I am interested in seeing what the future holds for some of the top end PTO's that have no shops themselves but have been crucial to the games development over the years. Will they be left out in the cold?
It's not that bad of a problem. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, an LGS already handles all the PTO work. (Activimaginaton, for reference). Maybe it's just cheaper to rent out a large space in ABQ than elsewhere, but renting a Convention Center for two days is, generally speaking, fairly cheap (when compared to the potential revenue).
My only worry is that Plane Tickets will be removed from the prizes if this happens. If they are, then about 90% of semi-pros are ****ed.
Blue envelopes won't be removed; in fact, that was part of the new system is that everyone who Q's gets a plane ticket, not just the PTQers.
I am interested in seeing what the future holds for some of the top end PTO's that have no shops themselves but have been crucial to the games development over the years. Will they be left out in the cold?
If you're talking Pastimes, Cascade Games, Legion, etc., they'll be busy running GPs.
I am interested in seeing what the future holds for some of the top end PTO's that have no shops themselves but have been crucial to the games development over the years. Will they be left out in the cold?
Yes. Just like any obsolete business model that was crucial to success in the past. WotC needs to keep the local store's healthy because without them the game crumbles (it wouldn't die, but it would be a shell of its current self).
This could also effect dealers/vendors, since if a ptq is held in house, stores wouldn't have to sell out vendor space and just be able to buy cards with no competition, (no more going from dealer to dealer seeing how much they are buying/selling something for).
This would be the dumbest idea since wizards taking out Regional Prereleases. Almost all stores can't handle prereleases as it is, let alone PTQ events where you have upwards of 5-6 hundred people or more sometimes.
This would be the dumbest idea since wizards taking out Regional Prereleases. Almost all stores can't handle prereleases as it is, let alone PTQ events where you have upwards of 5-6 hundred people or more sometimes.
Then the stores rent out a space specifically for the PTQ. The shop I work for and TO for has a space on permanent standby in case we get too many people for the store to seat for an event, or if we decide to hold a 1k or even try to snag a PTQ. Its really not that big of a problem. In fact its GOOD to have a problem of space because it means the event is a success.
Then the stores rent out a space specifically for the PTQ. The shop I work for and TO for has a space on permanent standby in case we get too many people for the store to seat for an event, or if we decide to hold a 1k or even try to snag a PTQ. Its really not that big of a problem. In fact its GOOD to have a problem of space because it means the event is a success.
Renting out another space may not be economically viable, though. For example, a store could have a 50-person capacity and need 150 players for renting to be profitable. If the turnout is between these two numbers, the store has a problem.
This would be the dumbest idea since wizards taking out Regional Prereleases. Almost all stores can't handle prereleases as it is, let alone PTQ events where you have upwards of 5-6 hundred people or more sometimes.
Depends on the PTQ along with where it is. 500-600 people seems a bit of a stretch unless you are talking about say NY city with Standard.
Renting out another space may not be economically viable, though. For example, a store could have a 50-person capacity and need 150 players for renting to be profitable. If the turnout is between these two numbers, the store has a problem.
Then the store owners need to make some good connections because it is not all that hard to get affordable space in the vast majority of areas outside of major cities. The shop I T.O. at has a standing agreement with the mall to funnel people to a vacant shopfront if we go beyond 40 people with a minimal cost to the shop. While others may not be so lucky there are usually VFW halls or something similar that rent out really, really cheaply. If even more space is needed then you can step to to what Star City uses and rent out meeting rooms at hotels.
I like the idea of holding local store events. I can see what they are trying to do, which is get peoe who would have to travel long distances to one of these events and just can't (like me) a chance to do so. But I just don't see why you needed to get rid of the big events to do this. This was the same issue I had with pre releases.
In what universe? If you build a deck like that, and ever draw that hand, I will personally come to wherever you live, perform complicated acts of awestruck ********, then disembowel myself to escape the world that allowed something like this to occur and validate you.
Yes. Just like any obsolete business model that was crucial to success in the past. WotC needs to keep the local store's healthy[citation needed] because without them the game crumbles (it wouldn't die, but it would be a shell of its current self).
In business if you aren't growing, you're dieing.
I mean i was at a PTQ last weekend and i got to hear an awesome conversation where 2 of the local dealers complained about WOTC not being able to keep them in stock of sealed product because the are always selling out. Sounds like local stores are doing fine to me.
