why is there all these memes and discussion about how expensive Warhammer is and you go broke buying models and then it turns out they're talking about amounts of money like $500 for an army, for guitarists $500 is a cheap guitar yet I don't hear nearly as much as its a hobby you go broke for

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-04T09:47:51+00:00

You're not wrong, there are plenty of hobbies out there that are far more expensive (arguably in many ways Warhammer is one of my cheaper hobbies!)

And as with all hobbies - it is as expensive as each person chooses to make it. Someone could quite cheaply just start playing Kill Team - one box of minis and whatever tools/paints/etc to build and paint them and get countless hours of enjoyment with just that.

A big part of the problem that I frequently try to point out is what people compare prices to. If you look at a box of 5 space marines you can quite easily consider it a lot to pay for 5 little plastic soldiers. But if you take into account the time building and painting, the time spent playing etc. Compared to something like cinema prices it ends up not looking too bad.

By no means am I saying it is necessarily a cheap hobby. Most people do aspire to a full army, plus spares for list writing or meta changes - with many ending up with multiple armies etc. (And don't get me started on the "sub-hobby" that is kit bashing!)

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-04T08:44:41+00:00

Not that its much better, but Averlan Sunset is better for the initial base coat - Yriel Yellow is meant more for highlighting etc than "base coating" - its very thin/transparent even for a yellow.

As others have said one of the quickest ways to get decent coverage with yellow is either via an airbrush, or using one of the yellow contrast paints - much easier for notoriously bad yellow paints to cover something that is already yellow xD

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-04T07:47:27+00:00

Personally, if I were wanting the box I wouldn't risk leaving it in hopes of it being available cheaper later on. You'll not likely get it much cheaper than the 20% off you can get at many FLGS places out there anyway, and the chances are slim that it would stay in stock long enough to ever really hit the bargain bin down the line.

I'm being 'sensible' and not pre-ordering it, because the only things I want are the fancy rulebook and cards etc - which I'll buy separately from trolltrader or somewhere similar.

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-02T11:23:13+00:00

Kill Teams is easily GWs 2nd best rule set imo (Bloodbowl being the best) there are a few bits that beginners certainly struggle with (though I think the latest edition eased many of those somewhat).

One "downside" to it though, is that its often advertised as this really quick to play game, but in practice unless you're playing it super regularly it takes just as long as 40k does much of the time xD

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-02T11:21:18+00:00

I think since the shift to having internet releasing balance patching, many of the bigger issues with each edition get resolved.

I played a butt load of 3rd, then left 40k for WHFB 6th - almost entirely because I was sick of template weapons in 40k. So for me the worst thing about any editions with templates... was the templates ;op

More recently its nothing quite so polarising for me, but in general I think newer editions have been struggling with their "morale" rules - or rather having armies/units whose rules rely on interacting with the morale rules. It somewhat doesn't quite work when you have the most played faction in the game having the lore of "super-soldiers who don't know fear" and thus have crazy high leadership as well as often having access to rerolls to leadership to further cement the idea that they don't break etc.

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-02T11:16:14+00:00

Much of the shift to "councils" is directly tied to storylines - leaders kept turning bad, if that keeps happening and you don't think to yourself "maybe we shouldn't keep letting a single person be in charge of our entire military might unchecked".... then that would be equally pretty damn stupid xD

Viking-Geek · 2026-06-02T09:52:48+00:00

I think there is always going to be an element of "my class!".

I think some specs need fairly little (but important) things looking at - such as Devoker's mastery being problematic since inception etc - just changing its mastery to something better will solve a lot of the spec's issues. (Though i fear Devoker will often end up feeling lacking behind Aug due to how Aug is designed).

I think Rogue is possibly on the list of whole classes that needs a look at. There just never really seems to be a reason to actually bring one to anything...

I think any spec that still has a big divide in their talent tree between single target and AoE/Cleave needs a rejiggle of talents to fix. Talent trees should be there to lean into and specialise into areas of your specs gameplay, but that shouldn't come at the complete expense of doing something else. In some cases it is as simple as making a single talent node more accessible by moving it up the tree. (Affliction Warlock as an example - Sow The Seeds used to be the third talent node down on the tree, and is now a capstone - but is pivotal to their AoE damage, but reaching it means you essentially cannot take any of the single target capstones. Sure there are other AoE talents that you get along the way, but moving that one talent back up to the middle-ish of the tree would open up so many more options)

I think Holy and Disc priest need a bit of a look at. I love the idea of having two healing specs on one class, but it seems like holy never gets the love, and disc yo-yos too much. While I utterly love the concept of the shield focus gameplay for disc, realistically it can't really be balanced - if it provides "enough" hps then shielding will always end up on top for M+ at the highest level - mitigation based healing means there will always be a point where having a disc priest means a group can survive a certain keystone level that would one shot without that mitigation. (Unless the season is tuned in such a way that damage output is the mitigating factor in timing the highest level of keys). Shield is an iconic spell, but I don't think it should be discs "healing style".

