more customers, other games will pick them up. And at current,.. that seems to be the direction that thing are going.

 

The short answer,... yes, I agree with the others here. If anything, Malifaux is on the rise.

[Ratty]

BTW.. join A WYRD PLACE on Facebook there is normally something new every day.

[Asyouwish78]

Slow but steady incline. After my group died off pre - beta it's taken a while to get it going again. But it's definitely not dead or dying I think it's doing better than it ever did ! IMO

HAPPY FAUXING! !

[Asyouwish78]

And since ya'll are plugging my group I'll just leave this here https://m.facebook.com/groups/159737997556606?ref=bookmark

[edonil]

One thing to keep in mind about all this doom and gloom is that a great deal of this is actually normal. We're nearly spot on for the way Warmachine's (and Hordes) Mk II release schedule went. Doing a little better, actually, the old kits can still be bought. Warmahordes ran into problems of basic units were unavailable for purchase for months, old or new. Plus the issues we've all seen and discussed of the old guard hating it and stirring up resentment/distrust based on nothing but a new edition alone. (As a note- this is not to say people cannot have valid issues with things as they are. Merely commenting that I saw a lot of hate for M2e based only on the fact that it was a new edition, nothing more.) The first year is rough as things are updated consistently, new products are brought into production, problems of being unable to get things because people are excited about the new edition, and so on. And keep in mind that, two years later, Warmahordes managed to bring down Warhammer Fantasy a few pegs on the international sales listing of the top 5 minis games. Give it time.

[Glitching Out]

Keep in mind that you're asking on the Wyrd forums, so the response will be overwhelmingly skewed.

 

That being said, no, I don't believe Malifaux is dying. I believe Malifaux did die down during the field test, and has be slowly gaining popularity again as it was relaunched. I'm pretty sure that once everything for 2.0 has be released and updated, people will be eating it up again. 

 

Personally, I wasn't happy when I found out that they were doing the relaunch in "waves" and that more than half my collection would be collecting dust until they got around to it. (Which I don't blame Wyrd for, as they're a smaller company and this really was the best plan for a bad situation). So once wave 2 finished, I'm getting back into Malifaux full tilt. I imagine a lot of other people are going to be the same. They're just waiting for it to be completely relaunched.

[TanukiD]

Well I hope it's not dying.. Just bought my first crew box and rulebook and looking to introduce it to my group. After 20 years of playing in the GW universe i'm desperate for a change. One thing I do have an issue with as a new player though is the lack of clarity about crew construction. Aside from the obvious faction divides and the mercenary rule I still don't have a clear idea of entirely who can crew with which master. I keep seeing posts on forums and wikis that mention such and such a master can include this or that model in their crew from different factions but no concrete lists. As a newcomer it's the most confusing aspect so far and it makes planning ahead a bit of a nightmare. Maybe i'm confusing articles about previous editions or beta stuff and M2 follows a simple faction plus merc crew building mechanic i don't know. 

I understand why a smaller company would need to release the models in waves but for $40 it would have been nice/sensible to include a definitive crew listing.

Sorry. Wandered a bit of topic there

[edonil]

There's nothing like that honestly. Aside from Faction, there's no limitations on who can run with what, beyond issues of efficiency.

[TanukiD]

That was a quick reply. So just to clarify in MS2 There are no models that can be used across faction divides aside from mercs regardless of your choice of master? And for dual faction masters all models in their crew have to be their declared faction?

[dgraz]

That was a quick reply. So just to clarify in MS2 There are no models that can be used across faction divides aside from mercs regardless of your choice of master? And for dual faction masters all models in their crew have to be their declared faction?

In the general sense yes. But, certain masters can hire things out of faction.....each master that can do that will have a rule that explains it. Like Marcus can hire models with the 'Beast' trait from any faction.

[TanukiD]

Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up . Threadjack over. Long Live Malifaux !

[Baalbamoth]

Thanks for the responses all, I do see a GW/PP backlash going on where I am... small town nowheresville... a buddy and me are deciding to push for malifaux at our LGS but its very slow going and everyone interested is waiting for plastics...

[deValmont]

  I would say that one of the main things holding back exponential growth is that with Malifaux I have experienced what I imagine many other have, in that I bought my first crew, played a few games and then very quickly wanted to get another crew. Now, the crew I want to collect isn't available in plastics yet, so I am wary of buying the metals that I will only be playing with for possibly 6-8 months. Minions aren't a problem but once the plastics come out, what do I do with the Master, Totem and Henchman? Having miniatures I don't use really niggles at the back of my brain but I'll be reticent to sell them as I'll have put a lot of work into painting and basing them. So I'm not buying more models, waiting on the plastics release. What might be cool is if there was a range of cards released with Wave 3, or possibly in a Wave 4, that gave you new characters that use the old metals. For instance, when the new Molly is released there could be a card for a 'Forlorn Belle' that would use the old Molly.

