D&D 5E So why no PDFs? Is their fear of piracy -that- bad?

[Evenglare]

So is Wizard's fear of piracy that bad that we have no PDFs on release? I hear every dwindling numbers that only 10-15 people are actually working on D&D at this point? Surely they can afford to release PDFs of their work, like pathfinder. Pathfinder and Paizo have amazing deals and do very well PDF wise. Does Hasbro or Wizards not see this or just refuse to notice their dealings? I'm really curious on why the staunch hatred of releasing PDFS, infact you can point to their D&D classics site but the mind blowing thing is that the core books of each of those editions actually isn't for sale. I mean... wtf on so many levels. It feels like the worst kneejerk reaction that I have ever seen in the industry. I want to give them my money for real PDFs but at this point I have to photocopy and make my own for my own reference. I'm left with no choice if I want a digital copy of the book to work off of. Even more frustrating is the lack of the monster manual in digital form. What a boon it would be to be able to copy and paste monster stats into my session writeups, but now I physically have to either scan and OCR my scan or just retype the entire thing for my benefit.

I mean, you KNOW they have them sitting there on their computer. What gives? I don't buy the whole "Pushing online tools" nonsense. Several other companies have done just fine, if not thrived, releasing PDFs. It's frustrating that I have to scan my book to get a facsimile on my computer when I want to give them my money for something professionally done.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I don't think it has anything to do with fear of piracy. I think it's part of their business plan

 

[Li Shenron]

[MENTION=6703052]SA[/MENTION]crosant is right: Mearls has given strong hints that the reason is that at WotC they don't think a PDF copy of the printed books makes sense, so instead they are considering a different format that can give more reasons for buying it, e.g. some HTML-style document.

 

[Paraxis]

I don't think so, they must know by that by now there are full color fully bookmarked good scanned copies of all the books on file sharing sites.

So since I know this, they WoTC must know this, all the people who normally pirate role playing games know this and if they have any interest in 5e have done so by now. The only thing not having legit pdf's for sale is costing them money.

Now they might be counting on people to spend their money on Dungeonscape if there is no other legal alternative, but people like having pdf copies of books to read not just electronic rules reference.

I hope that if you purchase a book in Dungeonscape it will also give you a full normal pdf copy of it, that way it drives business to Dungeonscape and makes everyone happy.

 

[Xorne]

I have zero interest in Dungeonscape, because it's pretty apparent it will not mean I have a PDF I can read whenever and wherever I want. So I'll scan my books and make my own PDFs. Their decision has absolutely nothing to do with piracy, either. They are making sure the only electronic access to 5th Edition is through Dungeonscape, which I hope (and am pretty sure will) falls flat on it's face. Seriously, what D&D tool out there licensed by WotC (or TSR) has not been a lump of ?

The 4E character builder was good--but since that was just one PIECE of what they were selling, I'd say that was a literal diamond in a piece of .

Mod Note: You would say that, but then you'd be in violation of EN World's language policies, and we'd have to do something unpleasant. Remember that the language filter doesn't exist to allow folks to cuss with impunity - if you invoke it, we know you were over the line. Keep it clean, keep it classy, folks. ~Umbran

 

[Morrus]

If WotC was too terrified of piracy to release stuff in pdf format, they wouldn't be seinf hundreds of PDFs at dndclassics.com.

Ergo, piracy has nothing to do with it. When they said they didn't want to undermine DungeonScape maybe - just maybe - that was the truth.

Piracy was the issue a few years ago. Different people in charge now, and they clearly hold a different view.

 

[billd91]

Piracy was the issue a few years ago. Different people in charge now, and they clearly hold a different view.

Or they're more candid that it's a business plan issue rather than a piracy issue - something I think few people entirely believed back in the 4e days when WotC pulled PDF sales. In any event, while I'm disappointed by the lack of PDF sales, I have more respect for the stated reason. How satisfied I remain with their business plan depends on just what Trapdoor ends up being able to produce.

 

[Greg Benage]

If WotC was too terrified of piracy to release stuff in pdf format, they wouldn't be seinf hundreds of PDFs at dndclassics.com.

Ergo, piracy has nothing to do with it. When they said they didn't want to undermine DungeonScape maybe - just maybe - that was the truth.

I expect they also don't see a good reason to compete with the print product, and by extension, the brick-and-mortar retail stores their sales model (and growth of the hobby) depends upon.

 

[Evenglare]

If WotC was too terrified of piracy to release stuff in pdf format, they wouldn't be seinf hundreds of PDFs at dndclassics.com.

Ergo, piracy has nothing to do with it. When they said they didn't want to undermine DungeonScape maybe - just maybe - that was the truth.

Piracy was the issue a few years ago. Different people in charge now, and they clearly hold a different view.

Except the actual core rules aren't on the site. I have gone there raring to buy all the core books. Nothing. They are losing sales left and right from me because I simply can't find them. I want them, I want them to take my money but I just can't find the RULES I need to run those hundreds of PDFs you mentioned. It seems like they want to LOOK like they are trying but not actually putting up the stuff people want. Every edition for everyone? Yeah I guess If you have the printed rules to run those editions.

 

[Morrus]

Except the actual core rules aren't on the site. I have gone there raring to buy all the core books. Nothing. They are losing sales left and right from me because I simply can't find them. I want them, I want them to take my money but I just can't find the RULES I need to run those hundreds of PDFs you mentioned. It seems like they want to LOOK like they are trying but not actually putting up the stuff people want. Every edition for everyone? Yeah I guess If you have the printed rules to run those editions.

I've no idea how that relates to my post about piracy. I mean, I get that this is important to you, but if you're going to contradict someone find someone who actually said the thing you want to contradict!

I agree. I'd prefer the core rules to be there. I have no disagreement on that point.