The reality is MOST stores are doing really well atm. They just want a bigger piece of the pie. We are talking gluttony, not saving them from starvation.
"I have no idea what it's like not to be a straight white male, and the experiences of others are irrelevant." -Conservative Motto
Calling someone a Commie is flaming and must be stopped, but turning the word Conservative into a loaded pejorative and using it over and over again is perfectly acceptable.
I mean i was at a PTQ last weekend and i got to hear an awesome conversation where 2 of the local dealers complained about WOTC not being able to keep them in stock of sealed product because the are always selling out. Sounds like local stores are doing fine to me.
The reality is MOST stores are doing really well atm. They just want a bigger piece of the pie. We are talking gluttony, not saving them from starvation.
I'm not so sure that your local dealers at your PTQ are a reliable representation of MOST stores. But, regardless of that, long term planning dictates that you do things to maintain the health of something you want to keep healthy before it begins to break down. As waiting until it breaks down is oftentimes too late.
The evidence is fairly anecdotal, but that does not mean it isn't true. WoTC settings sales records and dealer complaining that they can't keep and items in stock seems to suggest those dealers are doing well. I mean unless Walmart is selling alot of those overpriced blister packs. These are not the only dealers doing well... and the ones not doing well are not really going to benefit from running PTQ's as they are not in the position to do so... the dealers that are doing well are the ones that would be running the events
Like i said gluttony.
Care to address where you came up with the idea the business model is broken? You know one that has been working for 16 years? [Citation still needed] (or atleast some non-fallacious reasoning)
"I have no idea what it's like not to be a straight white male, and the experiences of others are irrelevant." -Conservative Motto
Calling someone a Commie is flaming and must be stopped, but turning the word Conservative into a loaded pejorative and using it over and over again is perfectly acceptable.
Innistrad has been absolutely incredible for my local store, regularly selling out of product to the point where they pretty much cancelled the Release Event because they had such a back order for boxes of product. It is almost impossible to keep the product on the shelves, and no one in my area who is buying has any desire to earn pro points. It's a predominantly casual crowd with no PTQ, GP, or PT experience at all.
I'm still not sure if the gain of PTQs in the store would offset the loss of incentives to get involved in Organized Play due to the recent changes. What happens when a player starts to really develop with no "bright lights" of a Pro Tour to really aspire to?
Very frustrated by all of the changes...despite the fact that the profit margins for WOTC will definitely increase.
I'd like to see what happens with this over the next year, along with the pro level changes.
It's going to be interesting to see what the balance sheets of stores look like after a year of this.
My guess is that small stores will take a hit, large stores will profit, and trading/competition for card sales will suffer a bit as large PTQs and regional-size events become single-vendor venues.
Stores not being able to keep product in stock is not necessarily an indication of them doing well. There are three factors you aren't considering:
1) Distributors allocate product when it becomes scarce. If 20,000 stores each want to order a case, but a distributor only has 40,000 boxes, they usually sell two boxes each to those stores rather than sell a case each to the first third of them. Innistrad was under-printed. Yes, we're all selling out of everything we get, but we haven't been able to get what we NEED in the vast majority of cases.
2) Selling boxes as boxes sucks for stores. If you're ordering product directly from Wizards and selling it at $4/pack, you're making 49% profit on that product. If you're selling those boxes at $110, let's say (which is about average for a store and WAY above average for the internet), you're only making 34% profit. Now, unfortunately, in order to hit your bottom line, you need to be spending about 55% of your sales money on inventory, which means you need to be averaging 45% profit margin on sold items. If you're getting in three cases and two of them are walking out the door as boxes you're hurting your bottom line unbelievably. To look at it another way, Imagine I have $1000 to spend on product this week, and my labor, rent, bills, etc., weekly expenses are $450. If I spend that $1000 on Innistrad, I'll get 13 boxes, sell them for $110 each and make $1430. My weekly expenses are $450, though, so next week's budget is only $980. Repeat the process and my budget shrinks every week. I'm selling 100% of what I order, but I'm actually LOSING money. This is the reality for game stores. Selling by the pack is great, but people's expectations for box prices are really, really hurting the industry.
3) When someone wants a product and you don't have it, that's lost sales potential. No matter how you slice it, selling out of a product is really, really bad for business. There's no "well, at least it means you're selling a lot of it" about it, you didn't have enough product to meet demand and that translates to lost reputation which means lost customers. You might have sold 900% more than you anticipated, but if your demand was 1000% more than you anticipated, you did a bad job ordering (or somebody on the distributor side screwed you).
