TL : DR - Priced too high, won't actually get much use out of the books even if I do play.
I have to say that this price point is terrible, and it's way too much.
WotC is raising their prices to levels that are compatible with companies that typically have print runs an order of magnitude smaller. As a result, the cost for printing their books is significantly smaller than anyone else, with the possible exception of the Pathfinder books, and I expect that even Paizo has shorter print runs.
I'm a professional adult, and I can afford to buy the books. At the same time, a $150 purchase is something I actually have to account for. It's not a trivial amount of money for me. The notion of commonly spending that kind of money for a night out... does not happen for me. I'm fortunate enough to live in the Midwest, but these book prices aren't comparable with other things I do to socialize with the wife and our friends. Movies for me are $10 or 5 for a matinee.
But the real issue for me is, the cost is high, and how much use am I going to get out of the books? There seems to be this notion that I'm going to get months or even years of play out of the PHB. I'm going to call shenanigans on that.
What do I mean? Well, from the playtest, I can say that I know how to play this new edition of the game. I'm not going to be reading a large portion of the book even a single time, because I don't need it. I know what a fighter or an elf is. I'm going to look at the game effects, for those classes or races, which I will probably soon memorize. I'm sorry, but there's nothing that I've seen that makes me think I'll oou and ahhh at the description. For the record, I did find myself reading the whole 13th Age corebook, but there's nothing that says this edition will be so evocative in the writing style. I think WotC has made the deliberate decision not to write that way.
What I will need to look at is the powers or spell lists, but how often will I even be doing that? I'm sure there will be an online summary for the spells, and how much do I really care what gust of wind does these days? As splat books come out, I'm sure that there will simply be better spells out there than what's in the PHB. I know that's typically how the editions work. Does $50 seem a bit much for some lists of spells? It does to me...
So I buy the PHB, and probably actually refer to it for two or three months before it goes into the library with a lot of my earlier edition stuff. For me the utility is NOT going to be "years of use" in any way. So great value for many moons to come? Not so much. For the other books, it's worse: do I really need to learn about the different playstyles yet again? Do I need to read the same advice on making a game interesting yet again? And for monsters, how much of this stuff do I really need to repurchase, especially now that many monsters are just a bundle of hit points mechanics wise?
Okay, let's look at people other than me, though, since I am definitely not the Alpha and Omega of gamers:
For someone new to RPGs, or for a parent who has a child who wants to get into it, the core rulebook price is going to be a serious barrier. If you want to go beyond the starter set (which seems quite reasonable at $20) you're staring down a significant amount of money. I did a quick survey of the parents in my office and asked them how often they let their kids spend $150. It was not a popular option. The starter set was a winner, but moving on the full game at a full price ... I was told this was unlikely, and that was by some parents who are also gamers.
For someone who wants to dabble in the new edition, I suppose that's the starter set. At the same time, how much play will we really get out of that? Unless it's something very different than other starter sets, it's a feeder to the core books. And we come back to the high pricepoint. Are there really a lot of people who put in $150 to "dabble" or check out something?
Now there is another option at this point to get the books, and that's Amazon. The problem is Amazon does nothing to support my FLGS, and I want to support them. Supporting them to the tune of around $50 dollars, however... wow. I would be more likely to purchase another, different game from them.
And there's the final option: PDFs. I expect they'll turn up at about $25 a piece, which is high (that would be the most I've ever paid for a PDF) but it may be the option I end up taking. That also doesn't put money into my FLGS' pocket, so I'll have to think about it.
So I guess, for me it's definitely a lot of money, and the price point is too high. If it's comparable to common expenses where you live, I can definitely understand how the price isn't an issue. All I'll say about that is I'm glad I don't live in such an expensive location...
And as I'm reading this, it sounds more than a little snarky. If you're excited about the next edition, and think this is a small price to pay for months or years of good gaming, more power to you. Enjoy: it's all good. That's just not me.
