Can Wizards turn around their D&D support?

[babinro]

Hopefully people really start/continue to show their dislike for the direction of D&D by no longer funding it.

I for one, haven't purchased any material since the release of essentials, but continue to have a blast playing the material I've purchased. As far as I'm concerned...4th edition is done. I'll be very surprised if I should buy anything else related to it.

 

[Jools]

You make very good points, though I doubt writing "I want to see apologies and mass resignations from the DDi team" on Mike Mearl's twitter is going to be productive.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Sounds harsh to me.

I don't know what Bill's done that is supposed to be so awful?

I'll admit the DDI has been disastrous. From the outside looking in, it looks like the problem there is higher up the ladder. They spent too much at first, cut a lot out, got lawyers involved in trying to "protect IP," and then gave it to a team that appears to be chronically understaffed. Still, given the fact that it's like three guys in a coding basement laboring under small funds and arbitrary copy-and-paste rules? Well, late, buggy, limited software is about what I'd expect.

The release schedule is a mystery to me. I can only guess that it's an economic choice: fewer, bigger books in 2011. I don't really know why a company wouldn't give people something to buy. The DDI hasn't really been picking up the slack (though there's a few solid articles in the mags).

None of these problems seem unrecoverable, though. It's quite possible that by this time next year, everything will be Awesome.

Transitions are tough, and D&D is certainly in one. The hard part for me is that I can't see the other side of where they're going with this, and they haven't given me a whole lot of confidence -- they haven't earned trust.

Still, I'm playing and enjoying myself.

 

[MerricB]

You make very good points, though I doubt writing "I want to see apologies and mass resignations from the DDi team" on Mike Mearl's twitter is going to be productive.

We could always be surprised.

Honestly, it's a sign of my absolute frustration with how the D&D online tools are going that led to the tweet and subsequent post.

Cheers!

 

[Incenjucar]

I'm just constantly amazed at the communication problem.

So often their communication is either deceptive, snarky, or comes off as manipulative. If they could just edit their work so that the only things that can really upset people are facts and not the tone of the piece or that information was left out, it would go such a long way.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You never know what someone might think was 'left out.'

But, really, customer relations are tricky. You say the wrong thing, you could get a rumor started that has people flocking away from you in droves. You could create bad will. You could open yourself up to a lawsuit. Almost anything concievable (and bad) could happen every time you open your mouth. It's amazing anyone wants to do it, even in this economy.

 

[MerricB]

I'm really looking forward to the end of the month... I hope that all the promised Dragon content makes it in, because I really, really want to see the revised Warlord.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

But, really, customer relations are tricky.

They really, really are. They're a lot easier when things are going right, and they get so much harder where things are going wrong. Unfortunately, Wizards - despite some great releases - still has enough going wrong for trouble to set in.

Cheers!

 

[Tony Vargas]

I really, really want to see the revised Warlord.

What are you hoping for? The 'Weaponmaster' preview was pretty uninspiring. Best case, it's just a formatting change. Worst case, the Essentialize it, and put it in the Basic Attack ghetto.

 

[Aegeri]

That's what you think Tony, but Wizards will surprise us all by making an essential warlord that can only use his ALLIES basic attacks. Then gets stuck in a party full of characters without a good MBA and is promptly useless.