So, yeah, a lot of stores are doing great right now. My store's under three years old and so I can't say we're doing "great," but we're certainly doing great considering the economy and how long we've been around. But complaining that we're always out of Innistrad (which we are) doesn't mean we're being greedy. It means that we're getting by, but every day is a struggle to hit the bottom line and Wizards (along with other game manufacturers) should always be looking for ways to help us win that fight.
Stores not being able to keep product in stock is not necessarily an indication of them doing well. There are three factors you aren't considering:
1) Distributors allocate product when it becomes scarce. If 20,000 stores each want to order a case, but a distributor only has 40,000 boxes, they usually sell two boxes each to those stores rather than sell a case each to the first third of them. Innistrad was under-printed. Yes, we're all selling out of everything we get, but we haven't been able to get what we NEED in the vast majority of cases.
2) Selling boxes as boxes sucks for stores. If you're ordering product directly from Wizards and selling it at $4/pack, you're making 49% profit on that product. If you're selling those boxes at $110, let's say (which is about average for a store and WAY above average for the internet), you're only making 34% profit. Now, unfortunately, in order to hit your bottom line, you need to be spending about 55% of your sales money on inventory, which means you need to be averaging 45% profit margin on sold items. If you're getting in three cases and two of them are walking out the door as boxes you're hurting your bottom line unbelievably. To look at it another way, Imagine I have $1000 to spend on product this week, and my labor, rent, bills, etc., weekly expenses are $450. If I spend that $1000 on Innistrad, I'll get 13 boxes, sell them for $110 each and make $1430. My weekly expenses are $450, though, so next week's budget is only $980. Repeat the process and my budget shrinks every week. I'm selling 100% of what I order, but I'm actually LOSING money. This is the reality for game stores. Selling by the pack is great, but people's expectations for box prices are really, really hurting the industry.
3) When someone wants a product and you don't have it, that's lost sales potential. No matter how you slice it, selling out of a product is really, really bad for business. There's no "well, at least it means you're selling a lot of it" about it, you didn't have enough product to meet demand and that translates to lost reputation which means lost customers. You might have sold 900% more than you anticipated, but if your demand was 1000% more than you anticipated, you did a bad job ordering (or somebody on the distributor side screwed you).
So, yeah, a lot of stores are doing great right now. My store's under three years old and so I can't say we're doing "great," but we're certainly doing great considering the economy and how long we've been around. But complaining that we're always out of Innistrad (which we are) doesn't mean we're being greedy. It means that we're getting by, but every day is a struggle to hit the bottom line and Wizards (along with other game manufacturers) should always be looking for ways to help us win that fight.
That still tells me that a store selling out at profit is profit, and the fact that their able to move product that fast means you get your money quickly without having inventory sitting their there as dead weight.
You as a store owner do not have to give discount to boxes. Also a smart business move would be to refuse selling in boxes when you know there's a short supply, someone wants to buy a box, you know it will sell out anyway, tell them there's only packs because you want to be fair to the other customers. I also doubt your store solely runs on the boxes of mtg.
You are profiting but mtg is a part of the solution and not the whole thing for running a business.
Every business struggles; most business don't get a fraction of the support WOTC has done for LGS. I don't believe that without PTQs next years being handed over to the LGS, that all of the sudden stores are going to shut down left and right.
How many stores will do the right thing and get a judge to be at PTQs? How many stores will actually put the money to get a larger venue just for PTQs event? How many stores might tilt in favor of their biggest buyers in one of these events?
Just to clarify something that people seem to keep bringing up. Innistrad was not "underprinted". It was printed in the same quantities that other recent set's initial print-runs have been printed. The difference, is that innistrad has been the most popular and strongest selling standard set out of the gates since Zendikar. We had no issue getting our large initial order (162 boxes from one distributor, and 6 cases or so from wizards). We price ours at $125/box, and $3.90/pack. While the boxes from wizards are running low (down to 8 boxes), Im sure wizards will get that 2nd print run out here soon enough (if it hasnt been done allready.).
If a product sells too quickly, then a good business should recognize that supply/demand dictates that they should consider raising the price if its going to be more expensive to be able to get additional supply or not possible to get additional supply. Our store may not be the cheapest, but we are still selling through innistrad boxes/packs just fine, and we also make sure not to oversell our pre-sales. A lot of shops didnt properly account for that, and just kept selling via pre-sales until they realized that they had hardly any stock left after pre-sales. For us, only a small amount of our inventory is allocated to pre-sales, because we know we need to make sure to have plenty of product for our events, prizes, and general pack/box sales post-release.
