Why I feel so abysmally let down by the "Ravnica" news...

[Guest 6801328]

If a cook said they were going to give you an expensive beef Wellington, and you paid for an expensive beef Wellington, and you received what looks and tastes to you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is the cook's intent to give you Wellington relevant to your experience? If the cook cannot tell the difference between cow and peanut, their opinion about their work is going to be woefully misinformed to the point of being useless, no?

Thus: if the author is so bad at communicating their intent that their message gets drowned out, then I submit that their intent is largely irrelevant.

That's a fair critique of the claim, but only as a rhetorical point.

More practically, the case in question is more like the chef promises a perfectly-cooked, mouth-watering steak, and the diner thinks, "I bet it's going to be a shark steak. It's got to be a shark steak. He used the word 'watering' which I think gives it away. Also, somebody on the Internet posted a photo of a seafood truck on this street the other day. I really really really hope it's a shark steak because I love shark steaks. Besides, it would be terrible business to serve a beef steak, because that's what all the other restaurants do. Yeah, that confirms it...it's a shark steak."

When a perfectly-cooked, mouth-watering prime rib shows up, the diner feels utterly betrayed.

 

[ccs]

I'll purchase Ravnica just like I have purchased almost everything else (and am trying to purchase, over time, that which I have not already come to own).

I just feel... mislead. I don't like it.

If you'll buy it no matter what, does it really matter what you think/like?

 

[Demetrios1453]

That's a fair critique of the claim, but only as a rhetorical point.

More practically, the case in question is more like the chef promises a perfectly-cooked, mouth-watering steak, and the diner thinks, "I bet it's going to be a shark steak. It's got to be a shark steak. He used the word 'watering' which I think gives it away. Also, somebody on the Internet posted a photo of a seafood truck on this street the other day. I really really really hope it's a shark steak because I love shark steaks. Besides, it would be terrible business to serve a beef steak, because that's what all the other restaurants do. Yeah, that confirms it...it's a shark steak."

When a perfectly-cooked, mouth-watering prime rib shows up, the diner feels utterly betrayed.

Sigh, now I'm hungry!

 

[Cyber-Dave]

I’m too tired to debate literary theory, so I don’t plan to engage with arguments about how authorial intention matters, but that is a bologna analogy Elf. It’s more like they wrote Shark Steak on the menu and I’m upset I’ve received a, albeit delicious, cut of Turkey.

I didn’t expect their release to be anything other than a D&D intellectual property. They gave every sign it would be. It isn’t. That’s cool. Ravnica looks neat. Players, however, have good reasons to feel, possibly accidentally, misled.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I’m too tired to debate literary theory, so I don’t plan to engage with arguments about how authorial intention matters, but that is a bologna analogy Elf. It’s more like they wrote Shark Steak on the menu and I’m upset I’ve received a, albeit delicious, cut of Turkey.

I didn’t expect their release to be anything other than a D&D intellectual property. They gave every sign it would be. It isn’t. That’s cool. Ravnica looks neat. Players, however, have good reasons to feel, possibly accidentally, misled.

Can you quote some of these "every signs" of which ye speak?

Let's say you got it right and it was "long-term fan": by my reckoning Eberron, Planescape, etc. are all fairly recent history. "Long-term fan" would mean...Greyhawk? (Bringing back the AC vs. weapon table would also qualify.)

And, as Mouseferatu pointed out, they didn't say long-term, they said "hard-core". Again, why would that imply a resurrection of IP from more recent editions. Sure, that's a valid interpretation, but not the only interpretation.

No, they pretty much said "mouth-watering steak" and you (and a bunch of others) jumped to conclusions about the kind of steak. I get that you were really convinced they said something different and specific, and I get why that would be disappointing, but I think you let hope cloud your reason.

 

[Seramus]

One issue is that they never promised you what you think they promised you. Holding them accountable for your misunderstanding seems to be more about what percentage of people misunderstood. If large, then they may have done a poor job of communicating. If small, then you were just one of the small percentage that was mistaken. There are ALWAYS some people who are mistaken.

Another issue is that the company needs to be able to introduce new material. It cannot and should not print every ‘established setting’ before offering something new. We got Ravenloft, so something new is fine. Hopefully the next item is something established, and then something new after that, etc.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

We all interpret things differently. From my perception, and from what I have seen of posts around here and elsewhere, Eberron is the most hardcore of all the settings, so hardcore fans want Eberron. That may not be factually true, but that is the way it seems to me.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Don't buy it. Or at least wait a couple months. By buying it outright you are saying "Thank you Sir, may I please have some more?" and holding out your wooden bowl for more gruel simply because you are a bit peckish.

I'm not buying either...but that's par for the course for me. I have the Starter Box set, PHB, MM, DMG. That's it. Haven't bought a single 5e product since...because nothing has appealed to me enough. Ravnica and Ebberon are much the same. I have no illusions; I doubt I will ever get anything 5e related...too bad. Oh well, still having fun playing with the core books anyway.


PS: Planescape was cool...but the "lingo" completely and utterly makes it totally unreadable and unpalatable to me. YMMV. Ebberon? If I want something steam-punk'ish, I'll play Iron Kingdoms. Ravnica? Not interested in the least. Again, I'll just play Star Wars (WEG d6 version) or some other sci-fi game...if I want a big endless city, I'll go with Vornheim. Nothing they are putting out is "new" or "interesting"...it's all "been there, done that". But Hollywood is on the same line..."Well, Product X did really good 20 years ago...lets do that, but diversify it! We can't loose!" :rolleseyes:

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I didn’t expect their release to be anything other than a D&D intellectual property. They gave every sign it would be.

How would you interpret the statement "it's not what you expect" then?! Given that there where people expecting every established D&D IP, they only way it could be "not what you expect" is for it to not be an established D&D IP.


The only reason you feel "abysmally let down" is you wilfully ignored any evidence that did not support your thesis, despite lots of posts on these very forums warning that some people where setting themselves up to be disappointed.

 

[aramis erak]

Ravnica's the longstanding name of a city in the MTG setting.

They're replacing planescape with MTG's planeswalkers.