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Author Topic: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product  (Read 12407 times)

Felix_s_Becker

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Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« on: October 05, 2015, 12:53:49 PM »
First of all let me state that i really really love Magewars and play it regularly with a couple of friends and that i own every single expansion as well as first and fourth edition of the basegame along with all the extra stuff like markers spelltomes and extra spellbooks. When Magewars came out i was immediately hooked and me and my friends love this game so much.

Sadly i have come to notice that the quality of the product has gone down significantly since the production was moved to china. I had to request a substitue for the cards in "Forged in Fire" since the cards all sticked together and got completely destroyed when trying to seperate them http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498759/ForgedinFiredamagedcards.jpg.html
note that i got a substitue set of cards sent to me immediately by arcane wonders after i contacted my dealer (im from germany) so i got what i paid for, but the feeling of "cheap" quality of the product still stuck with me. For example the new cards feel just weaker and not as stiff as the old cards and also the varnish feels just worse.

Today my brand new copy of Battlegrounds arrived and my excitement for it (since we are normally 3 players this would be the perfect way for us to be albe to play all at once) took a major hit: The cards were fine, but all the terrain pieces were damaged at least from the backside, many also on the frontside and one piece even lacked cardboard in the outer edge of the connecting part (see pictures).
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498748/BattlegroundsTiles2.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498747/BattlegroundsTiles3.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498746/BattlegroundsTiles4.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498754/BattlegroundsTilesfront1.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498756/BattlegroundsTilesfront2.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498757/BattlegroundsTiles.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498753/BattlegroundsTilesmissingcardboard.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498733/Battlegroundsmanual3.jpg.html
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28498738/Battlegroundsmanual2.jpg.html
Also the Manual had visible wear on it straight from the box. It seems to me that the terrain pieces were stacked before they were completely dry so that they "glued" together and the movement of the box from the shipping etc caused the paint to rub off of the cardboard pieces. This looks really ugly and i am going to contact my dealer to get perhaps a new set of terrain.

So why am i posting this you may ask? The thing is that i want Arcane wonders to hear my voice and that of my friends who play with me regulary and also own all the Magewars Stuff: We love the game! But our enjoyment starts to decline just because the quality of the new product that is released is worse than what we were used to. Note that we would gladly pay 20% or even 30% more if it would result in a quality like the first basegame or the first expansion! Also note that i really dont want to take the hassle all the time to get replacements for the damaged parts of my orders. At this point i am questioning weather i should even buy Mage Wars Academy solely for the fear that the quality also will be mediocre. I also own sheriff of nottingham and here i can also see the cheap quality of the components, for example the sherrif cant be assembled without using glue due to the fact that the cardboard is stanced out slightly incorrect.

I dont think that this game deserved this! I really love playing it and i want it to grow and become popular so that there are many more expansions and sets for me to play and discover. I just want to let you guys at Arcane Wonders know that me and my friends would gladly pay more for the game if it resulted in a better overall quality of the game. What frustrates me about this particular incident is that Battlegrounds was delayed due to quality problems. I really liked the decision by Arcane Wonders to delay it and assure a better card quality. When i heard that announcement i immediately thaught of the damaged cards of my first forged in fire expansion and was glad that they wanted to fix it. What i do not understand is how after they supposedly fixed it it is possible that i get that product in such a bad condition!

I would appreciate some feedback! Am i the only one who thinks that the overall quality has gone down? Have others gotten damaged / bad quality product in the past or am i an exception? Am i overreacting? Are the damaged tiles fine and i shouldnt claim replacement? I would love to hear some other peoples opinion on this and of course i appreciate any feedback from Arcane Wonders. I sincerely love your games, please keep on making them!

best regards
Felix

Boocheck

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2015, 01:47:14 PM »
There is one thing to understand first. Guys from AW are didnt printing those in basement, they didnt do packaging or distribution. Some production company doing that. Also, during the whole proces, they gain like X production boxes so they can check everything BUT at the end of the production cycle, there is gazilion boxes which guys from AW will never see and is not possible to check. I bet my hat that if there is one, they will be doing it to be sure, that we (customers) are getting the best quality possible.