Now then, as far as the topic at hand more specifically. I think it will definitely benefit the larger stores moreso as the smaller ones arent obviously going to be able to run a PTQ-level event in the space they have. This whole string of changes to the upper end of the tournament scene and such is going to take some time to sink in and get used to, but I dont think its going to be the downfall of the game or anything of that sort that some seem to suggest. I guess we'll see how it all shakes out. Should make for an interesting year.
That still tells me that a store selling out at profit is profit, and the fact that their able to move product that fast means you get your money quickly without having inventory sitting their there as dead weight.
Getting money quickly is great, but it isn't profit if your expenses outweigh your income, which I just explained is the likely outcome of selling too many boxes.
You as a store owner do not have to give discount to boxes.
No, I don't. But customers expect a discount on a box, and it's bad for business not to play to expectations to an extent. Sometimes you have to take a hit to keep a customer, so they'll keep shopping at your store rather than buying exclusively from the internet. When you show a customer you're willing to come close to internet prices to keep them shopping with you, they're usually willing to meet you half way.
Also a smart business move would be to refuse selling in boxes when you know there's a short supply, someone wants to buy a box, you know it will sell out anyway, tell them there's only packs because you want to be fair to the other customers.
Of course, I do this, but this harkens back to point number three from my previous post. Obviously I can't sell boxes if it means I won't have enough packs to last until my restock, but when someone comes in to buy a box and you can't sell it to them, it's not good for business either.
I also doubt your store solely runs on the boxes of mtg. You are profiting but mtg is a part of the solution and not the whole thing for running a business.
You're right. Magic's not our whole business, and thank goodness. It wouldn't be sustainable if it was.
Every business struggles; most business don't get a fraction of the support WOTC has done for LGS. I don't believe that without PTQs next years being handed over to the LGS, that all of the sudden stores are going to shut down left and right.
I don't disagree with this at all, but game stores are already shutting down left and right. I can think of three in my general area (southeast Pennsylvania/southern New Jersey) in the last two years that have closed. Wizards takes care of its retailers, and this change is a continuation of that care. Game stores are not easy to run well. All I'm saying is that the notion that we're making money hand over fist and that "Innistrad's already making us rich, so why should we need PTQs too" is absurd.
How many stores will do the right thing and get a judge to be at PTQs? How many stores will actually put the money to get a larger venue just for PTQs event? How many stores might tilt in favor of their biggest buyers in one of these events?
Who knows? Wizards hasn't announced the changes to this program yet, and last time I spoke with my Wizards rep about them, he didn't have any specific information. He knew the change was coming, but he hadn't been made aware of the details. They haven't said one way or the other which stores will get PTQs, what criteria they will use to make those selections, or how strictly they'll monitor those stores' involvement.
And make no mistake, Innistrad was under-printed. Sure, they printed the same amount (or more) as other recent sets, but they didn't print enough to meet demand. Same as Zendikar. Thankfully, the second printing is already upon us, and supply's getting easier to come by, but it was a rough couple of weeks.
The evidence is fairly anecdotal, but that does not mean it isn't true. WoTC settings sales records and dealer complaining that they can't keep and items in stock seems to suggest those dealers are doing well. I mean unless Walmart is selling alot of those overpriced blister packs. These are not the only dealers doing well... and the ones not doing well are not really going to benefit from running PTQ's as they are not in the position to do so... the dealers that are doing well are the ones that would be running the events
Like i said gluttony.
Care to address where you came up with the idea the business model is broken? You know one that has been working for 16 years? [Citation still needed] (or atleast some non-fallacious reasoning)
Citation for what? YOu're going on being an ass about "citation needed" when every thing you say is just as much speculation as everything I say.
I'll start providing citations when you do. That seems fair.
Blue envelopes won't be removed; in fact, that was part of the new system is that everyone who Q's gets a plane ticket, not just the PTQers.
If you're talking Pastimes, Cascade Games, Legion, etc., they'll be busy running GPs.
EDH Decks:
RBG Kresh, the Bloodbraided RBG
GW Rhys, the Redeemed GW
Legacy:
RGW Enchantress RGW
Yes. Just like any obsolete business model that was crucial to success in the past. WotC needs to keep the local store's healthy because without them the game crumbles (it wouldn't die, but it would be a shell of its current self).
