will there ever be doom of malan'tai again

[jimmyp]

hey does anyone think will there ever be doom of malan'tai again? its only got a fluff bit in the latest codex, maybe forge world might do it

[Yautja]

I do not believe they will release rules for models other companies made models for to ensure they're never used.

[jimmyp]

Ah that's a shame I was so tempted to do a model like this guy did. www.nikosworkshop.com/apps/blog/show/26295449-tyranid-doom-of-malan-tai

[vandalex]

Amazing model, I would still make it. In friendly games they will allow you to use the DoM.

I still hold hope that one day he may be revived, but I don't think he will ever go back to his former glory.

[jimmyp]

Fingers crossed I hope it does come back in the future. After I finishing painting up my army I will def build it like that guy did, looks how I imagined it.

[arapaima]

If you play with a friend, im sure they be chill enough to let you use him in a friendly game.

The best possibility for the DOOOM to return will probably be via a santus reachesque box set with a limited edition DOM and campaign specified rules along eith limited edition of whatever eldar player wants.

[Hive Fleet Ragnorok]

Be honest, though - is Doom without a Pod worth taking? I only used him once or twice (honestly I thought he was a bit OP, and most of my games were casual enough, so...), but the general consensus seemed to be he really cost 130 points, and came stock with a Spore Pod.

[N.I.B.]

I'm pretty sure the Doompod will return, once we are rid of the Crud. New designers want to make their mark on a codex, and why not go back to an old fan favourite and give it a twist? It will probably not be exactly the same though.

One of my sweetest memories of Doom is when he landed, sucked a bunch of IG vets dead, and in the next turn headbutted a Leman Russ to a pile of garbage with his S10 Doom would be useless without a pod, expect them to return together in the next Tyranid codex, or the one after that.

[jimmyp]

Sounds like you used doom really well, i started tyranids December last year so I missed the chance to use the character. The idea of having a pod does seem essential, having a drop pod for tyranids would of been cool instead a run across the table.

[Mauler]

The Design Studio's official line at the Open Day when asked about missing characters was "We had to leave them out due to codex formatting (they are set sizes and due to the way books are bound in chunks you can't just bump the size up by a page or two) and "other issues" but with our current rapid release schedule allowing us to be flexible we can dataslate them back in should we think it works, do them justice, have the time and see the demand".

Pretty much. So missing characters might make a return (along with a spore pod?) but it's very much an if/when/might.

[daboarder]

sounds like a load of (please do not swear) to me

[Mauler]

Not entirely unexpected from you, Dabby

The reasons are legit though: to accelerate development you need a solid framework to base the range of products on, in this case it's books. Clearly 106 pages was the best choice for content vs printing price for everyone except for Marines (of course) and if you look back over the all the 6E codices you'll see that they're all written with roughly the same size sections for background, units & whatnot. So bumping the odd codex up by X pages ballses up the project work, adds extra variables & cost to the printing and generally isn't worth it. I've worked in corporate environments for over a decade and once they get a pattern established it's a nightmare to get anyone to change anything.

The "other issues" were totally avoided by name even when questioned directly so I expect that they're under orders to not discuss legal issues in any way. If they're pulling modelless units then they're pulling them. I don't really see the point in complaining about it, I tend to mail GW/FW/BL to let them know my feelings and then just get on with it. Might be temporary, might not. But the Studio are right; with their currently weekly schedule for releases we are in the best position to get stuff that's currently missing plugged back in. The Studio said that in the past they had to work on releases in "work chunks" which took up months at a time so things were never that fluid or flexible. That's no longer the case, the Studio now work in much smaller chunks so they're easier to move around and get stuff developed as the studio staff see fit* so if something isn't ready in time they'll move something which is waiting for release to plug the gap. Along with the flexible releases GW are releasing more digital content and dataslates than ever before and have invested a creppe-load into new CAD design for new models. If we are going to get new stuff to replace what's missing then currently we're in the best position to do so.

*They're allowed to work on stuff that they want to work on as long as it fits the overall plan because the staff do their best work when it's what they want to do...pretty much standard for any creative role.

[daboarder]

except books are losing items dis proportionally, in fact the only correlation so far is indeed that it is a lack of models tat determine if a unit is dropped or not, 4-5 codexes so far and thats the only commonality.

If that was correct then you'd be seeing everyone losing units until they had the same space....you dont, if they have more units then tey have less fluff/art/space given to each of those units.


(to be clear the reason they didnt mention it is they think people are too stupid to accept it, honestly all it is showing is the contempt the company has for the community, a simple "we are not allowed to legally explain why those units were dropped" would have been understandable)

[Mauler]

Aye, that's why the sections are roughly the same and not exactly the same from book to book. I'd say that's in proportion as units are lost in proportion to missing models rather than in proportion from book to book.

I probably wasn't clear enough in my previous post; the dude who introduced Jes, Phil & Matt (I think?) said beforehand that the panel wasn't allowed to talk about recent legal stuff or upcoming releases so the Studio guys didn't mention it at all even when cheekily asked. Personally I think that people who believe that GW is somehow against the community are displaying more bitterness than GW are contempt. That's not a dig, just an observation: people can spend years and significant money on this hobby so it's easy to get the arse when you can't field your stuff how you want to, I get that. IMO the problem that GW have isn't contempt, it's a disconnect between corporate mangement and the customers. The Studio and staff who have direct contact with the players know what's what and they do what they can within the means that they're granted.

The management holding the purse strings are beholden to shareholders to turn a profit so they look to make as much reward for as little risk as possible, exactly like any other corporate entity or bank does. The guys at the very top are not there to speak to the customers, they're there to make money and as long s the Design Studio, FW & the BL keep making a profit they'll look to change as little as possible because it works for them and the shareholders. When the profits drop below a certain point, then they'll look to sort stuff out and next year will be very interesting. Given my job it's not too difficult for me to understand some of the reasoning behind how GW operates but at the same time as a player I, like you I expect, just wished they'd do things differently at times. Corporate ethics are usually ingrained by years of execs doing things their way and it often working, to say that GW hold it's customers in contempt is, in my opinion, to take things far too personally.

To GW's credit though, they are changing but like most things at that high level, it's done slowly and with care. The acceleration in codex development into a 2-year process and monthly/weekly releases in general is absolutely massive in terms of policy changes, investment & infrastructure. So you know, where there's life there's hope. I just wish that GW Management actually engaged their customer base more instead of just hiding behind their creative & shop staff. With a new CEO imminent next year, we'll see. They've certainly got the new infrastructure in place to support any further changes, they just need a new attitude from the top-down to guide them properly.

[terrorfromthedeep]

So we lost spore pods (which alone would have given 'nids an extra layer of versatility - 3 x dakka fexes in pods would have been very very good) - because of formatting/space issues? If only they decided to strip out the pyrovore instead of the useful stuff