In this case, there is probably a guy, lets name him Joe, which doestn like his job at printing maschine, had too much coffee and he is the one to blame. Not ppl from AW.

Second, you should just send this to Customer support. No big deal. :)

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Halewijn

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2015, 01:53:32 PM »
I don't have domination yet, but I have to say that I too noticed the quality of FIF was a bit lower than the other expansions.  :-[
The cards were all curved when they came out of the box and there is a color difference. You can see which cards were in FIF when I hold a bunch of cards.

The longer I have the expansion, the better/more straight the cards become since they are pressed together in the box, so all together, I don't mind.   :)
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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2015, 02:13:39 PM »
I haven't made a major investigation in the matter, but now when you bring this topic to the table I did think for myself when unboxing battle grounds if the cards had gone thinner? No damages though.

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2015, 03:17:08 PM »
I haven't made a major investigation in the matter, but now when you bring this topic to the table I did think for myself when unboxing battle grounds if the cards had gone thinner? No damages though.

I spoke with Brian Pope about that at GenCon, and they did change card stocks for the more recent printings.

While I don'tt know if FiF was changed since I had it the day it was released. But the card stock is different for Battlegrounds and Academy.
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bigfatchef

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2015, 07:51:57 PM »
I don't know the quality of battlegrounds so far (and also living i Germany i wonder where you already got a box from... ). But the quality changed already between my two core sets. The second got thinker and softer markers. Not that compressed. But what annoys me the most is that the  markers are all cut out about 1cm beside the printings. So there 3/4 printed markers now. Just ugly. I did't send it in for i wanted to play a 4 player game that day.

alboy

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2015, 08:36:30 AM »
Some people at my gaming shop said to get the game as it is brilliant and the quality of the products are great.
I waited for the Arena versions of the Core set and Forcemaster vs Warlord to come out as there were only a few weeks to wait. I could not of been more disappointed in the quality of the cards also as for the tokens they are disgraceful, they started tearing within only 2 games.
So unless Arcane Wonders improve the quality of their products i for one will not be buying anymore Mage Wars as there are other great games out there with much better quality components.

exid

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2015, 12:26:42 AM »
Some people at my gaming shop said to get the game as it is brilliant and the quality of the products are great.
I waited for the Arena versions of the Core set and Forcemaster vs Warlord to come out as there were only a few weeks to wait. I could not of been more disappointed in the quality of the cards also as for the tokens they are disgraceful, they started tearing within only 2 games.
So unless Arcane Wonders improve the quality of their products i for one will not be buying anymore Mage Wars as there are other great games out there with much better quality components.
you have luck not to be toxicodependent yet!
for me they could draw cards on old newspaper, i need new extensions!

Boocheck

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2015, 01:19:46 AM »
you have luck not to be toxicodependent yet!
for me they could draw cards on old newspaper, i need new extensions!

LOL :D

Disclaimer - i am not english native, so if i write something non-understandalbe, it is your fault for not learning czech and making it harder for me to expess myself :)

And now, to be serious. I bought Mage Wars: Arena - Core set yeasterday. I do it because i need to see it by myself :) If i am aware, this is the 4th generation of core set. I own second because by my guess, first never get it to my country.

I will completly pass about major differences (different card art on some spells, different board, spellbooks...) and just get to the components.

Dice - They are Dice. New yellow seems more like deep boiled potato but still, it has 12 sides :) Attack dices seems to be "cutted" in lower quality but i would say that difference is about 5% - adding link. On left is new on right my old ones. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkZ19fdG9iR1VQWDQ/view?usp=sharing and https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkT0NIRklfc24yMzg/view?usp=sharing they PASS. I dont see problem here.

Cards - They feel like they are thinner but again, its about some micromilimeters. When i sleeved them, i was not able to tell the difference. They colour is more "Warm" now, but i think it could be by the age and usage of my old ones. They PASS but i can fully understand, that some ppl could dream about thicker cards. I compared them with MtG cards and some other cards form my board games and they still kick ass in terms of quality and print. My only criticism here, yet a very small one, is that when i unpacked cards, on some of them, there was "dust" or "fume" (i dont know proper word for it) or something like little snow i need to wipe down. I think it was dust from "cutting card" process. Not a problem, but i was worried first until i discover its not a fault of print, just a speck.

