New Magazines Review

[quindia]

Dropped this the 'WD stopping' thread, but I thought it could use its own thread...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cqFbTa5qOI&app=desktop

Warhammer Visions seems worse than I imagined. Yes, I like the photos, but I don't need 200 pages of the things every month... Maybe I can learn some French and German along the way. White Dwarf might be worth picking up when it features one of the armies I collect, but I can't see racing to the store to buy every issue.

Seems like GW rolled a '1'...

[40k_slimez]

Also got "visions" tonight...

Pro's
Lots of pictures...

Cons
£7.50!!
A5 (same size as the Small 40 rule book, about twice as think)
Just lots of pictures..... not much reading material...

Won't be buying this again......

GW are doomed if they really think this will help save them...

[spaceman91]

That has really put me off. I'll be canceling. Very disappointed.

[Deadlift]

The weekly looks "ok" but visions is a big miss from what I see in the review. It just looks like lots of pictures of painted models, some repeated as well. To be fair the models and the paint schemes are cool and great for inspiration but I can find pictures of very cool painted models for free on the internet.

[quindia]

Yep. I like the Golden Demon coverage because it's great to see what other gamers come up with. Armies on Parade is also a good feature. I also like Blanchitsu because I just love all of the gothic inquisitor stuff.

However, there were over 60 pages of Tyranid photos! Many are simply pics we've seen before (or near enough they seem familiar) of the same studio models we've seen on the website.

Not sure what GW is thinking...

[jonsgot]

One 4 letter word staring with F. Yes it's fail!

[jonsgot]

I do like the idea of white dwarf weekly though. Will just have to make sure you only get the issues you want.

[phil035]

got to say I'll defiantly stick to WD but visions I wont until they sort out the format and drop the price a bit =/ £7.50 maybe £6 and I'd be happy and the guy is right we want a sub for WD as well

[eldargal]

I was looking forward to Warhammer Visions but it's really look pretty average to say the least. Dissapointed.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

I've thought since the beginning that I'd probably stick with White Dwarf, occasionally picking up Visions if it had something good in it (armies I play, painting classes for things I want to do, terrain inspiration). I'll probably pick up both for a little while, and decide which I like best.

[Deadlift]

I was looking forward to Warhammer Visions but it's really look pretty average to say the least. Dissapointed.

I suppose the fact they called it "Visions" should have been a clue that it was going to be mostly pictures, I missed that hint. GW have taken one step forwards and one step back with this I think.
I do feel for those that subscribed to WD monthly but will end up getting Visions instead.

[eldargal]

Yeah though they also talked about hobby material and whatnot and while that seems to be technically true it certainly could have implied more, you know, actual hobby content.:(

[Bigred]

I have to say I'm really surprised.

Every bone in my body upon reading about Visions and its 270pp count assumed it would have hobby content. And I though the weekly would just be an ad-only rag.

And they totally got it backwards. Visions is literally miniature porn - the lack of text is CRAZY!

But the weekly looks like a tidy little mag.

Any bets on how long it takes them to offer annual subscriptions to the weekly? But then again, the hidden cost of subscription based weeklys is postage...

[Deadlift]

Here's my prediction ;)
WD weekly sales will surpase visions by such a margin GW will decide to roll it into a monthly magazine instead making subscriptions more viable. Then they will scrap Visions completely and herald in the new era of a new and improved monthly White Dwarf.

[Verchild]

Visions = I got mine yesterday in the mail and after paging through it I'm sadly not impressed. While I always enjoy looking at the great work done by other people, (It tends to give me great ideas to use in my own army.) I'm not sure why they would expect anyone to pay that amount of money for a punch of pictures of a product we can view by doing a Google image search.

White Dwarf = I thought it was nice actually, painting reviews and decent articles kept me more interested in it then Visions. The price tag is WAY over what it should be though. Decrease the price, or increase the content.

[Kurt Helborg]

Just had a look at both magazines down at my local independent stockist ... neither are worth the money.
My main reasons for buying the old WD were painting articles and battle reports ... not well catered for in either of the new mags
Major disappointment!

