Beckett said:
It confuses me too. I mean, is White Wolf in the habit of posting excerpts 6 months before one of their books comes out?
I don't know. This is the 4E D&D forum, so White Wolfs policy is only interesting if they put out 4E material. Who is to say anyone liked their policy, either. But if I wanted to complain on it, maybe a White Wolf board or a White Wolf-related board might be a better place.
More generally, just because next to everyone in the business does something you don't like, doesn't mean you are not allowed to like it, or complain about it. You might as well say that, just because most politicians tell half-truth or outright lies, I can't complain that a specific politician does it, too.
Personally, while I liked to know more, and earlier, I don't think WotC information or marketing is bad. People might not get it, but all the looking for tiny scoops and analyzing the little we have IS marketing. It's probably a kind of viral marketing (I am not a marketing expert, so there might be a different name.).
And as annoying as this kind of marketing sometimes can be, the truth is, we are still here, we have invested a lot of time in 4E, and this means (for the most part) that we will buy the books. And WotC didn't really have to do that much for this (in terms of marketing - that they had to create a possibly kick-ass game is another matter.
)
This managed to keep our suspense for several months, with a modest amount of investment on WotC.
Now that the books are out to the printers, the release being very soon, the marketing changes tactics, becomes more aggressive (and more expensive for WotC). They release more information online, contact the press to facilitate interviews or news articles regarding to D&D and so on. (The latter is a mere guess, but considering this month I have seent he first D&D 4E related news articles - gathered by fellow EnWorlders - I suspect that this is also a marketing activity). They expand the base of people that hear of 4E and get interested in it. And now, the WotC and the ENWorld boards "are ready" for anyone surfing the net demanding to know more.
Heck, the Raiders of the Oakhurst adventure, the PHB lite, a 7+ page thread of custom 4E monsters, dozens of inofficial/private playtest reports, all this is stuff that someone now reached by the expanded marketing will have access to. Well organized and thoroughly analyzed by other gamers. And WotC didn't spend money or manpower on it!
