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Topic: What do you make of this? (Read 1,692 times)

bert
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What do you make of this?
« Thread Started on Feb 20, 2011, 2:40pm »

This has appeared:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20110208

James Maliszewski opines at:

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/

Any other thoughts as to what all this is about?

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Finarvyn
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #1 on Feb 20, 2011, 3:02pm »

I can't get the original article to load at the moment, but James makes some interesting points in his blog. I can only assume that the first article is all about "can't we all play together" and it does sound like WotC might be feeling adverse effects of the 3E/4E switch.

Certainly, Pathfinder jumped into a market at just the right time when a slice of the market wasn't interested in making an edition change and by providing that slice exactly what they wanted. I can only wish that some major company (even WotC) could back AD&D or OD&D to the extent that Paizo backed Pathfinder. That would certanly help spread the word!

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Finarvyn
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #2 on Feb 20, 2011, 3:07pm »

Well, finally got it to load and took a moment to read. A decent enough editorial, but I'm not sure where Mike was headed with it. Perhaps simply the notion that whatever edition you play, whatever house rules you use, it's all the same basic game. If so, I'm still a little puzzled because R&D would be acknowledging that there are lots of fans who play older editions but not offering to publish rules that fit those editions.

I know that Mike posts on some of the boards I frequent, but I'm drawing a blank offhand as to which one(s). Maybe he'll say more about what he means in the editorial.

EDIT: Here's his blog http://kotgl.blogspot.com/ and he does talk about OSRIC and other games of that style on the blog, so clearly he's "in the know" about the whole old-school thing.

« Last Edit: Feb 20, 2011, 3:11pm by Finarvyn »

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geoffrey
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #3 on Feb 20, 2011, 11:25pm »

I think Mike Mearls is sincere and well-meaning.

I'd like to see ALL of the items that have ever been published by TSR or by WotC released on PDF and POD.

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talysman
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #4 on Feb 20, 2011, 11:38pm »

My reaction was: what does that even mean? I think it was more of a place-holder than an actual article; he wants everyone regardless of edition preference to read his column, so his first article calls for gamer unity.

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harami2000
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #5 on Feb 21, 2011, 12:32am »

Feb 20, 2011, 3:07pm, Finarvyn wrote:

Well, finally got it to load and took a moment to read. A decent enough editorial, but I'm not sure where Mike was headed with it.

Carefully, wherever, so as not to be lynched by both his employer and the 4e fans?

Feb 20, 2011, 3:07pm, Finarvyn wrote:

Perhaps simply the notion that whatever edition you play, whatever house rules you use, it's all the same basic game.

Translated into US-speak, "we're all Greeks now"?
It's a nice sentiment but it doesn't wash, even if that might be a true representation of D&D's current economic outlook.

Feb 20, 2011, 11:25pm, geoffrey wrote:

I think Mike Mearls is sincere and well-meaning.

I'd like to see ALL of the items that have ever been published by TSR or by WotC released on PDF and POD.

There can be no whitewash (of older editions) at the online warehouse, eh?

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bert
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #6 on Feb 21, 2011, 12:24pm »

Mike Mearls may be a decent guy, but he still works for WoTC. Whatever they do with the old material they will still be trying to maximise their profits. Do they think they can make more money supressing the older editions and thus forcing fans to buy into the expensive new edition? I can't figure out any other reason for them to sit on a pile of much in-demand material that it would cost very little to put out as downloads and that will still turn them a small but significant profit despite its age. Or maybe it is, as people commenting on Grognardia pointed out, an ego thing - they can't admit 4e was a mistake.

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kenmeister
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #7 on Feb 21, 2011, 1:17pm »

I've never seen a company turn its former customers away like WOTC has done. I think it is unprecedented. It is as if McDonalds decided to stop selling Big Macs in favor of Big Rocks, and a new restaurant started selling Big Macs instead. I work at a software company in support, and we'll take a question on any version we've ever released. So let's see ... WOTC kills the old edition downloads, the old edition forum support, the old edition pdfs, doesn't make their products backwards compatible, and now they call for unity? It's ludicrous.

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Finarvyn
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #8 on Feb 21, 2011, 5:30pm »

Feb 21, 2011, 12:24pm, bert wrote:

Whatever they do with the old material they will still be trying to maximise their profits. Do they think they can make more money supressing the older editions and thus forcing fans to buy into the expensive new edition?

It seems to me like they could make another pile of money by re-releasing the old rulebooks. They could do a whole new layout, put in new artwork, the works. Or, they could just re-use the old artwork and put out brand new copies of the same books as if it was in the 1980's again. It's not like they'd have to pay for new design teams to playtest or anything like that.

I'm not sure old editions "compete" with new editions when you own both.

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ptingler
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #9 on Feb 21, 2011, 5:52pm »

Add me to the group that wishes they'd put the PDF files back online for sale. I'd also love to see them go POD. I've thought about recreating the OCE as a single file that could be used for POD and sending it to WoTC so that they had no reason at all that they couldn't make it available as a POD softbound or hardbound book for people to buy. The big thing stopping me from spending the time is that I have a feeling that it would be a wasted effort as they'd never do anything with the file or even bother to reply to me sending it to them.

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geoffrey
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #10 on Feb 21, 2011, 5:56pm »

It makes no sense whatsoever to not release all of TSR's and WotC's out-of-print titles as PDFs and PODs:

1. If these PDFs and PODs would make a lot of money, then obviously it's the thing to do.

2. On the other hand, if these old products are next to worthless, then it would make sense to release them all as free PDFs (as Talislanta has) and as for-cost PODs.

WotC can't have it both ways: Either these products are valuable or they are not. In either case, it makes no sense to sit on them. It amounts to a form of book-banning.

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kenmeister
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #11 on Feb 22, 2011, 10:45am »

Feb 21, 2011, 5:56pm, geoffrey wrote:

WotC can't have it both ways: Either these products are valuable or they are not. In either case, it makes no sense to sit on them. It amounts to a form of book-banning.

An interesting way to put it. I'm feeling all riled up now!

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jamesm
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #12 on Feb 22, 2011, 11:41am »

Feb 21, 2011, 5:30pm, Finarvyn wrote:

I'm not sure old editions "compete" with new editions when you own both.

Nor do they compete when the customers of each edition are different. I mean, I would pay good money for a new printing of, say, the White Box to save wear and tear on my existing one. That's money WotC would otherwise never get from me. And let's be honest: there's no way anyone is going to confuse OD&D or AD&D products with 4e ones, so it's hard to see the logic of this, particularly when many companies make their "legacy" products easily available. My 8 year-old son can play the original Super Mario Brothers from Nintendo on the Wii and his doing so didn't adversely affect his interest in the new version released specifically for that game system -- quite the opposite.

It's silly and shortsighted.

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James Maliszewski,
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John Adams
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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #13 on Feb 22, 2011, 9:52pm »

Well, now that I'm sinking lots of time, effort and money into an OD&D clone, it is only Murphy's Law that WORC will re-release OD&D.

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John Adams

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Re: What do you make of this?
« Reply #14 on Feb 22, 2011, 11:30pm »

I'm afraid that I don't understand Mearls' call for all editions to join hands and sing in harmony when WotC will not acknowledge the existence of any other edition than 4th. WotC and Hasbro need to rebuild bridges that have been burned to their pilings.

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