[Fetid Strumpet]

That I don't think would be a good idea. The old metals can be used for what they were. Making them be "new models" would lead to lots of confusion, especially among players who have been playing awhile.

[deValmont]

  I see your reasoning, but I think that tabletop gamers, particularly experienced ones, find it very easy to remember in game data, and take changes on board. An example I would offer is the option to use the Death Marshal in the Dead Justice boxed set as a Guild Autopsy, I would imagine most players wouldn't have a problem with that.

 

  I think primarily it's just because I am preternaturally anal about pretty much everything, and the idea of owning two of the same Master and only using one really flicks my crazy OCD switch.

[Pip]

Nope, I don't think Malifaux is dying at all. I used to be a hard core WHFB player all through 5,6,7 ed. Then 8th ed WHFB came along and I was so disappointed on the changes. So I branched out and with the help from a couple of local guys took up Faux reasonably early in terms of the early days of the game.

Since then the two guys who taught me have dropped off but there his a very healthy Faux community where I live (near Melbourne). From a group of 5 we now have something like 20-30 players with new players coming in all the time. It's just like any game. If you want to attract new

players you've gotta get out there and promote the community as much as the game. People have busy lives so things like a game of Faux may be all the time they get to relax, have fun and enjoy some social interaction. This is why the community that supports it is so important and which is why IMO fb communities like 'A Wyrd Place, are so important. You can rock up and get smashed 10- zip but still enjoy a chat, discuss painting schemes, new crew ideas and even enjoy a cold beer is well. I know I do and it does give you some consolation for that 10-0 smashing...

Personally I am loving M2E. The game overall hasn't changed to much, has been streamlined and is a much smoother game IMO.

Cheers,

Pip.

[paradoxstorm]

 

  I think primarily it's just because I am preternaturally anal about pretty much everything, and the idea of owning two of the same Master and only using one really flicks my crazy OCD switch.

How odd, my ocd requires that I have duplicates of every model, including masters.  Two, or more, calms me nicely.  Not having the alternative sculpts for masters drives me positively nuts.

 

For your tendencies I have two options for the extra masters: 1) different paint/color schemes for different battle types or daily moods.  (my personal preference), or 2) paint them up and give them away to potential newbies.

 

Or you can just send them to me and I'll figure out what to do with them.     

[deValmont]

  It's odd how there's no rhyme or reason between two sets of odd foibles, isn't it? If I had two McMournings, for instance, I would be happier with the paint job on one than the other, and I would use that one. I have three Belles and one of them I'm not so happy with the painting and so that stays in the Multicase pretty much every game. And the unused Master would drive me NUTS.

 

  I'm planning a Jack Daw crew next so I suppose if I did get the metal I could use him as a Hanged or a Guilty once the plastics are out, or just use him as a prop on my gallows.

[Eldarion]

In my area, Malifaux's just appeared in the local gaming shops recently, so it appears to be growing.  Of course, my area tends to be a bit behind the times, so that comes with a 5lb bag of salt.

 

I'd say that there's two reasons for the recent slowdown in Malifaux releases:

 

1) Distraction - Getting the RPG rolling has sidetracked them somewhat (and is converting PuppetWars to plastics something they just did, or has it been a while?)

 

2) I've heard that there was some sort of problem with the plastics company in China, and that a new company is being brought online to crank out sprues.  While I'm sure there's plenty of companies in China that can do the job, it may take a little time to find one satisfactory and get a deal worked out.  Depending on the problem they had, they may be seeking extra assurances from the new company.

[mythicFOX]

I think on balance I'm going to close this thread down now.

The question was asked and it's been answered with strong 'no'. There's been no real decent from the view point the game is alive and growing. While I could let this roll on with people intermittently adding more posts to the thread it won't be achieving anything beyond making this topic look like it's contentious when it doesn't seem to be.

I think it's best new/potential players aren't confronted by pages and pages of this thread as they may well be frightened off rather than reading that the answer is almost unanimously 'no'.

 

 

EDIT:  Just for the record, if you take the Wave 2 beta, plus the Avatar beta together there have been circa 450 battle reports posted since October.