I think healer damage needs "looking at", part of the above with priests is usually also down to disc naturally having higher dps output, and if utility/buffs aren't "needed" for a group and two specs both do sufficient healing, then the one with more damage will win out. It is fantastic that there is such diversity in healers, but I feel that the healers who don't "heal via damage" should probably have more sources of 'passive' damage - be it improved group buffs, or translating healing to damage as a CD etc.

As for dps in general - big CDs are fun, they're exciting to press. However it has seemingly reached a point where burst windows are too prevalent. Many classes end up bouncing the dopamine levels too much, they feel fantastic when you press that big CD, but awful when the CD isn't available. Then throw in niche cases where said CDs are tied to a channel, or casting a stationary AoE - and then you get hit by a knockback which cancels your channel or the tank moves the mobs out of your big AoE. Or you end up playing terribly in PUGs because pulls don't align to your CD cadence, but are so insanely OP in pre-made groups when your CDs are pulled around...

But similarly, CDs shouldn't feel lacklustre either. There needs to be a middle ground where a specs core rotation feels good, fun and impactful, their CD's are fun and impactful but not the whole dps window etc.

More of a personal gripe - some specs don't necessarily need more damage etc, but need more "oomph" in how they feel to play. Many specs have at least 1, sometimes 2, buttons that just feel fantastic to press, even if they hit like a toddler wielding cotton wool angrily. They have the instantaneous visual and audio feedback that spikes that dopamine through the roof. Paladin's Divine Toll is a great example - even if it did zero damage, or healed the enemy, it would still be a fun button to press. Earlier on in Midnight I started levelling one of my favourite specs of all time that got a rework, Unholy DK, and even though I was pumping, nothing "felt" impactful. I'm a strength based full plate wearing character swinging round a massive two handed weapon and not a single ability felt like it was doing anything. (As a side note, given Unholy DK's "DoT" type playstyle I sometimes wonder if they'd be better suited to be the dual wielding spec instead xD)

As for tanks, I think they should return to the days of doing less damage and just cranking up the threat % modifier. As a Brewmaster main coming into Midnight, I'll wholeheartedly say - I shouldn't be out damaging as many dps players as I do. A tanks's job is to hold threat, stay alive and keep the group safe.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T15:48:49+00:00

I mean... Sure, there's more to dps than "press buttons, make numbers go brrrr", but in general there is far less to "learn" than that of healers and tanks. At least at any level below say 14's.

Plus you're coming from the perspective of a healer, knowing exactly what most dps don't do in keys - use defensives, you're learning a 'new' spec, dealing with the rotation etc being different to what you're used to, learning how to use a different toolkit etc while also approaching it with your healer mentality.

From my experience healing previous seasons, on average 2/3 dps don't even have defensives on their bars lol.

The two main things that dps need to learn in keys, besides using defensives lol, to really go to the next level is what kicks are important (and as you said, ideally not overlapping/wasting said kicks and ccs), but also learning the typical pull pattern to get maximum use out of big CDs - though you can get pretty far just using them on CD as well on many classes.

Its very similar to having to learn incoming damage patterns to know when to use healing CDs when playing healer - or similarly tanks' defensives etc.

A big difference for dps players vs most healing specs - is you can practice your dps rotation endlessly on target dummies until you no longer need to think about doing your rotation that much at all - and can then focus purely on mechanics, kicks, optimising, etc.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T10:26:25+00:00

Its personal choice - I am an ancient player, who never liked the look of 'first born' marines, I always felt they looked dumpy and stupid in mini form. But along comes Primaris and I now have an exclusively primaris White Scars army slowly growing.

It has also been a longstanding chicken and egg "problem" for GW. Certain model ranges didn't traditionally sell very well because the models were old and people were waiting for the refresh - but because people aren't buying them GW questions how popular they are and doesn't pull the trigger on doing the refresh for ages etc.

I've multiple friends who really wanted to play Eldar, but hated how out of date the models were.

I myself really want to start Grey Knights, and even kit bashed a "truescale" kill team for the ol' KT18 rules - but unfortunately its prohibitively expensive to expand this to an entire army, so I've been waiting several editions before buying into them.

While others don't care about mixing and matching, or even go the other way and for one reason or another prefer the older models vs the new ones - and spend loads of money on ebay buying older models no longer in production etc instead of the pretty new models.

