LoL, so you like the products before it a lot but if you actually have to pay full price for a standard game book you won't?
I wanted it, and I bought it from an FLGS. If you don't want it, don't buy it but claiming that you want it but won't pay MSRP for a book is, well .... I'll leave it at that.
Yeah, there's no real need to be the first. I do the same with technology. I still don't own a PS3 or X-Box because at this point I don't care. Just late last year I moved up to the big, flat screen and Blu-ray. There's a difference between being a cheap bugger and patient though. If you want something right away, pay the price don't complain about paying more because discounter X doesn't carry it. Especially for a book.
This is why we're seeing this emphasis on organized play programs - FLGSes can do something that Amazon and other deep discount retailers cannot - providing a service.While I appreciate the initiative to save B&M FLGS's, it's too little too late for me. There haven't been any in business near me for years (yes I supported them when they were around) and I just can't justify spending so much on gaming books now that I'm used to discounts from Amazon, especially if the content will be on DDI.
This is why we're seeing this emphasis on organized play programs - FLGSes can do something that Amazon and other deep discount retailers cannot - providing a service.
You can't log in to Amazon to play Encounters or Lair Assault; you won't find a chapter of the Pathfinder society meeting in Hel*mart; you can't pop by Chapters or B&N for a LFR game.
For these things you go to a B&M FLGS, and even if the prices are higher, maybe you had a really good time there, and you want to continue to do so, so you drop a couple bills on books, maybe grab a bag of dice, some minis, or cards, heck grab a couple M:tG boosters (if you're into that) and spend some time browsing. Heck, even if you *don't* buy the books, everyone likes dice, and we all know you *can't* have too many.