Tokens, Condition markers etc. - It seems, that they are thicker now, but here i must agree on some stuff mentioned. Some of them are not pressed together enough. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkSGQ1VnhkX1AxbzA/view?usp=sharing not all of them have this problem. I would not be afraid of "oreo" effect because i always treat my components with respect and love but if i would run demos with these, i can see a problem in a future. Nice thing here is theyr thickness. It is much more easier to pick them up from creatures and mages and manipulate with them. I really really really welcome 5 dmg tokens instead of 6/9 (it varies with each player :) ). Here are pics of comparsion. Top is an old token https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhka3ktN2RMV25BcFU/view?usp=sharing and here the right one is the old one https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkek1OWVVRekZNVjA/view?usp=sharing

Here i would need time to use them for a some time to be able to tell, how durable they are. First impression makes me worried about them. They PASS but with objection.

Game Board - WOW, just WOW and double WOW. From pictures, i was not convinced that i need "forest arena" but when i actualy was able to see it with my onw eyes, i must say, i was a fool. That board is awesome. But when i inspect whole board closly, it seems, i have a same problem as Felix. It is small part of a whole board but i am an autistic perfectionist. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkbnNrMnd2ZDh6Nlk/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0u2W38wdqhkNVVXRDRfQTVoY1E/view?usp=sharing

So, final results. Did Quality drop so drastically? I dont think so. They changed company which is printing MW for guys from Arcane Wonders. In every "new" project or situation, there is a time needed to polish everything and synergize. But yes, quality actually dropped a little. But not from "Excelent" to "Bad" but more like from 97% to 91%.

I would like to ask, if your version is american or from Pegasus. Your links had .DE in it, so i guess Deutchland.

And again, i would advise you to contact customer support and actually tell you, that you are lucky, because you will be probably able to meet the most kind and polite person on earth which is Alyfia Pope.

I hope that i helped a little. I have a new core set and more teleports, force pushes and dispells to play :) Thank you :)
« Last Edit: October 07, 2015, 01:51:08 AM by Boocheck »
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jupiter999

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2015, 11:42:51 PM »
I only have up until FIF. And I must say: my tokens in FIF were not really good compared to previous products.  :P

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2015, 05:43:58 AM »
Hi, i just got my copy of mage wars Battlegrounds, and i must say i have the same problem with the cardboard, the artwork is scratched and also on the back of some cardboard pieces.
The same thing as the original post, i have problems with the cardboard tiles.
Also the insert in the box (the plastic thing in which they came in) is all bent and ruined, and it smells of glue. It has marks of glue inside the tray.
The rulebook on the back it has marks just like the original post.
The game cards are fine, lower quality (thinner) but fine.
How do i proceed with this ?
Do we have an awnser from the makers ?
Have they verified the quality of this production ?
This seems rushed, i am disappointed with the production value of this.
I bought and enjoyed all the expansions so far, and i was waiting for this one for a long time and now i am disappointed.

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2015, 12:37:10 PM »
Anyone with production errors should contact customerservice@arcanewonders.com and Alfiya Pope will move heaven and earth to make things right.
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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2015, 01:15:11 PM »
Thank you all for bringing this up. Anytime there is an issue with the product you received, we want to know about it. We appreciate the opportunity to fix these type of issues. We know that it can be a hassle and so we are very thankful for everyone who gives us this opportunity. So please contact customerservice@arcanewonders.com if you have any issues with your product.

We've shared this post with our VP of Operations, and he is bringing it to our manufacturer's attention. Our goal is to produce the best possible products to provide our customers the best possible experiences. We take these discussions very seriously and will remember this as future products come out.

Thank you all again.

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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2015, 01:32:53 PM »
Anyone with production errors should contact customerservice@arcanewonders.com and Alfiya Pope will move heaven and earth to make things right.

100% agreed. You'll rarely experience customer service this good.
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Re: Quality of Arcane Wonders Product
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2015, 01:41:13 PM »
100% agreed. You'll never experience customer service this good.

Fixed it for ya ;)
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