WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

[joethelawyer]

I just wanted to drop by with a friendly note to collectors reminding everyone that many classic TSR PDFs are STILL AVAILABLE for legal purchase at Paizo.com and will be until Midnight tonight, Pacific Time (about 4 more hours).

After that they will be gone forever, so if you're looking for a legal way to fill out your collection of classic TSR PDFs, there's no time like the present...

--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC

PS: I strongly suggest grabbing a copy of the 1983 WORLD OF GREYHAWK boxed set as well as the 1990s follow-up FROM THE ASHES. Both are excellent PDFs, and who knows when you will next be able to pick them up legally and affordably?

PPS: Our servers are SLAMMED at the moment, so you may want to practice a few zen koans and cultivate patience as you wait for your order to be processed.

My only hope in this whole debacle is that Paizo makes trillions of dollars tonight in .pdf sales and is able to buy all D&D material rights and licenses from WOTC and we never have to deal with a Hasbro big corporate BS again. Imagine that? Dungeons and Dragons under a company run by gamers again?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

The most insane thing about this, is that for this to have gone through, multiple people would have had to fully read this and then say "You know, I don't see how this is a bad idea. Put it through."

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I've got four in my cart and wanted to grab six more but for the last 20 minutes or so the pages are just coming up blank.

I don't think I'll be able to get any more.

Well, not legally anyway.

 

[zacharythefirst]

I don't play 4e, so the only business I really had left with WotC was buying a couple of downloads of legacy pdf products each month. It was a nice way to get to see things that were out of print or hard to get.

Now, I have no reason left to deal with WotC. They've lost both my custom and my faith. They could put their pdfs back up for sale tomorrow, and I wouldn't bite. If they're willing to yank the rug out with no-notice, insulting, utter horsecrap like this, what's to keep them from doing it again?

These are paying customers you've done this to. Not the ones who went and downloaded something off of a torrent--these were the people who wanted to properly pay for a product. And without so much as a warning, you cut off their access to their own purchases. I'm sure that will really make a difference in combating piracy, right? Giving us a week or 10 days to make arrangements vs. abruptly yanking our downloads?

I'm finished with WotC. They may not miss my piddling little remaining purchases that much, but they won't ever see another dime from me. I still cannot fathom how a company that only 2 years ago was fairly well-regarded in terms of customer relations could plummet so far, so fast, ending up an example for Paizo and every other would-be competitor of what not to do. We're quits.

 

[RefinedBean]

Well, not legally anyway.

Haven't you heard? WotC's putting a stop to all that nonsense.

 

[joethelawyer]

I hope Scott Rouse is somewhere with a big bottle of Jack. He's gonna need it. He must feel like the Secret Service guy who was tasked with removing political references from message posts.

(Edited by admin)

 

[Erik Mona]

Erik, I just waited five minutes even to pull up a product page. Is there any recourse for someone who buys a pdf and who simply isn't able to download it before the deadline?

Good question. According to our WotC-approved statement on the page I linked to earlier, sales of the PDFs will end at Midnight, but you can download them until noon tomorrow.

I would strongly recommend patience, because after noon tomorrow they are gone. It sucks that the servers are getting slammed right now, but it was bound to happen. I am just pleased that we are able to keep selling these at all, even if only for a few more hours. It would have been really sad to see the whole back catalog disappear with no warning whatsoever.

There is no telling when/if these great PDFs are going to reappear, so I suggest getting while the getting is good (even if a bit slow).

--Erik

 

[mach1.9pants]

Haven't you heard? WotC's putting a stop to all that nonsense.

Hahahaha nice one!

 

[Glyfair]

These are paying customers you've done this to. Not the ones who went and downloaded something off of a torrent--these were the people who wanted to properly pay for a product.

To be fair, from the comments it seems the straw that broke the camels back was the people who "properly paid for the product" and then put it up in some sort of file sharing.

 

[Samnell]

I would strongly recommend patience, because after noon tomorrow they are gone. It sucks that the servers are getting slammed right now, but it was bound to happen. I am just pleased that we are able to keep selling these at all, even if only for a few more hours. It would have been really sad to see the whole back catalog disappear with no warning whatsoever.

There is no telling when/if these great PDFs are going to reappear, so I suggest getting while the getting is good (even if a bit slow).

I'm trying mightily, but I can't get the Proceed to Checkout click to work. I've tried three or four times now. I always get a store down or messageboards down message.

EDIT: The order finally went through. Thank you Paizo for the chance to grab a childhood (well, teenaged) memory on very short notice.