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[tomBitonti]

Originally Posted by CharlesRyan

Exactly how many cards do you want for ten bucks? A typical PHB class has, what, 80? 90 powers? That's half again as many cards as in a typical CCG deck. For a price that's maybe 25% higher than a typical CCG starter deck.

If you're really going to play every class in the PHB, good on ya! But it seems kind of unreasonable to think that fully kitting out for such a broad undertaking wouldn't carry a price tag. $10 a deck is hardly a rip-off, assuming a halfway decent product, so $80 for 8 decks (600 to 700 cards!) doesn't really seem to merit your "disgust."

Ok, I'll take the requisite break before replying.

I don't think that that is a fair reply. I didn't say how many that I expected. I was not comparing the price of a deck to the price of CCG cards. I was also not conveying disgust. (I do think that this term is inappropriately strong in regards to my question.) However, the fact of my question, that I chose to ask about this total price, shows that I find the price significant, and in context I think that it is reasonable to infer that I do find the price to be high.

I am divided on whether having each class be encapsulated as a single deck is an overall plus or a minus. The underfactoring of the power design allows each class to be self contained (that's good -- nice and simple and easy to use), but it seems to bloat the number of powers and make understanding them hard (that's bad). Uncharitably, I wondered if having distinct power decks was a design point when the power lists were created. I also did wonder how the game came to be designed such that the game utilities add up to $80, on top of the $25 - $40 ish price for the players handbook. (I wonder, too, if there are alternatives: How many powers can fit on a single card? Could the decks be split across tiers -- 1-10, 11-20, 21-30?)

Ultimately, is $10 a deck too high? I haven't seen the ultimate product, so I can't really make a complete judgement on that.

To provide background on myself, to explain my outlook on the game: I am a longtime D&D player. I purchased most of the 3.5E books (both from WoTC and from 3rd parties, and I do mean most of them.) I purchased the 4.0E core books and initial modules (I'm a fiend for modules). But, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the new game, and don't think that I will continue purchasing the books or online products.