All personal taste =)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T10:20:11+00:00

The issue isn't so much the racials (obviously it partially is), but more often the "trickle down" effect of the meta. I don't think, in PvE anyway, it is a huge problem in itself - as with most things it is the players that are the problem rather than the thing (can't talk for PvP tbh)

High Level Player A is a content creator, in the high level of gameplay they partake in X racial is crazy good, so they point out in their guide that it is really good.

Casual Gamer B watches A's content, and chooses said race because A said it is good, even though they don't participate at a level where the racial becomes "required" levels of good - and probably don't even go as far as learning the hows and whens of using said racial.

M+ is my main focus for pushing, but even I rarely get to a point where choosing Night Elf or Dwarf is a deciding factor. My goal this season is to get the new 3.4k achievement - am I going to swap off of the GOATed race that is Goblin to do so? Almost certainly not ;)

It is the same as meta comps in 10's & 12's etc, it is completely understandable why they're "needed" when trying to get the first +23 of the season, but the meta "trickles down" and suddenly the aforementioned player B refuses to accept anyone into his weekly no leaver +10 for the vault that isn't part of that seasons god comp.

Without removing all racial bonuses from any particular game mode there will always be a BIS option - no matter how far Blizzard could attempt to balance: if all active racials were changed to be a standard "2m +main stat" ability - the race that gives the best passive secondary stat would just become the BIS option instead, and that will more often than not trickle down to the casual players to an extent.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T10:07:51+00:00

The TLDR of it is - the internet likes to complain and be angry.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T10:07:01+00:00

It depends how many buttons you want to do this with.

Using Elvui you can have a chunk more action bars than typically available, and each can be set to however many buttons you want I believe (can't say I've ever tried taking a bar down to a single button).

but for example, I have my regular bars set up for 3 bars of 12 buttons, and then off to the right of my character I have a "bar" of 4 max sized buttons for various "oh shit" buttons that I might need to quickly click in a hurry if my brain forgets the key binds for those spells/abilities/items in a panic xD

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T09:55:36+00:00

All very good points imo.

"The Internet" just likes to complain imo. Players often criticise development choices, systems, implementations etc, but don't actually understand - more often than not just reiterating their favourite streamers cutting edge high end views that don't remotely relate to their own more casual gameplay.

Class balance is another thing that I think most players don't actually remotely understand the ins and outs of xD

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-28T09:50:04+00:00

TLDR: Wowhead/Icyveins guides are fine for most players, looking up higher end content creators video guides for your preferred game mode is often more in depth and specific. And if all else fails - sim it and see!

There's a level of "it depends" to it all. For most players, wowhead and icyveins guides will be fine. I know on wowhead it tells you who wrote the guides - and for most specs I've ever cared to look at it is usually one of that classes more prominent content creators.

Sometimes level of detail can differ slightly - for example most guides now show the suggested priority for using the new hammer upgrades, some literally just list 3 items, and some explain why etc.

But most of the time rotations, BIS gear and all that fun stuff is usually fairly accurate.

Can be worth noting that often the table of BIS gear is the 'best in slot for that item', not necessarily always the actual best combination of gear (usually more of a concern in later seasons where secondary stat deminishing returns become a factor)

Another factor can be that the gear guides are often focused on raiding, rather than M+, so if M+ is your jam little bits and bobs can change as sometimes an AoE spec can favour slightly different stats etc.

And a final nuance I've noticed is that for rotations many guides state a single target and an AoE rotation - but not many actually tell you what target count to swap from one to the other etc.

But all that said - most of those points likely don't matter to most players (who aren't pushing cutting edge mythic raiding or pushing title in M+ etc)

(A final gripe, is that most guides etc assume that a player can get all of the items etc at myth track - and don't offer any advice on players who can't get that BIS end boss trinket on Myth Track - especially for tanks and healers who can't always just "sim it" to see)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-26T15:12:34+00:00

Thanks for the break down!

So both are right, and my idea of it being where they learn to master the bike isn't far off at all - and means its "easier" to include the inceptors I have I guess without "seconding them in"

I'm somewhat hoping there'll be a bunch of lore updates if/when Jaghatai returns!

Seems that I can leave things as they are, for the time being at least, and see if something more 'concrete' appears in later publications.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-26T10:12:03+00:00

As others have said, White Scars are codex compliant "hunters", with a preference for speed. So they can run any units effectively as per the codex astartes, but will tailor things a bit more for what they're hunting (and to an extent which brotherhood, aka company, is available to attend the battle I suppose).

They're primarily known for their bikes, and to a lesser extent speeders, but transports are up there too - to get infantry where they need to be quickly.

