Never Say The Fans Don't Matter

[malraux]

I'm still kinda intrigued by the apparently more detailed PoL world that apparently got built up as part of the prep for 4e. Even if not much of it survived through to the PHB, MM and DMG, I'd still be interested in seeing it fleshed out.

 

[Imban]

I'm still kinda intrigued by the apparently more detailed PoL world that apparently got built up as part of the prep for 4e. Even if not much of it survived through to the PHB, MM and DMG, I'd still be interested in seeing it fleshed out.

I think it might have had a name at some point, even - I seem to recall one of the early Character Visualizer screenshots having a third, new campaign setting alongside Forgotten Realms and Eberron.

 

[Hussar]

Y'know, looking at it, I do wonder if those names and whatnot were floated simply to generate conversation. I imagine at some point in development, all of them existed, but, I wonder if the WOTC guys were just giggling to themselves when they posted them for general consumption.

 

[Pazu]

Congrats to all my fellow squeaky wheels. Grease is on me.

Are you eating pizza again?

 

[Nifft]

I think it might have had a name at some point, even - I seem to recall one of the early Character Visualizer screenshots having a third, new campaign setting alongside Forgotten Realms and Eberron.

Did it begin with a "G" and end with a "reyhawk"?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aaron L]

This is like the second or third thread today that I've seen mention the Golden Wyvern Adept feat.

What in the Nine Hells is a Golden Wyvern Adept? I have never heard of it in all of 3E. It's been especially odd seeing as how every reference to it I've seen acts as though it was some sort of integral part of the game that everyone is intimately familiar with. I would have expected to have seen it long before today if it was the focus of some sort of fan outcry.

And I've certainly never heard anyone complain about being limited to two magic rings.


Just when did this great fan uprising to rectify these great injustices inflicted upon us occur, exactly?

 

[Nifft]

What in the Nine Hells is a Golden Wyvern Adept?

The name of a feat in a preview. The feat's effect was irrelevant; some vocal people just hated the name.

And I've certainly never heard anyone complain about being limited to two magic rings.

No, the complaint people had here was:
1 - No rings at all until 11th level;
2 - Only one ring at a time until 21st level.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The fact that they're floating test balloons means that they give a crap about what the fanbase thinks. That's... kind of obvious.

Well, test balloons in general are more a sign that they care, because they wouldn't "test" something if they wouldn't care for the fans. They would just do as they like.

 

[Intense_Interest]

It is called "Damage Control" in marketing circles.

You send in an "aware" marketer into a group of non-aware consumers. He then floats a controversial subject of the Product that is easily refuted or corrected. The consumers involved complain about said problem that is then refuted immediately or changed by the time of release: most common is the revelation of a "typo in the description" for a cold-sale short-con.

For long-term value-added marketing, the change is perceived to have been because of the consumer's input, giving them a sense of investment into a product that they have in fact yet to actually support.

You are dancing puppies, living in a marketed world. We aren't at the point where we can say that Damage Control didn't occur, because it definably did by observing the objective output. Our only possible contention is whether it was done absolutely intentionally.

 

[Imban]

We aren't at the point where we can say that Damage Control didn't occur, because it definably did by observing the objective output. Our only possible contention is whether it was done absolutely intentionally.

Pfft. I fully believe that, at some point, they intended to make 4e much more tied to an official "the world of Dungeons and Dragons" setting than it is as of the final release. They wouldn't have spent nearly as much time - heck, it made it into print preview books that they sold for money - as they did pumping up what was going to be the new spell schools of 4e if they were just going to be cut out of the final books. It's quite possible that some bits - in fact, a good few, like Dragon Tail Cut - were floated just to see how we would react to them, but I think it's pretty silly to insinuate that all of the changes we saw to 4e were part of their overarching marketing plan from the start.

EDIT: Also, I'm pretty sure every single person who is posting on this board has serious investment in 4e D&D regardless of anything WotC would do.