[Kevin Shields]

He's absolutely right about the graphic design layout of the "Visions", I think someone ought to get the axe or go back to design school. If these are sold at my local game store I might pick up a "weekly" just for kicks but pass on "Visions". I have my own visions for my armies. "FOR THE LION!"

[zenjah]

Visions is literally miniature porn
True. And I like it. I may be in the minority, but I'm happy to get this thing every month instead of the old White Dwarf. I'd be even more happy if it was 100% dedicated to Blanchitsu.

[stargasm]

But blanchitsu is basically just "Look what you can do with the plastic nurge lord and cairn wraith this month!" some of the minis are cool but its just palid inquisitorial warbands made up of the same 4 of 5 miniatures!

[Ezaviel]

I don't get why you harped on about the languages thing so much. Didn't seem a big issue in the context of the main complaints.

But yeah, I haven't bought WD in years, because it just didn't have any value to me anymore. Neither of these new publications sounds any better at all. I might pick up the odd Weekly if it has rules for something I want to get. That looks to be about it.

[doc]

anyone had luck with the iPad version?
all I get is the front cover!

[Tuatara]

At least you lot can "see" it. I downloaded Visions and now only get the cover page and the page that tells me to flip my iPad sideways. Nothing else :(

[silashand]

As usual it appears GW didn't even bother to ask their customers what they might like to see in their magazines. I quit buying WD a while back and frankly, no reason to start it back up IMO.

Grade: F

[doc]

At least you lot can "see" it. I downloaded Visions and now only get the cover page and the page that tells me to flip my iPad sideways. Nothing else :(
yep, that is what I get... trying again...

[Arkhan Land]

thanks for reveiws definetly gonna skip issues until I here there something worthwhile for me in them

[Ninja_Pete]

The trouble that I see with the weekly White Dwarf (I used to work for an independant stockist) is that stores aren't going to want to carry something that people are constantly just cherry-picking the issues they want. It was bad enough with a monthly magazine (LOTR = NO SALES, extra rules for 40k = GONE FIRST DAY) and it's going to be even worse with them showing up weekly. They've basically doubled the price for getting white dwarf (was around $11 a month here, now it will be over $20) and they've made it even easier to just buy the exact content they want. Which sounds great until the store realizes that they have a hundred backissue magazines full of garbage (again, LOTR) that has cost them around $600 to buy (about a 40% margin on those magazines if it's like it used to be). If I had a gaming store I wouldn't carry it at all except maybe as a subscription service (forcing people to buy all the issues).

[Bowser]

I got both in the mail today. Visions for having a subscription to the old White Dwarf, and a bonus new White Dwarf. I am so happy my subscription ended this month. Definitely not going to renew if every Visions is going to be similar to this one. The new White Dwarf does look nice though but I doubt I'll pick up any save as an impulse buy.

[Brent]

I can't speak to Visions, but I did get a copy of the new weekly White Dwarf, and it'll likely be my last.
The magazine is 32 pages, plus two pages for the inside covers. It's very nicely produced, but like the old monthly WD, it's almost content-free.
Here's the breakdown: one page is the "Opening Salvo" article (basically, how great the new WD is), the next page is the table of contents. Next is a series of two-page articles on new Dwarf units, but they're just pictures and vague descriptions of how great they are...that's 12 pages. The next item is a four-page article on Tyranids, which (unbelievably!) concentrates on the new units and how great they are.
So that's 18 pages, and no content so far.
Next is a two-page "Paint Spatter" article on painting Dwarves (content at last!). The next two pages are the "Sprues and Glue" article, ostensibly about hobby techniques but so basic as to be useless. This is at least an attempt at content, maybe it'll be better in the future....
Next up is one page of rules for Belegar Ironhammer, along with a page of GW writers analyzing the unit. So there's a page of content, and a page of semi-content.
The next two pages are the "Designers Notes", the two Dwarfs designers talking about how they designed the minis...interesting to some, perhaps, but from a content point of view, pretty marginal.
"The Week in White Dwarf" is the next four pages...it's called "a round-up of the week as we share comment, opinion, and trivia on all the latest releases." Two of the pages are entirely content-free, while the other two have at least some (some fluff, a question on unit strategy, a couple of nice pictures, and a half-page ad for a BL book).
The next page is "Hobby in the White Dwarf Bunker," three pictures of nicely done models (and guess what--two are Tyranids!).
In summary, out of 34 pages, I count four pages of real content, another 2-3 of marginal content, and the rest is just an ad for GW products.
So what we have here is even less content than before, and it costs twice as much...sound familiar?
The inside back cover is an ad for Warhammer: Visions.
So out of 34 pages, I make it No content here....
The next twoI can't really count it as content.

