Rate WotC as a company

[Kzach]

I'd like to first of all stress that this has almost nothing to do with whether or not you like or loathe 4e. This is about the company and how they're performing as a company in relation to their customers.

We all know they peruse these boards. So they're gonna see this and maybe take note. Maybe.

I put in seven options. The extra two options are for extreme opinions. Basically, rate the company on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being bad, 5 being good. 0 is if you think they're so bad that a 1 just doesn't express your frustration, annoyance and bile. 6 is if you're the ultimate fanboy and the company can do no wrong.

The reason I'm posting this is 'cause quite frankly, I'm fed up with them as a company. Don't get me wrong, I love 4e. I think it has a few flaws, but overall I'm a big fan. But their performance as a company has just left me continually embittered and upset. DDI, Gleemax, their website in general, the quality of the books (mine are warping and pages ruffling and ink spreading), the delayed GSL, the GSL... the list just keeps growing and growing. And the final straw was the character sheets. I didn't even buy them and never intended to, but come on WotC, that's just really, really, really bad form, not to mention just pure slackness. The very least I would've expected from such a product would be class-based sheets. But 4 crappy sheets you can already get off the internet or photocopy from the back of your PHB? Pure fail guys.

I'd personally like to see how and what others are thinking of them as a company. This is NOT, I repeat, NOT about personal attacks. I think as creative individuals, there is a lot of talent at the company right now. This is a statement of how you feel about WotC as a BUSINESS ENTITY.

 

[CinnamonPixie]

I think that they suck! Their new system is just awful (could they make it any more D&D Minis and any less D&D?) and their attitude towards gamers and 3rd party companies is not just harsh, it's downright offensive and insulting!

 

[Cadfan]

I put down 6 on principle. I'm not a fanboy who believes that WOTC can do no wrong, but I am a dedicated hater of haters. For example, every time I read about someone who has just purchased a product from WOTC and is now filled with hate and rage that WOTC has somehow stolen their money by selling them this product (or who hasn't purchased the product, but who is filled with rage that someone else might choose to purchase said product), I myself am filled with hate and rage towards said person.

I buy... some WOTC products. I put down maybe a hundred and fifty bucks during the era of 3e. I'll probably put down more on 4e, due to the evolving purchasing dynamics of my gaming group, but I've never been one to buy everything they sell, nor has my group. This is because they sell some things that I do not like. You will never hear me whine about the randomized miniatures they sell, and how their set doesn't have the right creature distribution for my needs, or the miseries of randomization, or whatever, because I know I do not like randomized miniatures and therefore have not purchased any. Same for character sheets, or power cards, or expansion books that add material that I do not want in my game.

Through the simple power of exercising maturity and discretion as a consumer, I ensure that the WOTC products that I DO purchase are ones that I really, really like. Which means that I have a very high opinion of them as a company, because my every personal contact with them is highly satisfactory.

They release products I really and truly enjoy. They also release some other stuff, but I don't buy that stuff, and assume that those who do are people who really and truly enjoy those particular products. If, as is sometimes apparent on these boards, the people purchasing WOTC products actually hate WOTC products with the fire of a thousand suns, well, sucks to be them. The solution is to stop doing that.

 

[Fifth Element]

I think that they suck! Their new system is just awful (could they make it any more D&D Minis and any less D&D?) and their attitude towards gamers and 3rd party companies is not just harsh, it's downright offensive and insulting!

So much for "This is NOT, I repeat, NOT about personal attacks."

 

[korjik]

I gotta say I am not happy. I kinda wonder if there has been a bit of a change in the corporate culture over the last two or three years, or have I been not noticing alot since 2000.

I first started to get a but anxious a couple years ago. It seemed like WOTC was putting out books almost completely devoid of useable product (cityscape and DMG 2). On the other hand, I really liked the fiendish codex(es. sorry I really dont know what the plural is ).

The 4th ed announcement really torqued me. I felt like I was getting lectured to by people who thought I was a 13 year old idiot fanboy. Kinda annoying for an arrogant 38 year old rocket scientist. Very, very badly put me, and my group off of WOTC.

I do have to be intellectually honest tho. I have found many games to be much better when you read the rules and play then when you are getting teased. I planned from the start that I would give 4th ed a good going over. Which we are, by the way.