In business if you aren't growing, you're dieing.
www.MTGFanatic.com
wizards better know what they are doing, cause when the dust settles, I think things are going to change, A LOT
www.MTGFanatic.com
Then the stores rent out a space specifically for the PTQ. The shop I work for and TO for has a space on permanent standby in case we get too many people for the store to seat for an event, or if we decide to hold a 1k or even try to snag a PTQ. Its really not that big of a problem. In fact its GOOD to have a problem of space because it means the event is a success.
Renting out another space may not be economically viable, though. For example, a store could have a 50-person capacity and need 150 players for renting to be profitable. If the turnout is between these two numbers, the store has a problem.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Depends on the PTQ along with where it is. 500-600 people seems a bit of a stretch unless you are talking about say NY city with Standard.
Then the store owners need to make some good connections because it is not all that hard to get affordable space in the vast majority of areas outside of major cities. The shop I T.O. at has a standing agreement with the mall to funnel people to a vacant shopfront if we go beyond 40 people with a minimal cost to the shop. While others may not be so lucky there are usually VFW halls or something similar that rent out really, really cheaply. If even more space is needed then you can step to to what Star City uses and rent out meeting rooms at hotels.
I mean i was at a PTQ last weekend and i got to hear an awesome conversation where 2 of the local dealers complained about WOTC not being able to keep them in stock of sealed product because the are always selling out. Sounds like local stores are doing fine to me.
The reality is MOST stores are doing really well atm. They just want a bigger piece of the pie. We are talking gluttony, not saving them from starvation.
Flame infraction. - Blinking Spirit
Calling someone a Commie is flaming and must be stopped, but turning the word Conservative into a loaded pejorative and using it over and over again is perfectly acceptable.
I'm not so sure that your local dealers at your PTQ are a reliable representation of MOST stores. But, regardless of that, long term planning dictates that you do things to maintain the health of something you want to keep healthy before it begins to break down. As waiting until it breaks down is oftentimes too late.
Like i said gluttony.
Care to address where you came up with the idea the business model is broken? You know one that has been working for 16 years? [Citation still needed] (or atleast some non-fallacious reasoning)
Flame infraction. - Blinking Spirit
Calling someone a Commie is flaming and must be stopped, but turning the word Conservative into a loaded pejorative and using it over and over again is perfectly acceptable.
I'm still not sure if the gain of PTQs in the store would offset the loss of incentives to get involved in Organized Play due to the recent changes. What happens when a player starts to really develop with no "bright lights" of a Pro Tour to really aspire to?
Very frustrated by all of the changes...despite the fact that the profit margins for WOTC will definitely increase.
It's going to be interesting to see what the balance sheets of stores look like after a year of this.
My guess is that small stores will take a hit, large stores will profit, and trading/competition for card sales will suffer a bit as large PTQs and regional-size events become single-vendor venues.
1) Distributors allocate product when it becomes scarce. If 20,000 stores each want to order a case, but a distributor only has 40,000 boxes, they usually sell two boxes each to those stores rather than sell a case each to the first third of them. Innistrad was under-printed. Yes, we're all selling out of everything we get, but we haven't been able to get what we NEED in the vast majority of cases.
2) Selling boxes as boxes sucks for stores. If you're ordering product directly from Wizards and selling it at $4/pack, you're making 49% profit on that product. If you're selling those boxes at $110, let's say (which is about average for a store and WAY above average for the internet), you're only making 34% profit. Now, unfortunately, in order to hit your bottom line, you need to be spending about 55% of your sales money on inventory, which means you need to be averaging 45% profit margin on sold items. If you're getting in three cases and two of them are walking out the door as boxes you're hurting your bottom line unbelievably. To look at it another way, Imagine I have $1000 to spend on product this week, and my labor, rent, bills, etc., weekly expenses are $450. If I spend that $1000 on Innistrad, I'll get 13 boxes, sell them for $110 each and make $1430. My weekly expenses are $450, though, so next week's budget is only $980. Repeat the process and my budget shrinks every week. I'm selling 100% of what I order, but I'm actually LOSING money. This is the reality for game stores. Selling by the pack is great, but people's expectations for box prices are really, really hurting the industry.