[Brent]

Sorry, I fat-fingered a cut-and-paste at the end, here's the corrected post....

I can't speak to Visions, but I did get a copy of the new weekly White Dwarf, and it'll likely be my last.
The magazine is 32 pages, plus two pages for the inside covers. It's very nicely produced, but like the old monthly WD, it's almost content-free.
Here's the breakdown: one page is the "Opening Salvo" article (basically, how great the new WD is), the next page is the table of contents. Next is a series of two-page articles on new Dwarf units, but they're just pictures and vague descriptions of how great they are...that's 12 pages. The next item is a four-page article on Tyranids, which (unbelievably!) concentrates on the new units and how great they are.
So that's 18 pages, and no content so far.
Next is a two-page "Paint Spatter" article on painting Dwarves (content at last!). The next two pages are the "Sprues and Glue" article, ostensibly about hobby techniques but so basic as to be useless. This is at least an attempt at content, maybe it'll be better in the future....
Next up is one page of rules for Belegar Ironhammer, along with a page of GW writers analyzing the unit. So there's a page of content, and a page of semi-content.
The next two pages are the "Designers Notes", the two Dwarfs designers talking about how they designed the minis...interesting to some, perhaps, but from a content point of view, pretty marginal.
"The Week in White Dwarf" is the next four pages...it's called "a round-up of the week as we share comment, opinion, and trivia on all the latest releases." Two of the pages are entirely content-free, while the other two have at least some (some fluff, a question on unit strategy, a couple of nice pictures, and a half-page ad for a BL book).
The next page is "Hobby in the White Dwarf Bunker," three pictures of nicely done models (and guess what--two are Tyranids!).
The inside back cover is an ad for Warhammer: Visions.
In summary, out of 34 pages, I count four pages of real content, another 2-3 of marginal content, and the rest is just an ad for GW products.
So what we have here is even less content than before, and it costs twice as much...sound familiar?

[Tuatara]

yep, that is what I get... trying again...

Finally managed to get it. Had to reload White Dwarf in the News Stand app and then it downloaded it again. Now, off to have a look.

[Fudwicket]

My new so called White Dwarfs arrived 30 mins ago - I have just written to GW to cancel my subscription. I subscribed to a hobby magazine not a picture book !!!! I was shocked at the lack of content and think this is another glaring example of how GW have lost the plot and seems to have lost its way commercially. I am quite saddened to see a company that I am old enough to remember from its days of a small shop at the back of Tottenham Court Road to dominating the games market for many years because it respected its customers to the present day "joke". :mad:

<Rant off>

[Souba]

what i have seen of visions/weekly to sum it up:

Weekly: a short book with 2/3 "ohh look shiney, it costs x and is totally great GO BUY IT" so more of that stuff than the WD and the rest isnt very stunning either to justify the price.

considering what i have in my mail per week: comercials from supermarkets/sales and weekly newspaper has more details and less of "go buy" in it than the WD weekly. on top of that its free.

Visions: first i thought its a nice idea and the showcases of the modelled/painted models and some of it looks great but... around 3/5 of the whole book is just copy & paste pictures of the models from codizes/rulebook/expansions. you see formation pictures of apoc books and the like. its redicilous. first you pay a ton for a codex and now you get charged further to see what you allready saw? just a rehash to grab some "cheap" money? screw you gw.

gw got to pull the head out of their a.... or it wont go well the next years aswell. i have bought WD's from time to time given how disapointing they have been and only bought them if the contend inside was appealing but now... not any longer, not a single cent is gonna be spend on this crap anymore.

[Al Shut]

I wasn't overwhelmed with the WD Weekly but that can be put to the dwarfishness of this issue.