Then there is the online stuff. This is where WOTC is shaping up to make 4th ed a failure. They promised a good deal of online product. Char gen, map gen, online play table, online sourcebook,... On rollout day, nothing. Not a dang thing. Not even a barely functional beta for us to drool over and curse. With 10 months to prep, this is inexcusable. One of the main reasons I find this to be such a problem is that they have done it before, but cant seem to learn. Remember the disk with the demo of what became eTools? After that fiasco, they should have had solid guarantees about the online stuff before they announced and hyped it.

Then there are the 4th ed books. My 3 and 3.5 books are very worn and battered, but they are still solid and flat. That is after years of frequent use. Those were some of the highest quality books I have ever seen. I expect that sort of quality to continue once found. My 4ed PHB didnt lie flat when I closed it when I got in my car leaving B&N after a quick look in the parking lot. Not a good thing. Typos seem overly frequent also, especially in this day of pretty instant editing. The 'tips from the pros' are also a bit pretentious.

So, I have to say that I currently do not feel that WOTC is doing a very good job.

 

[korjik]

I put down 6 on principle. I'm not a fanboy who believes that WOTC can do no wrong, but I am a dedicated hater of haters. For example, every time I read about someone who has just purchased a product from WOTC and is now filled with hate and rage that WOTC has somehow stolen their money by selling them this product (or who hasn't purchased the product, but who is filled with rage that someone else might choose to purchase said product), I myself am filled with hate and rage towards said person.

I buy... some WOTC products. I put down maybe a hundred and fifty bucks during the era of 3e. I'll probably put down more on 4e, due to the evolving purchasing dynamics of my gaming group, but I've never been one to buy everything they sell, nor has my group. This is because they sell some things that I do not like. You will never hear me whine about the randomized miniatures they sell, and how their set doesn't have the right creature distribution for my needs, or the miseries of randomization, or whatever, because I know I do not like randomized miniatures and therefore have not purchased any. Same for character sheets, or power cards, or expansion books that add material that I do not want in my game.

Through the simple power of exercising maturity and discretion as a consumer, I ensure that the WOTC products that I DO purchase are ones that I really, really like. Which means that I have a very high opinion of them as a company, because my every personal contact with them is highly satisfactory.

They release products I really and truly enjoy. They also release some other stuff, but I don't buy that stuff, and assume that those who do are people who really and truly enjoy those particular products. If, as is sometimes apparent on these boards, the people purchasing WOTC products actually hate WOTC products with the fire of a thousand suns, well, sucks to be them. The solution is to stop doing that.

Why is putting down a 6 a principle? I put down a 2 because I feel they are doing a poor job right now. There is no rage or hate in that, and I explained my reasoning.

I think that reasoned feedback is constructive and that unreasoned feedback, wether pro or con, is destructive. My 2 is no more or less principled than your 6, but it is more honest.

 

[Minicol]

I put in a zero, because i think there is a real trend downhill in the quality of their products, not starting with 4e but several years before that, and there are several 3.5 books which are only as useful to me as the art inside.

The fact that their attitude seems to be "whatever as long as we can get away with it" certainly does not improve my opinion.

Whether my impressions are right or wrong is meaningless and only reflect my views.

 

[Noinarap]

I gave WotC a 5. I'm happy with how things are working out. Also, I can't really point to another company that is more professional in this field. I've played a lot of RPGs and all of them have had problems of some kind. It's easy to expect a perfect product from WotC and excuse the failures of the "little guys," but it isn't all that realistic.

I understand the frustration some people have with the recent delays. As outsiders, however, we can't reach meaningful conclusions about why the GSL or DDI is late. Someone clever out there will tell me it's incompetence/greed/incompetence and greed, but we honestly don't know. I've worked on projects that took a lot longer than the executive in charge or even the project leader thought they should. That's just life. If WotC's online offerings are good when they are done, we will know it was time well spent. If they are bad or never materialize, we should then freak out about it.

At this point, I'm just glad that they found a way to put together a robust, flexible system that plays pretty quickly.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

3. Considered a 4, but they've botched some things lately. All in all, I don't think they've done anything really terrible or put out a shoddy product (minus the character sheets).

Note, I could give a flying leap about the GSL-OGL, so that does color my viewpoint.

That said, I can see this thread going places.

/popcorn

 

[NiTessine]

I put down 1.

They get that one point because even after releasing subpar product, treating editing as something that happens to other companies, offending and insulting me with their marketing and condescending tone of the 4E previews, killing off a pair of my favourite magazines, repeatedly failing to meet deadlines and after meeting them making me wish they hadn't and hosting a website that makes web designers cry, they still have one thing going for them.

They're not Fatal Games.