D&D 5E 5E's poor book bindings

[Ruin Explorer]

I still have my 1E & 2E books, and they lived in a backpack being hauled back and forth to school daily. They're still in usable shape.

Really? My 2E PHB fell apart pretty much as described by the OP for their 5E one, after about 4-5 years of AD&D, back in the 1990s. I still have a 2E PHB but it's from one of the players, and saw almost no use. My FRA had to be elaborately mended with book tape and so on, despite vastly lighter use, in the late 1990s.

 

[jasper]

anyone did this

Easy/Cheap Book Binding Repair

Easy/Cheap Book Binding Repair: My older sister bought an out of print book off of eBay for her kids this Christmas. Sadly she didn't notice that the binding/spine/cover... well it was all in pieces. Which meant... Step 1 - Call Brother to Save the Day (this step could be skipp…

www.instructables.com

 

[Mistwell]

WOTC replaced my PHB for free about 7 months ago. They just asked for a picture and a number from the book.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Would money be saved If 5E went back to just Black and White printing to pay for the better bindings?

The real question is would people buy it?

 

[jasper]

The real question is would people buy it?

I would. Me, myself, and I. So there is 4 copies sold their.

 

[MNblockhead]

I met one DM who had the spines cut off his DMG, PHB, and MM, then brought it to a print shop to be spiral bound, it not only extended the life of his books but made them much more convenient to use in play. If I were to do that, I'd end up having a "play copy" and a collect & read-at-home bookshelf copy. But that's why I have D&D Beyond, which is much more convenient than even a spiral-bound copy.

 

[RogueRonin]

Oddly enough my only 5e book that is starting to come apart is Eberron, and I haven't even used it at the table yet. That's just from casual reading. My PHB, which got passed around between 6 players every week for a year, is still fine.

 

[collin]

My PHB and DMG have held up pretty well for almost 6 years, but the binding on my MM that I bought ~2 years ago has been slowly falling apart.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

WOTC replaced my PHB for free about 7 months ago. They just asked for a picture and a number from the book.

I had a print from the initial release. It started shedding pages almost immediately.

wotc had me send it back. In return, not only did I get a phb that I still use but also a the first tyranny of dragons book (actual title escapes me).

i was shocked. WizKids has not been so helpful but WOTC impressed me with that.

consequently I have 12+ hardcovers. It just shows customer service matters. Had they not addressed it, I might not have purchased hundreds more in books...

 

[neogod22]

I'm assuning your 1st books were the 1st printing. There is a known issue that the 1st printings of the core books had the glue giving up. I have the 1st printings of every book I've bought, only my PHB started falling apart because that's the book i use the most. I bought a new copy recently, and it's pretty funny finding the differences between the 2 books.