As I have the luxury of being able to visit the local GW store once in a week without much effort, I'll check them out in the future and might be buying depending on content.

Visions, I can gladly live without.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Weekly is punchy and fun. Happy to keep reading that. Visions is one of those things I'm going to buy when there's something really good in it (an army I play, painting tips I want, scenery stuff I can use) and probably only then.

The Golden Daemon pictorial on the ipad version is amazing, though. Lovely stuff~

[quindia]

The ipad version of visions looks great, but again many of the photos are recycled or different angles of the same set up. The feature army, Vampire Counts, was really well done with some very creative units. Really the only useful content was around six pages of tyranid painting guides, but as most people will probably only collect one tyranid fleet you can reduce that to one page. I won't be buying any more of these.

The ePub version of White Dwarf looks like a low end college mag. If they kept the magazine format of the old White Dwarf instead of the ePub I would be likely to buy it every week. I might pick up the printed version in the store when they cover armies I collect, but I won't be getting every issue.

I am sure they have lots of smart people at GW and maybe we're the clueless ones, but I've been buying White Dwarf regardless of the featured content for twenty years and if they've driven me away as a regular customer, I doubt they've done much to attract new readers... err... viewers in the case of visions...

[davel]

anyone had luck with the iPad version?
all I get is the front cover!

Having same problem. Not happy about it

Davel

[quindia]

Upgrade the White Dwarf app...

[phil035]

be nice to see concept art and wip shots of models that have just come out or about to in visions not just "action" shots

[Lord-Boofhead]

Just had a look at both magazines down at my local independent stockist ... neither are worth the money.
My main reasons for buying the old WD were painting articles and battle reports ... not well catered for in either of the new mags
Major disappointment!

Good I always considered them a waste of space. I want painting tips I'll buy a how too book. Or read the waste of codex space dedicated to it.
And I've never found other peoples games that exciting, but then I don't find other people playing sport interesting either.


True. And I like it. I may be in the minority, but I'm happy to get this thing every month instead of the old White Dwarf. I'd be even more happy if it was 100% dedicated to Blanchitsu.

Yeah Blanchitsu, Kitbash and Parade ground are the only reason to buy Visions.


The trouble that I see with the weekly White Dwarf (I used to work for an independant stockist) is that stores aren't going to want to carry something that people are constantly just cherry-picking the issues they want. It was bad enough with a monthly magazine (LOTR = NO SALES, extra rules for 40k = GONE FIRST DAY) and it's going to be even worse with them showing up weekly. They've basically doubled the price for getting white dwarf (was around $11 a month here, now it will be over $20) and they've made it even easier to just buy the exact content they want. Which sounds great until the store realizes that they have a hundred backissue magazines full of garbage (again, LOTR) that has cost them around $600 to buy (about a 40% margin on those magazines if it's like it used to be). If I had a gaming store I wouldn't carry it at all except maybe as a subscription service (forcing people to buy all the issues).

Apparently they are allowing Indies to remainder the new mags.


be nice to see concept art and wip shots of models that have just come out or about to in visions not just "action" shots

And if it was not multi lingual they could do fluff articles like they did back in the 90s and early 2000s.

I'd buy the **** out of that...

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Here's the thing with this first issue of Visions, also: the problem is that Visions is going to be covering the PREVIOUS month's releases. New stuff is in the weekly White Dwarf, and then Visions almost summarises that with lots of glossy photos. So the specific problem this month is that you've had the Tyranids in the old White Dwarf - with lots and lots of photos - and now they're being recapped in Visions, which has... lots and lots of photos.

Next month, with the Dwarfs (of whom there isn't much space in the new White Dwarf for lots of photos!), things might be a bit more interesting.

[Lord-Boofhead]

Here's the thing with this first issue of Visions, also: the problem is that Visions is going to be covering the PREVIOUS month's releases. New stuff is in the weekly White Dwarf, and then Visions almost summarises that with lots of glossy photos. So the specific problem this month is that you've had the Tyranids in the old White Dwarf - with lots and lots of photos - and now they're being recapped in Visions, which has... lots and lots of photos.

