Ok, now i'm REALLY CONFUSED. AKA, do any of you think you know what WotC is doing?

[jefgorbach]

Hopefully dropping the minis means/implies Hasbro is finally stepping up and switching over to positional "gi joe/starwars standard action figures" with swappable weapons/etc.

The future lack of compilations is easy to "explain" -- WOTC cant prevent DDI-subscribers from sharing the compiled issues once downloaded, so the obvious answer is simply stop creating compiled issues. Expect the articles themselves to cease once word gets out that the Users are fully capable of sharing self-compiled sets of a given month's articles.

The confusion over the status of v4/v4E/Red Box and dropping pending supplements IS real and like others, I wonder if v5 is in the works behind the scenes??

Of interest, nobody's commented on the recent loss of the Starwars license ... perchance as a signal of Hasbro/WOTC's intent to move AWAY from RPGs in favor of a boardgame variant (which they imply is on a sales upswing) supported by supplemental cards?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If the VTT is still vaporware, then you pretty much got everything I know about.

I run a dark sun game on the D&D game table every thursday night...

 

[shadzar]

D&D for rent

What do you all make of these changes?

I jsut htought of something reading this thread and checking the quoted DDi article itself.

Additionally, three D&D RPG products have been removed from the 2011 release schedule—Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium, and Hero Builder’s Handbook. While this means fewer books, we plan to deliver just as much great content for players this year through other formats, including board games, accessories, and digital offerings.

That caught my eye which is bolded. The Fortune Cards are making their way into mainstream use, so these types of accessory products with the board games may be the only physical product they really care to make, and everything else will be offered as DDi content for subscribers only.

Character Builder was made capable of using only with subscription in its new format, so maybe they are finally making the switch to digital by removing the PDF format, and using their own servers and subscriptions their method of DRM.

The full realization of digital D&D and DDi is arriving with fewer physical products that can't be brought in the form of digital media?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I was/am hoping that they're selling the brand. I was/am hoping that they're selling the brand to Paizo, but Erik's post in the other thread sure didn't sound like he knew what was going on at WOTC (or, perhaps, Mr. Mona has a poker face worthy of Rary...).

Ehhhh

I like Pathfinder
I like 4e

I like the two being separate.

Much as I like Pathfinder, I honestly prefer it being sort of it's own continuation of 3e rather then the basis for any potential next edition.

 

[Lancelot]

DDM hasn't been a very profitable line for some time. The minis have been getting more and more expensive as production costs go up, people demand better quality (and for anyone who claims that quality has gone down - go look at the 1st Harbinger set, and then compare to the most recent set), and many collectors already have "all they need". No mini line lasts forever. DDM has lasted far longer than most.

Essentials is an attempt to simplify the rules and bring in new players. It seems to have been somewhat successful at both. I know my group is loving it.

The cancellation of three books is disappointing, but look at the three books they've killed. They're generic splatbooks; lists of feats, powers and items. There are already hosts of these books available, and none of them are "must buys". D&D Insider subscribers get all of the content for free; there's no fluff to speak of, so they're not really "books for reading". They're simply reference lists.

Lack of compiled magazine articles is what it is. If that's the general feedback they received, then fine. Not a big issue.

Fortune Cards are entirely optional, and have been positioned as such since Day One. Despite all the misgivings, I've heard and seen that the "Alpha Mutations" cards from Gamma World are a blast in real play. I've bought them myself, and think they're very cool. Players seem to love them. Kudos to WotC for offering a new option for D&D players as well. Note that I won't be buying the D&D cards myself, as I feel that 4e already has plenty enough options. But I don't decry WotC for trying something which I suspect many people will buy.

Digital offerings are increasingly popular, so WotC is responding to customer demand. Same with board games. Castle Ravenloft was apparently very well-received. I bought it myself, as did several other members of my group.

...so yeah, a lot has been happening very quickly. But I don't see any of the above as being a huge surprise. It's all logical stuff. I'd be more concerned if inexplicable stuff was happening, like not increasing the focus on digital offerings, or cancelling real books and campaign settings (rather than 160 pages of more feats, powers and items), or announcing three new sets of randomized minis in 2011 (...at $25 per booster of 3 minis each...).

 

[Ulrick]

WotC is trying to make money from the D&D brand. (well duh)

Actually, I have no idea what WotC is up to. And frankly, I'm not sure if want to know. Perhaps we're all better off not knowing. I mean, seriously, why speculate? I've got to prep for my next game.

