I recently posted in the general forum how the official HeroClix website had unannounced updates to the printable map page. This got me thinking about the official site in general. It is heavily under utilized.

There are two sections that have been "Coming Soon" since the new site layout first went live (the Archive and FAQ). Figure previews have entirely been relegated to third parties. There are no links on site for the Battleworld Pre-Release information. Heck, even the official Rules Forum updates more and more infrequently. I get more information on product and upcoming events through HCRealms than what should be the primary source for this kind of thing.

There is a clear lack of communication going on and it's difficult to tell whether or not it is intentional. Either way it creates the appearance that the state of the game is unhealthy. I know WizKids is relatively under-staffed, but it shouldn't take that much effort to make a token article/post on occasion.

They're mainly farming out previews to various retailers/outlets, unboxings, etc.

Been around since 2002. WK's website and communication have always been sticking points. That said, so long as they post the rules and keep them up to date, I'm cool with other sites hosting the bulk of previews and such.

and ... they had a pretty epic fail on that ... the 2018 PAC and rulebook were in the product on the shelves, but the PDFs on the website weren't updated until long after the forums had torches and pitchforks ...

The superhero trend in hotness is the only thing that keeps the game going. Any other collectible game property they've tried to sell outside of that genre has failed miserably.

Ultimately, this company has stunted its own growth by have a #### marketing team. How can a super hero game not grow during the height of fandom and geek culture comebacks? They've made SOOOO many mistakes. If this was a monster or D&Dish type property it wouldve failed and gone the way of HeroScape years ago.

Poor rules wording and an overly complicated learning curve barely keeps my attrition of players in check with the new ones I have to work so hard to recruit.

Some people have no business being in business. This is a gaming company full of ideas and good games and they should stay in the cave and make them. They've made a huge mistake not hiring capable marketing team members or an outside marketing team....or god forbid tap the shoulders of players and judges/venues to ask what they need to grow the game.

Fairly certain its never occurred to them.

It has boggled my mind over the years that WizKids hasn't successfully made this game into a mainstream success like Pokemon and Magic cards. That it's survived as long as it has on the very limited fanbase it's accrued is nothing short of a miracle.

Every time I go anywhere and I see Pokemon cards for sale - and those things are EVERYWHERE, I can't help but wonder why Heroclix can't get some presence outside of specialty shops. They're sitting on the biggest licenses in the world short of Star Wars itself, and they just can't make it out of the small time.

Never occurred to me that they're just not devoting the resources necessary to support their product well enough to make it out there.

too many Marvel sets, not enough love for DC.

Though, to be fair, other than Wonder Woman, the recent DC moves were ... disappointing.

OMG is she hot.

From what I understand, having chatted to a few people who've met the upper management, Wizkids' issue was putting the cart before the horse. They wanted a game that catered to the competitive crowd so they could have big tournaments like MtG does, but they did so at the expense of the casual crowd --and MtG's biggest strength is how insanely accessible and easy to play it is.

I've said this many times on the site, but especially now in the tabletop boom, it's mindboggling that there is no base game that contains all the elements of play (map, figures, dice, objects, rulebook, ability booklet, team ability booklet, etc.). Even more bonkers that Wizkids is dependent on licensed figures when said hypothetical base set could be of their own characters with every other licensed set effectively acting as an expansion or booster.

Sorry, might as well complete the rant: It's also baffling that abilities aren't described on character cards, which makes teaching the game very difficult and involved for no good reason. It isn't a matter of space on cards because you don't need to show the dial or a relevant comic. More, plenty of characters have fold-out cards.

To head it off, I've had plenty of diehards tell me that none of this is really an issue because all the rules are online. Well, that's truly unhelpful, considering this thread's topic. The website is obtuse and unless you're looking for errata or rulings, you simply shouldn't have to use the site for core rules.

This right here would change the game. When they made the Batman Alpha set 10 years ago they had little descriptions of the powers on the cards. Now for whatever dumbass reason, they changed what the Alpha powers did vs what the regular powers did, but the point is that the powers were simple and gave a decent abridged description of what it did and how it worked.

They could go back to that and spare us the additional image of the figure we already have in hand that already matches the image in the top right corner.

I agree that the new card layout was poorly conceived, but I don't think that there is enough room to add in even abbreviated powers descriptions. It's bad enough that when I started the game I didn't need glasses to read the cards! I'm more in line with this...

There should always be a complete starter available, period. Rules, dice, map and figures. And there's no reason that someone can't come up with six original characters (or rehash the old HCO characters) to make a good, license-free good guys vs. bad guys batch of figures to put in it. Don't think original figures will sell? Throw a piece of equipment in the starter that's so competitive that every tournament player wants it to ensure positive sales!

Seriously, it's a table top game. People are already choosing to put aside the Internet so they can play it...why make them log on to learn the rules?

WK and Customers:

"We are not on speaking terms but well, that is how we love each other."

It's a superhero game...
What do most Superhero stories have? Police & Bad Guys.
Make a Base Starter with GENERICS.

Uniformed Cop 1, Uniformed Cop 2, & Detective (or Paramedic)
VS
Thug, Henchman, & Getaway Driver (or Mob Boss)

Wizkids already knows how to make these, no need for them to be Universe-specific!
Also, the figures can be easy-to-learn-with, and uncomplicated.
But have a Blind Single Booster included--from the most recent set or some cool equipment.

Then you buy the Superhero boosters to supplement the game!

Also a good idea.

Excellent idea.
Also why didn't they make a starter to go along with Un-Dead. It would have been a similar effect.

I agree with most of what you said, but this idea I like the most. Yes, why not make a WK base starter product with WK original characters. As a teaching tool and as an easy to play format. This would be easy to produce, remake, and cheap. You don't need to make fancy figures (although that would be nice), even some kind of bland base type generic male/females would be good. Shoot, if WK doesn't do this, the HC community should just go ahead and make them.

Gotchu covered on all fronts:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=588355

Crazy thing is that Wizkids has the 3-D models for these, has dials for them (albeit dated), and from the keywords, clearly some worldbuilding. No idea why they haven’t been resurrected from Heroclixonline.