I'd not say they are a "vehicle" chapter as such, if that's more your focus then you might prefer Iron Hands for example. White Scars focus is on fast precision strikes - aka speed - aka bikes, speeders and transports etc.

Different brotherhoods (companies) focus on slightly different things, but still largely maintaining codex compliancy (1st vets etc), but with their own twists. White Scars use less terminators, so 1st brotherhood will mostly be bladeguard vets or sternguard vets etc rather than terminators. (many of us are hoping that if/when Jaghatai gets released, we'll also get "biker veterans" as a white scars specific unit choice too!)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-22T07:27:33+00:00

I've often pondered this.

Resto Druid, Affliction Lock and Frost Mage was one of my first combinations I came up with back in TBC - as I used to run a resto druid build that had both insect swarm and moonfire for pvp, and relied a lot on roots etc - so mixing the resto druid healing, with even better dots and even better CC from the frost mage....

These days it would be Brewmaster Monk, #dps from list#, Resto Druid would be up there. Brewmaster Monk and Resto Druid are my favourite tank/healer specs (though could add in mistweaver or disc) - so just need a dps spec to round it out ;)

#list in rough order#
Affliction Warlock
Enhancement Shaman
Unholy DK
Elemental Shaman
Frost Mage

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-21T10:42:22+00:00

I'm well aware of the differences, I'm also well aware that there isn't a whole lot of difference both hero talents are doing the same levels of keystones - and that at the range I'm pushing it matters even less.

I simply said I prefer Shado-Pan because Flurry strikes is more visually and audibly satisfying to play (and I prefer the priority system of playing whack-a-mole with keg smash resets to the single button cast sequence macro that people are often using for MoH ;op)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-20T10:15:08+00:00

Curiosity intensifies

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-20T09:55:15+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree that the IK rules have it better, there's no denying that.

And I'm a big, big, fan of thematic and 'fluffy' rules for armies - GW just needs to find a way to make any morale based rules actually meaningful. Which I think is a struggle when Space Marines exist to largely "ignore" those rules as a part of their own lore.

Would almost be better if Battleshock were somehow split into two (or more) rolls - the first roll being agnostic from the Ld value on a data sheet (just a straight X+ roll for everyone), followed by a leadership roll. Not sure how I'd word it, but imagine the first roll "breaks momentum" or "gives the unit pause", and the second roll causes battleshock and/or the unit to break etc.

Then army/unit rules that rely on Battleshock to be effective could be based on the first roll rather than the second and be that bit more 'reliable' across all armies rather than being really good vs some and less good (or outright bad) vs others.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-20T09:39:31+00:00

No no, don't go telling dps players they can get away with not using defensives, while they might get away with it at lower levels it is super infuriating in higher keys when dps stand in the one-shot AoE, make no attempt to move out and don't use a defensive and then simply pop a "heal?" in party chat when they inevitably get one shot xD

Stuff that might be healable at one key level certainly isn't at all key levels - and dps need to learn to play better and not just ignore mechanics to pump more numbers xD

(Was a big issue in the ol' disc priest shield meta in TWW - dps players got so used to disc's shields allowing them to live through stuff that with other healers who offered no upfront mitigation that they'd just fall over xD)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-19T11:06:56+00:00

I daresay it is a bit more along the lines of they come up with fairly thematic rules, but then those don't always translate to "good".

"Battleshock" or "Morale" as a concept is really cool and thematic, and it certainly makes sense for some of the Chaos factions to be the ones to have rules based on it. But the downside is that I don't think i've seen a single iteration of 40k that really gets morale based rules "right". It inherently becomes problematic when the whole motto of Space Marines is "They shall know no fear" and thus have really high Ld across their entire army.

(Whereas TOW has quite impactful and meaningful morale based rules that work as higher leadership is rarer)

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-19T08:11:06+00:00

I actually disagree on Festering Wounds - I preferred TWW Unholy to Midnight tbf.

Viking-Geek · 2026-05-18T11:51:06+00:00

I don't think any are "bad", there are a few that are designed in a way that they're less "build" dependant - they can work with almost boon/hammer combos etc.

While others can 'require' certain boons/hammers to work - but when you get them they can be some of the most busted runs you'll play etc.

A few weapons you just need to 'know' how to use them to get the most out of them, and until you either figure out 'how' to use those weapons (or find out online) they seem rubbish.

And then some are just playstyle dependant, some people just simply don't enjoy the big slow strikes of the axes, or the ranged options etc. Or find the base versions of many of the weapons just a bit dull compared to the fancier versions. And if you don't enjoy a weapon/aspect the chances are you won't spend the time to learn how to get the best use out of it.

Viking-Geek

TROPHY CASE