I think they've been incredibly arrogant throughout this entire process.
This is where I disagree. I see mismanagement. I see overly ambitious plans. I don't see arrogance, though.
Killing Dungeon and Dragon
Not true. The print magazines are gone, but Dungeon and Dragon live on in an online format, and for what it's worth, it's been awesome. And in many ways, for me, better than the printed magazine.
Announcing grandiose plans for an online initiative then utterly failing to deliver
Utter failure? The Compendium is regularily updated, with lots of material. The other minor tools are OK, but not great. The character builder preview shows that it will be a VERY nice tool, coming in a month or so. Overly ambitious, yes. Arrogant? No. Utter failure? No.
Running a marketing campaign that denigrated the existing version of D&D, then releasing a version that fixed a bunch of problems by introducing just as many new ones.
The only denigrating comments I saw attributed to WOTC were the interweb translations of WOTC comments about their design methods. Most of these were nerd-rage mis-interpretations filled with hyperbole and inaccurate quotes. Some WOTC designers simply noted well-known and well-discussed issues with 3.5 that many agreed with. Find me the marketing campaign meant to denigrate previous editions. This is a strawman with the unfortunate goal of perpetuating an untruth.
Announcing a timetable for a licensing scheme that had the effect of preventing third party companies from preparing for the situation that eventually evolved, by keeping them on a string. I will never know whether this was intentional or not, but I am less inclined to give WoTC the benefit of the doubt with each passing day.
The GSL delays suck. I agree. I want to see a revised one. But even if it takes another 6 months or a year, there will still be YEARS ahead for 3PP to use it or not. It is still going to be a choice. It's within the rights of WOTC to manager their IP how they want.
Adopting a release strategy for D&D that deliberately holds back core parts of the rules for later books to force us to buy more supplements. A 'give less, get more' strategy.
You're kidding me, right? Look at the 3.x releases. This is nothing new. And neither WOTC nor 4e are the first to build a product line that encourages continued purchases. If they didn't do this, they would suck as a division of a public company seeking profits.
Laying off Johnathan Tweet !! What does it say about WoTC management when they think it's a good idea to let go the best game designer on earth?
Yes, this was a bad idea. Arrogant though? Likely not.
These are my opinions.