Next month, with the Dwarfs (of whom there isn't much space in the new White Dwarf for lots of photos!), things might be a bit more interesting.

Good points. I suspect unless there is an awesome kitbash/Blanchitsu/Parade ground in a Visions issue I'll be skipping it UNLESS ithe previous release was an Army I play. So after IG or Orks or another army I Play I'll defiantly pick it up.

[miteyheroes]

Here's the thing with this first issue of Visions, also: the problem is that Visions is going to be covering the PREVIOUS month's releases. New stuff is in the weekly White Dwarf, and then Visions almost summarises that with lots of glossy photos. So the specific problem this month is that you've had the Tyranids in the old White Dwarf - with lots and lots of photos - and now they're being recapped in Visions, which has... lots and lots of photos.

Next month, with the Dwarfs (of whom there isn't much space in the new White Dwarf for lots of photos!), things might be a bit more interesting.

Yes, totally.

Although I'd rather see more content by hobbyists, not Heavy Metal.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Same. I also want some scenery/terrain stuff, damn it!

[the collector]

well after flicking through visions honestly my first thought was wtf !!!! ime come on am i really expected to pay £7.50 for a small mag full of pics i could google for free , what are they thinking , the wd weakly is ok apart from being way over priced , i think ill definatly be canceling my subscription and picking up the wd weakly maybe once in a blue moon , ive been collecting gw since the rouge trader era , and its just pricng itself out of the market for me :(

[davel]

Ok got the new app got the visions

Paint splatter good, john blanch good, golden dream on good

But vast number of stuff (nids) that I've seen before . And no new dwarfs?

Can't see the point of a bat rep with out the rep

Is the only way to get the weekly to walk into a store? Can't I pad it can't find it in large news agents

Dave l

[Da Gargoyle]

I'm not happy at all. We just renewed our subscription to White Dwarf in November which gave us the issues for Dec & Jan. Now I get a pretty picture book which apparently thinks I am too besotted by the photos to read any text, unless its chinese, which was what was in the GW store. The dude at the store said there would be some information with the first delivery which by my calculation is now overdue. I will be using that missive as the anchor to send in a refund request. They were close enough to the release to tell me what I would be buying.

[Kirsten]

much like a lot of people I picked up the big Visions magazine, and wont be buying another. pictures were nice, but not enough text and info to make it worth while. waiting for local newsagents to stock the weekly one so I can check that one out, hoping it is good.

[Mr Mystery]

Visions - Frankly, I cannot fault the actual production values. It feels nice, looks nice. It's just...the content. I'm not sure what this magazine has to offer me as an established gamer. I will be cancelling my ongoing subscription. I hope they work more on the content. I can see it being a noob magnet in certain shops except....except....it's wrapped in cellophane preventing idle browsing, which is a bit of a slip up if you ask me (though could simply be the publisher rather than GW doing that. I dunno!)

White Dwarf Weekly - Now this....this I liked! I can't really explain it that well, but I really like it!

[Eberk]

Visions - Frankly, I cannot fault the actual production values. It feels nice, looks nice. It's just...the content. I'm not sure what this magazine has to offer me as an established gamer. I will be cancelling my ongoing subscription. I hope they work more on the content. I can see it being a noob magnet in certain shops except....except....it's wrapped in cellophane preventing idle browsing, which is a bit of a slip up if you ask me (though could simply be the publisher rather than GW doing that. I dunno!)
Same here (except I don't have a subscription ;))... I will buy a couple of more issues to see where it is going to before I decide what to do (quit or buy)


White Dwarf Weekly - Now this....this I liked! I can't really explain it that well, but I really like it!
I really like it to and I even like it comes on a weekly basis. The PROS (release opportunities for more armies) heavily outweigh the CONS (the price).

[gungagreg]

So I was trying to figure out how to cancel my remaining iPad Newstand edition of the new Visions (have 7 months left). I posted Apple and GW as all I could find was how to turn off the auto-renew (which, in this case, Apple/GW already did automatically). Funny enough, within an hour I got this (see end of this post) back from GW (ultimately not helpful as I'm still left with an e-mail to iTunes asking for a refund on the remaining issues, but still). So if you e-mail GW, they will offer you an out (probably easier if you have a physical subscription) so maybe more people doing this will send the message.

