Hello all, the stupefied Phat J here to talk about the latest 40K HOT topic on the internet, points! What have GW done now? Find out below!
Come gather ’round Grognards
Wherever you roam
And admit that the armies
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be krumped to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start waaaghing’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the points they are a-changin’
That’s right, another day, another Warhammer 40K points updated a’la the Munitorum Field Manuel. This time the Orks have a massive points increase, causing a great wailing and gnashing of TEEF. The internet, as usual, has been a gathering point for logical discussion and moderated emotions. LOL. No, people are losing their minds as usual. ‘You ruined my army, GW. YOU SHALL PAY!’ Guess what dummy, no one ever makes them pay. THEY NEVER PAY, YOU DOLT. You’ll go buy more of the new models with your tail between your legs, like always. ‘Please sir, more meat’ as you lift your bowl. Pathetic.
Why would they release a points adjustment just days before the new codex release, Mr. Sleaze? Won’t that make the printed point costs obsolete? No, it won’t, because starting in 11th edition the points will no longer be printed in the physical codices. GW finally decided it was pointless (huh) printing point costs when they would just be obsolete weeks after a release. I actually do applaud them for this decision, since it just didn’t make sense to print them any longer. It would cause so much confusion for a new player to go an buy an army codex, only to find that the point costs have gone up or down several times in the last year. The Warhammer 40K App has been amazing for real-time updates to point costs and rules changes. Gone are the days of pen and paper army lists or printing them from a website. You simply now just create the army list through the app, and then even link it to your opponent in real time. I’m pretty cynical but I actual do applaud GW on the app and use it almost exclusively to make my army lists.
I will, however, criticize GW for continuing to make the purchase of the physical copy of the book mandatory to unlock the code to have access to the army lists and points in the app. I do understand that the profit margin on printed materials is pretty good for GW, hence the drive to sell the physical codex. The margins must be pretty good with a digital only sale though, right? My guess is that they know that 100% of the players will HAVE to purchase the $40 book as opposed to maybe 30% if they have a digital only available for like $20? Who knows. I know I am a physical book guy myself but I think if people don’t want the book, let them buy the code.
GIVE THE GREAT UNWASHED MASSES WHAT THEY WANT!
Speaking of points, I am tentatively excited to see point costs being adjusted UP. One of my greatest criticisms for the game is that the armies are too big and the tables are too small. The Ork codex is FULL of overpowered upgrades and lethality. If we are going to make a game where even the basic trooper models have a bunch of lethal damage, let’s make choices on what to bring in your 2000 point game a little for difficult. In my opinion the first step to fixing the game in the long term is increasing the points cost of all units. After that has all been adjusted, start thinking about increasing unit toughness and wounds, which we do see happening with the upcoming Space Marine codex release.
Overall, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic seeing these massive point increases for the upcoming Ork release. I would expect to see the same thing leading up to October with the Space Marine release. I truly am enjoying the current edition but there are still a LOT of issues lingering from the changes made to the size of the battlefield and the lethality of the units. We’ve increased the lethality by 10x now it’s time to increase the durability.
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