Reread my post. I did not attack every single document on the DMs Guild. There are certainly gems in there, but the majority is not worth the storage it takes up.
And?
The fact that 90% of carbon is boring coal doesn't make diamonds any less shiny. (Don't forget Sturgeon's law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law )
There is some AMAZING stuff on the DMsGuild. And stuff that is just outright better than the weaker/ low quality options found in official books. I'm super happy with a lot of my purchases. And finding names that I trust helps.
I don't see DMs Guild products as competing with my FLGS dollars, because I make the choice to buy in-store because I want my store to stay around and because most of the DMs Guild content isn't worth it to me.
Then why did you say:
I would like to support my store, so if it comes down to going for a Sms Guild product or buying yet another adventure from WOTC in-store then it will be the WOTC adventure.
?
That sure implies like there's competition for you.
What I contend is that DMs Guild provides a replacement for real 3rd party support. WOTC really burned their bridges in 4E and now it is coming to bite them in the butt.
Wha....?!
Okay, right now there are several big name 3rd Party Publishers doing stuff for 5e.
Green Ronin,
Kobold Press,
Frog God Games. And many newcomers as well, like
Nord Games or
MCDM Productions or
Sasquatch Games. Plus, if the bridges were "burned" why did so many other RPG studios step up to write and produce the first few storyline adventures for 5e?
There's NO shortage of amazing 3PP support for 5e, and the 3PP seem to have a great relationship with WotC. Heck, I've heard the owners of Green Ronin and Kobold Press on the official D&D podcast where they've been given an opportunity to pimp forthcoming kickstarters.
Their supposed "support" for retail stores is becoming all the more hilarious with their PDF treatment of Eberron not to mention their "organized" play program. I've been an AL DM for every season of AL up until ToA and I would say that it is barely a step up from "do what you want".
I'm not sure how the PDF treatment of Eberron factors in... They chose to release that as a PDF likely because releasing it as a physical book wouldn't have been viable for them, and likely not sold enough copies to justify the product. The Eberron book is really just a larger version of the
Tortle Package or other digital exclusives, like
The Lost Kenku or
One Grung Above: a fun digital exclusive that is a bonus for hardcore fans.
WotC supports stores the only way they can: releasing the books early so excited fans
have to turn to stores. And retailer incentive collector covers. What else can they do?
Focusing on AL doesn't really help stores. Only a tiny minority of gamers play AL. And not every game store has the space to run AL. And there's no guarantee people playing AL in a store will support the store in any way. In my time running and playing Organised Play, I saw a whole lot of people show up and not buy a thing from the store. Even if they walked in with a Tupperware tote of books. The most the bought was a Coke.
Honestly, "do what you want" sounds amazing for this former Living Greyhawk/ Pathfinder Society GM, where you couldn't deviate at all from the adventures and had to run things as close as possible. The freedom to get creative sounds great and much more like actually playing D&D.