Thanks for your email about Warhammer: Visions and White Dwarf.

We're sorry that you don't like the first edition of our new monthly magazine. Over the coming weeks and months we've got a lot of new and exciting features and content that we're looking forward to sharing with you and we hope that you'll stay with us to see what's coming.

If you would like to cancel your digital subscription, please follow this link to Apple iTunes customer service: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes and Apple should cancel your subscription and refund and unused issues. You can also find the ePub version of the new weekly White Dwarf in the Apple iBooks store.

We have an exciting year ahead and as Warhammer: Visions and the new Weekly White Dwarf change and grow, we hope that you'll take another look.
Games Workshop

North America Customer Services

[Defenestratus]

I'm hearing firsthand stories about people who cannot cancel their subscriptions of visions - at least the digital version.

[jonsgot]

Visions - Frankly, I cannot fault the actual production values. It feels nice, looks nice. It's just...the content. I'm not sure what this magazine has to offer me as an established gamer. I will be cancelling my ongoing subscription. I hope they work more on the content. I can see it being a noob magnet in certain shops except....except....it's wrapped in cellophane preventing idle browsing, which is a bit of a slip up if you ask me (though could simply be the publisher rather than GW doing that. I dunno!)

White Dwarf Weekly - Now this....this I liked! I can't really explain it that well, but I really like it!

So true. Just a shame they upset so many people by moving them over to Visions with out consulting them. I'm going to give it a couple more issues before I ask for a refund. This is a far cry from the move to the new white dwarf formate.

[jonsgot]

Just had a look at the White Dwarf area on the UK GW site.

White Dwarf Weekly is sold out!
Visions is still available along with a 12 month subscription.

[Wildeybeast]

Visions - Frankly, I cannot fault the actual production values. It feels nice, looks nice. It's just...the content. I'm not sure what this magazine has to offer me as an established gamer. I will be cancelling my ongoing subscription. I hope they work more on the content. I can see it being a noob magnet in certain shops except....except....it's wrapped in cellophane preventing idle browsing, which is a bit of a slip up if you ask me (though could simply be the publisher rather than GW doing that. I dunno!)

White Dwarf Weekly - Now this....this I liked! I can't really explain it that well, but I really like it!

Yep. Visions has absolutely nothing for me. If I want to look at pictures of nicely painted models I can do that on the website and forums like this one. Even though my subscription is £9 a quarter (old school!) I'm still cancelling it. WD weekly I would buy, even at that price, if only I could get hold of it! I'm not making a trip to the store for it every week and I'm not paying delivery costs to order it from the website. I'd bite their hands off for a subscription, but they want to try to force me into buying other stuff with it. They've really messed up here.

[Defenestratus]

If you have a WD Digital subscription through iTunes... well... sorry....



Dear [Friend of Defenestratus],
This is Himadri from iTunes Store Customer Support and thank you for your reply.
Sean, your request for a refund for the subscription was carefully considered; however, we are unable to provide a refund in this instance.
You can review the iTunes Store Terms of Sale for more information:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww
We cannot cancel the subscription from our end, however, you can cancel it manually. In order to turn off the subscription please follow the below article:
iTunes Store: Purchasing and managing auto-renewing subscriptions
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4098
Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.
Please do let me know if you have any other questions or concerns regarding iTunes so that I can assist you. Resolving your issue is my top priority.


BTW that link just tells you how to turn off auto-renew.

[Deadlift]

So basically, you subscribe to one magazine only to find your getting another and you can't get a refund. I'd be proper pissed if I'd just dropped £50 on a WD subscription only to find I was stuck with Visions.

[Defenestratus]

So my friend followed up his subscription denial and had an Apple support rep call him to talk about this issue. Apparently the rep told him that they've gotten so many cancellation requests for WD that they've opened an investigation into why so many people have been requesting cancellations by senior management. He said it would take some time, but likely he'd get refunded after talking to the manager in charge of looking into it.

Supposedly the guy he talked to knew what 40k was, knew what WD was, and was the 8th call he'd fielded since feb 1 about cancelling WD.