Wizards: Musings on the new DDi disaster

[TerraDave]

TAKES THE FRICKING GLOVES OFF

I have such mixed emotions on this post. Admiration--Buehlers toxic legacy--vindication, but also the desire to remind everyone that we have seen this all before, and everything will be fine, again, eventually.

Its exciting.

 

[Osgood]

I completely agree with everything Merric said, including the bit about the Essentials. While D&DE may be selling well, I think it fails because it tried to do too many things - be a simple starting point to new gamers, bring back lapsed players with notstalgia and compromise, and revise the rules.

I definitely think heads will roll with the coming layoffs, I can only hope it happens to the right people... the decision makers rather than the rank and file grunts.
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[Imaro]

I completely agree with everything Merric said, including the bit about the Essentials. While D&DE may be selling well, I think it fails because it tried to do too many things - be a simple starting point to new gamers, bring back lapsed players with notstalgia and compromise, and revise the rules.

I definitely think heads will roll with the coming layoffs, I can only hope it happens to the right people... the decision makers rather than the rank and file grunts.

This is a good point about essentials. I'm honestly curious how well it has brought in new players... outside of those being introduced by exsisting players.

 

[davethegame]

Wizards once had a great reservoir of good will: that reservoir is now dry, and they need to start doing good things again.

Spot on, as always Merric. The thing about bad PR is that once you've damaged it enough, you completely lose your buffer, and you just start to lose fans. And for something like an RPG, it becomes impossible to separate the game itself from all the ugliness around it.

 

[ggroy]

I sort of feel bad for the programmers. I imagine they were/are in over their heads - either with the expectations or more likely the timetable given. And this is assuming that silverlight was the best choice for the CB and not just chosen b/c it was what was known by the programmers or b/c of the time constraints. If this wasn't the case, then its level of f'd-up-ness increases.

It may very well have been a "death march" programming project.

Death march (software development) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Caerin]

Spot on, as always Merric. The thing about bad PR is that once you've damaged it enough, you completely lose your buffer, and you just start to lose fans. And for something like an RPG, it becomes impossible to separate the game itself from all the ugliness around it.

That's kind of where I am right now; I've enjoyed playing 4E. I don't like the poor communication, the annual layoffs, the lack of community participation (see poor communication), the rushed projects... I've met some of the game developers in the past, and I think they're good, smart people who are passionate about the game. There's a disconnect somewhere.

 

[Kzach]

I've met some of the game developers in the past, and I think they're good, smart people who are passionate about the game. There's a disconnect somewhere.

Management.

Or to clarify, mis-management.

 

[Riastlin]

This is a good point about essentials. I'm honestly curious how well it has brought in new players... outside of those being introduced by exsisting players.

I suppose this may depend on your definition of "new" players, but I do know a couple of people who while not new to D&D, did transfer to 4th Ed because of Essentials, whereas they had previously been playing older editions.

In our area, the Gamedays were also fairly well received though I don't know how many of those players have since decided to stick on.

One ironic thing to me though is that I personally tend to think that its unlikely a new player would immediately sign on to DDi anyway. Rather, it seems more likely that they would try out the game for a while and see if they like it, and only then start to consider a DDi subscription. I know that I didn't pony up the money for DDi until I got into a game and realized that I did like the new edition. Then the money seemed worth it to me (though at the time more for the Dragon/Dungeon content than the CB -- MB had yet to be released at that time).

 

[ggroy]

Management.

Or to clarify, mis-management.

Dilbert gone awry.

 

[Joshua Randall]

we have seen this all before, and everything will be fine, again, eventually

You know, this is a great point. There was so much negativity around the time of the Gleemax debalce, yet look how well the DDI Compendium and the (offline) Character Builder turned out!

TerraDave, thanks for reminding us that the sky isn't falling.