3) When someone wants a product and you don't have it, that's lost sales potential. No matter how you slice it, selling out of a product is really, really bad for business. There's no "well, at least it means you're selling a lot of it" about it, you didn't have enough product to meet demand and that translates to lost reputation which means lost customers. You might have sold 900% more than you anticipated, but if your demand was 1000% more than you anticipated, you did a bad job ordering (or somebody on the distributor side screwed you).
So, yeah, a lot of stores are doing great right now. My store's under three years old and so I can't say we're doing "great," but we're certainly doing great considering the economy and how long we've been around. But complaining that we're always out of Innistrad (which we are) doesn't mean we're being greedy. It means that we're getting by, but every day is a struggle to hit the bottom line and Wizards (along with other game manufacturers) should always be looking for ways to help us win that fight.
That still tells me that a store selling out at profit is profit, and the fact that their able to move product that fast means you get your money quickly without having inventory sitting their there as dead weight.
You as a store owner do not have to give discount to boxes. Also a smart business move would be to refuse selling in boxes when you know there's a short supply, someone wants to buy a box, you know it will sell out anyway, tell them there's only packs because you want to be fair to the other customers. I also doubt your store solely runs on the boxes of mtg.
You are profiting but mtg is a part of the solution and not the whole thing for running a business.
Every business struggles; most business don't get a fraction of the support WOTC has done for LGS. I don't believe that without PTQs next years being handed over to the LGS, that all of the sudden stores are going to shut down left and right.
How many stores will do the right thing and get a judge to be at PTQs? How many stores will actually put the money to get a larger venue just for PTQs event? How many stores might tilt in favor of their biggest buyers in one of these events?
If a product sells too quickly, then a good business should recognize that supply/demand dictates that they should consider raising the price if its going to be more expensive to be able to get additional supply or not possible to get additional supply. Our store may not be the cheapest, but we are still selling through innistrad boxes/packs just fine, and we also make sure not to oversell our pre-sales. A lot of shops didnt properly account for that, and just kept selling via pre-sales until they realized that they had hardly any stock left after pre-sales. For us, only a small amount of our inventory is allocated to pre-sales, because we know we need to make sure to have plenty of product for our events, prizes, and general pack/box sales post-release.
Now then, as far as the topic at hand more specifically. I think it will definitely benefit the larger stores moreso as the smaller ones arent obviously going to be able to run a PTQ-level event in the space they have. This whole string of changes to the upper end of the tournament scene and such is going to take some time to sink in and get used to, but I dont think its going to be the downfall of the game or anything of that sort that some seem to suggest. I guess we'll see how it all shakes out. Should make for an interesting year.
Getting money quickly is great, but it isn't profit if your expenses outweigh your income, which I just explained is the likely outcome of selling too many boxes.
No, I don't. But customers expect a discount on a box, and it's bad for business not to play to expectations to an extent. Sometimes you have to take a hit to keep a customer, so they'll keep shopping at your store rather than buying exclusively from the internet. When you show a customer you're willing to come close to internet prices to keep them shopping with you, they're usually willing to meet you half way.
Of course, I do this, but this harkens back to point number three from my previous post. Obviously I can't sell boxes if it means I won't have enough packs to last until my restock, but when someone comes in to buy a box and you can't sell it to them, it's not good for business either.
You're right. Magic's not our whole business, and thank goodness. It wouldn't be sustainable if it was.
I don't disagree with this at all, but game stores are already shutting down left and right. I can think of three in my general area (southeast Pennsylvania/southern New Jersey) in the last two years that have closed. Wizards takes care of its retailers, and this change is a continuation of that care. Game stores are not easy to run well. All I'm saying is that the notion that we're making money hand over fist and that "Innistrad's already making us rich, so why should we need PTQs too" is absurd.
Who knows? Wizards hasn't announced the changes to this program yet, and last time I spoke with my Wizards rep about them, he didn't have any specific information. He knew the change was coming, but he hadn't been made aware of the details. They haven't said one way or the other which stores will get PTQs, what criteria they will use to make those selections, or how strictly they'll monitor those stores' involvement.
And make no mistake, Innistrad was under-printed. Sure, they printed the same amount (or more) as other recent sets, but they didn't print enough to meet demand. Same as Zendikar. Thankfully, the second printing is already upon us, and supply's getting easier to come by, but it was a rough couple of weeks.
Citation for what? YOu're going on being an ass about "citation needed" when every thing you say is just as much speculation as everything I say.
I'll start providing citations when you do. That seems fair.
A friend passed me this link. Apparently its really happening, straight from the Director of Organized Play.