yeah I guess they are moving everything to age of sigma style, including the pricing.. named hero's range from $180 - $280 for us down here.
Funny thing is I see a lot of returning players with 8th, some are starting from scratch again, but they are all adults, I have not seen any young people picking the hobby up, not in my LGS nor the local GW store, in talking to the staff they have noticed the same thing as well.