Dragon 364 News at Gleemax [merged]

[Voss]

Blasphemy! There can never be enough articles on gnolls!

Well, on that, I have no opinion. I just thought that the 'finally' didn't make sense in context with the 'first' batch of 4e material. If it were 2015, 5e was coming out soon, and then there was the first article on Yeenoghu, then the 'finally' would make sense.

 

[James Jacobs]

Will Jacobs be writing this?

Nope. This thread is actually the first I've heard of the article. Have they posted who the author is?

I'm VERY curious to see what they do with it, as you might imagine!

 

[broghammerj]

Basically this says that Dragon/Dungeon are going to have very few new articles for the next few months until 4e launches. This is basically a preview of the articles in the launch issue.

That will really win me over as a consumer and make me consider shelling out money for the DDI. Why are we moving away from print content from an outside company again?

Oh, and don't forget the fact that they have a standard production schedule to keep up with. I am sure the Dungeon/Dragon articles will keep rolling along when they get PHB2, PHB3, PHB4, PHB5......into the printers.

 

[Ipissimus]

I have to reiterate one of the sentiments from above: 'scale back'?!? I can understand that they're at crunch time, and I sympathize, but the phrase 'scale back' suggests that they've been giving us a steady stream of information rather than a weak and intermittant trickle of enigmas.

Not that I'm complaining, I'd much rather have the proper books ASAP.

The articles do sound pretty sweet, though. Orcus and Yeenoghu, nice.

 

[Mirtek]

How do you scale back from almost nothing?

Judging by what they have given us so far, the only way to "scale back" would be to send WotC employees to visit us at home and delete the meager things the already given us from our computers.

 

[Voss]

The interesting thing is, I would be a lot more positive if they acknowledged they don't have the time and resources for DDI, and made a statement that they were going to focus on the books, and canceled DDI outright.

Focusing on the game and its mechanics, in my opinion, is a lot better than getting distracted by all the other stuff they are trying to squeeze out of the property.

 

[Khairn]

Judging by what they have given us so far, the only way to "scale back" would be to send WotC employees to visit us at home and delete the meager things the already given us from our computers.

But at least now they are actually telling us to expect less than we have been receiving. That's actually a huge step forward from the "avoidance and denial" policy WotC has used when questioned by their customers about the lack of communication, content and their inability to meet their own deadlines.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

That will really win me over as a consumer and make me consider shelling out money for the DDI. Why are we moving away from print content from an outside company again?

I have a rather Machiavellian theory that Wizards brought Dungeon/Dragon and the rest of their IP back in-house not because they wanted to do much with it themselves but mainly to make sure that no-one else was going to use it to support 3.5. If this is the case, they'll probably license it back out once 4e is firmly established.

Oh, and don't forget the fact that they have a standard production schedule to keep up with. I am sure the Dungeon/Dragon articles will keep rolling along when they get PHB2, PHB3, PHB4, PHB5......into the printers.

They clearly don't have enough staff to produce content for DDI while writing their new editions. When the NDA is over they may intend to get freelancers to write articles. Right now they've produced nothing that makes me feel like spending money to subscribe.

I'm also wondering why we haven't seen more of the DDI Game Table and Character Creator applications that are supposed to be previewing in June.

I don't care about DDI that much - I hadn't bought Dungeon or Dragon for years, and I'm not interested in the online gaming part of it. I really only care that Wizards releases - in June - a good set of playtested rules that provides good solutions to the problems of 3e, and that they release very soon a GSL that allows other companies to produce support for it. I worry that WotC's failure to meet their deadlines in DDI means they won't meet these more important ones.

 

[Zaukrie]

I have no confidence that they will ever have the staff to support DDI. Are they just not going to publish anymore books after the initial launch? I think not.

The diliemna is that the content might be good, and I might want it, but I don't want to pay for something I'll never see after it crashes and burns when they can't get us content consistently and people stop buying. How will I ever get what I paid for if I "join"?

 

[sckeener]

I have to say I am totally unimpressed with WotC's dragon and dungeon. I use to go to WotC's site daily...now I don't even visit it weekly.

They are really going to have to become more reliable and have better material before I'll be paying.

I'll have high expectations for the Demonomicon of Iggwilv article...

(I'm sure Mouseferatu's Ashen Covenant: Cult of Orcus will be good)