 

[shadzar]

Lack of compiled magazine articles is what it is. If that's the general feedback they received, then fine. Not a big issue.

Didn't know DDM even existed in recent years...wish I had know...

The feedback WotC uses or talks about isn't always what is seen by most people. They could be using number of downloads for the feedback.

Now before you say I am jumping to conclusions about my point I actually saw a national news report on healthy eating in schools and made this claim:

Since several schools have stopped selling sodas, and don't allow them to be brought from home, schools have seen a drop in the number of sodas drank at schools.

Yeah if you have a ban on them then the number you will see is going to be lower, because it is being hidden and lack ability to purchase them means you cant get them to dirnk...

My point being they could be comparing the individual article downloads to the compiled article downloads on the whole, rather than one-to-one.

Hmm the individual articles last month got a total of 5000 downloads and the compiled forms only got 500 downloads, so obviously people like the individuals more.

That is what I am thinking, based on past WotC fact colelcting and data assessment, someone is thinking rather than thinking that the same people downloaded all versions.

5000+500=5500 downloads

Say there were 10 articles that month (5 each 'zine), then add the compiled for 11 "things" to download...500 people could have downloaded each thing. But to someone the fact that that 5000 looks bigger for single article downloads, means more people must like single articles, and nobody likes the compilations.

It is a possibility is all I am saying, that WotC has been known to misread its data and feedback.

The problem and question I would have to it is, why force people to download more, since individual files will be larger in total size than the compiled issue, and errata'd articles would have to be downloaded again; in the presence of a country fighting and losing to metered internet usage as well the amount of time it takes to download each article individually if some preferred to wait and download the end result fully errata'd?

Do you use them and which did you prefer, and it really doesn't matter if your preferred method is taken away in light of the cost to you to download them individually, some multiple times, as opposed to downloading them fixed and all at once. Cost being in time to start each download and wait for them to finish, rahter than start a larger download and you can do other things while waiting depending on your downstream allowances.

 

[Sonny]

I was/am hoping that they're selling the brand. I was/am hoping that they're selling the brand to Paizo, but Erik's post in the other thread sure didn't sound like he knew what was going on at WOTC (or, perhaps, Mr. Mona has a poker face worthy of Rary...).

I seriously doubt they would sell the D&D brand. The most I could see them doing is licensing the RPG rights out.

And though my first choice for that would be Paizo, I have my doubts they would want to bother licensing D&D when their own IP is doing so well on it's own.

 

[pukunui]

and for anyone who claims that quality has gone down - go look at the 1st Harbinger set, and then compare to the most recent set

Yeah, sure, Lords of Madness is, overall, better quality than Harbinger, but it's still inferior to some of the sets that came along after Harbinger. I don't want to pick a specific set as the "peak", but my point is that the quality improved over time from the first set, but then it started to decline again (somewhere around the time they switched from 3e to 4e).

In contrast, the quality of the SW minis line started out strong with Rebel Storm, although it dipped a bit with the abysmal Alliance & Empire, before entering into a long, slow decline at around the same time as the D&D minis sets did. The last few sets of SWM were not only fairly poor quality but were also reduced in number (from 60 to 40 per set).

 

[mudbunny]

There was an interesting suggestion on the WotC forums on the possible direction that WotC will be taking:

Facts
• WotC cancelled most of the upcoming book content: Sword and Spell, Heroic Tier, etc.
• WotC cancelled the monthly compilation in magazine format: each article will now be separate.
• The Research & Development department is now completely responsible for balancing all the content of articles.

My explanation
• WotC will instead publish all of the content from the cancelled books as separate D&DI online articles.
• Later, WotC will compile these articles as hardcover books, by theme.

Advantages of the new publication process
• WotC gives the best and newest content to D&DI online subscribers.
• D&DI becomes valuable.
• Online subscribers will use the content of the articles and detect if there is any need for further errata with regard to mechanics andor flavor.
• Once online players have fully vetted an online article, and it achieves a stable form, WotC will compile it along with articles having a similar theme as a hardcover book.
• The new hardcover books will be extremely high quality, with content and form that has undergone extensive scrutiny and playtesting for many months by many different kinds of D&D players.
• D&DI articles become the venue for new, fresh, and exciting content. Hardcover books become the venue for a stable, polished, and robust 'core'.