RISE OF THE DREAD MOON discussion

[LucaRocks]

So I reached out to some US based sites that do toys and such asking about RotDM preorders. One site (who shall remain nameless) responded with some actual info. I don't want to get them in trouble, so they will remain nameless. I have experience with them so I trust what I was told but again, I can not verify who they are. So you're welcome to take this with a grain of salt.

They basically said that there are no pre-orders up anywhere in the US (which we knew) BUT this person also can not see any upcoming preorders on the Hasbro site that retailers use to order from them.

They went on to tell me that they believe Hasbro Pulse will put the packs up on their site July 15 as "In Stock" and that the pack will slowly filter out to other retailers after that. They added that Hasbro has been doing this sort of thing this year with other offerings. But again, this was their own conjecture based on their previous experience with Hasbro

So there you have it. I know it's not much but it does not contradict anything we havent already seen. Again, I am just sharing news that I have heard in case anyone was interested. If you don't believe me, that's fine. Just call it a rumor for now.

I do think if it's true and they are not doing any US preorders beforehand, that we should expect a Live Stream announcement that they will be Pulse exclusive (or some thing like that) in the near future.

[SirRick]

Thanks for the info! I would bet money what you say is true. Hasbro probably doesn’t want people get this earlier then intended like the previous expansions. What sucks about buying from Hasbro Pulse is you have to pay for shipping, and they use FedEx. If you happen to be a premium member, then you don’t have to worry about the shipping cost, but premium membership costs $50 just by itself.

Hopefully this expansion appears on amazon, or the various toy websites soon after the release date.

[LucaRocks]

Premium is $50 for the whole year, so it's not terrible. But I admit that I had Premium and cancelled it because I didn't order from them much.

If their conjecture is true, I'm with you... I'll wait to order this from Amazon. Although, IF it will be up first on Pulse, I wonder if they are making less copies of it then previous expansions. Hasbro has cut back units on certain lines in the past. But who knows? It's just fun speculation at this point lol!

[opalmox]

I've maintained my Premium membership, but this year is a decision year on whether it's worth it to maintain it or not.
In this case, I may get it quicker than through other sources, and this time may be the first.

[Kurgan]

So I reached out to some US based sites that do toys and such asking about RotDM preorders. One site (who shall remain nameless) responded with some actual info. I don't want to get them in trouble, so they will remain nameless. I have experience with them so I trust what I was told but again, I can not verify who they are. So you're welcome to take this with a grain of salt.

They basically said that there are no pre-orders up anywhere in the US (which we knew) BUT this person also can not see any upcoming preorders on the Hasbro site that retailers use to order from them.

They went on to tell me that they believe Hasbro Pulse will put the packs up on their site July 15 as "In Stock" and that the pack will slowly filter out to other retailers after that. They added that Hasbro has been doing this sort of thing this year with other offerings. But again, this was their own conjecture based on their previous experience with Hasbro

So there you have it. I know it's not much but it does not contradict anything we havent already seen. Again, I am just sharing news that I have heard in case anyone was interested. If you don't believe me, that's fine. Just call it a rumor for now.

I do think if it's true and they are not doing any US preorders beforehand, that we should expect a Live Stream announcement that they will be Pulse exclusive (or some thing like that) in the near future.

Interesting. The Avalon Hill guys have already confirmed that they don't "care" if you buy HeroQuest from other online retailers besides direct from the HasbroPulse page (in response to questions and comments on the official Avalon Hill Discord that somehow Hasbro is "against" buying from other websites because somehow they will "lose money" or "not make as much of a profit."

So if they were making secret moves to eliminate pre-orders all along, that would be interesting. As I've said before, pre-orders seem to be more of a logistical (or even marketing) thing, rather than a way to get a product early or make a bigger profit necessarily. Yes, if a lot of people commit to buy a product, that's nice, but until you actually get their money and they start spreading positive reviews out to others who might be enticed to buy via word of mouth, it doesn't really make much difference I would think. But a marketing expert can explain in detail why I'm so wrong...

They can always put the product into the hands of a few "influencers" and put that out as part of their advertising budget, I'm talking here about fans who buy stuff who WILL talk about it online, for good or for ill.

Then again, why nix pre-orders for the US but not for other countries? Was it just a few US based sellers who were "naughty" and started shipping too early? Then again, why would that be the reason... Amazon was sending out products early that were "orders" NOT pre-orders. So I wouldn't know the logic behind that if it were true.

[LucaRocks]

Well, Hasbro has different deals with other countries for their products. I mean retailers not the actual government lol. For example, I know that they went Pulse only for their entire line of GIJoe classified action figures for the UK. Not sure if it was like that in the rest of Europe but it definitely is the case for the UK. And the fact that some small, non-US sites have preorders up might not mean a whole lot. They could have just thrown them up there to get ahead of the curve. It might not be that "official" of a preorder as you would see with larger retailers.

From what I've seen, influencers who get free review samples from Hasbro rarely critique the item honestly. They don't want to bite the hand that feeds them after all.

Just had a thought ... Did Frozen or Mage get write-ups like Rise did? If the no pre-orders thing is true, that could mean the write up was necessary because there would be little advanced information to get people hyped.

In any event, not seeing the contents of the box is making me less hyped for it. Let's see all the cool new minis Hasbro!

[Maalicia_Ironhoof]

Another thing not yet mentioned is that I hope AH release an app update at the time of the ROTDM releases and not 3 months later!

[Kurgan]

Another thing not yet mentioned is that I hope AH release an app update at the time of the ROTDM releases and not 3 months later!

Yes and the PDF file on Customer Care page..

But, depending upon how many new gimmicks they add, it might take a long time still. Remember they at the very least are having monsters that can pass through walls at will... (yes, we have heroes that can pass through walls, but consider how long those issues took to iron out)

[LucaRocks]

I did not know they released official PDF versions of the expansions. That's damn useful. Sheesh... Wish I'd have known sooner. Thanks for the tip!

[Kurgan]

In that sense you can absolutely "try before you buy" both that way (for Zargon if you don't mind using proxies for the "new" bits) and via the App (for heroes).

PDF versions of the North American releases have also been available there for about two decades, albeit mostly in poor quality photocopies (Mage of the Mirror was missing the Alchemist Shop page all this time!).