WotC How much does Hasbro / WotC impact your feelings towards D&D?

[payn]

Your mom-and-pop restaurant (not going to talk about diners since most diners are such substandard quality that they barely count as food) are forced to go higher quality because they can't compete otherwise. Let's not pretend that they are doing higher quality out of the goodness of their hearts or out of some notion of "care". They are serving you the lowest quality, cheapest food they can get away with and still retain you as a customer. And, we go to that restaurant specifically because it is a higher quality than somewhere like McDonald's.

Again, this notion that only large corporations are about "maximizing profit" is a myth. And anyone who forgets that winds up out of business in fairly short order.

The context often makes no sense either. "Megacorps gonna maximize profit, thats why rangers have spells!" What?

 

[Mistwell]

That isn’t true. Paizo was offering $48k for a Starfinder designer position for someone with at least 2 published credits under their belt, which sounds pretty close to entry level to me. WotC was offering $88k-150k for a mid to senior level position. The Paizo position was also 100% remote so not the same city.

I don’t doubt WotC pays their designers better than Paizo or they wouldn’t have several former Paizo employees on their staff currently but let’s not pretend we know they all received $100k per year pay raises like you’re claiming.

Sorry $48K vs double to triple that. And no, that isn't an entry level position if you have credits to your name. That's a mid-level position. That's a bad look. What the heck is the union doing for them, if they now have to pay union dues on top of being paid 1/2 to 1/3 what the competition pays for the same position? Again, if this were WOTC people would be up in arms about it. But because it's the second largest TTRPG company instead of the largest, people make excuses or ignore it.

Again, I don't care if people like Paizo or Pathfinder. And I won't go into Paizo and Pathfinder threads to rant about Paizo. But the guy came here claiming Paizo is a meaningfully better company than WOTC for issues like this and that's a reason to not buy WOTC products, and that's just not the case in my view.

 

[Velderan]

Sorry $48K vs double to triple that. And no, that isn't an entry level position if you have credits to your name. That's a mid-level position. That's a bad look. What the heck is the union doing for them, if they now have to pay union dues on top of being paid 1/2 to 1/3 what the competition pays for the same position? Again, if this were WOTC people would be up in arms about it. But because it's the second largest TTRPG company instead of the largest, people make excuses or ignore it.

I have a feeling we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on what 2 writing credits is. It doesn’t mean you have 2 full-fledged products under your belt, it means your name can be found on 2 products in enough of a capacity that you earned a credit. Mid level, to me, would imply you have around 5 years experience in your field. Senior at least a decade.

And I am also going to ask you to explain how you figure WotC has released more material through the OGL/CC. Last time I checked, the Foundry team was only able to release an extremely bare bones 5e ruleset module based on the 2014 Basic Rules while the PF2e Foundry module has ALL of the PF2e rules. There’s a few other products fans have created (AoN, PF2easy) based on freely released rules.

 

[Remathilis]

Again, I don't care if people like Paizo or Pathfinder. And I won't go into Paizo and Pathfinder threads to rant about Paizo. But the guy came here claiming Paizo is a meaningfully better company than WOTC for issues like this and that's a reason to not buy WOTC products, and that's just not the case in my view.

I still remember the blow up a year or two ago when Paizo was hit with all sorts of accusations from dirty offices to employee harassment. There were some heartfelt mea culpas and changes to corporate structure (I believe them Unionizing was a result of this). Still, their past behavior shows that any size company can be prone to abuse and neglect, and I hold as much animosity towards Paizo as I do WotC.

 

[Blue]

They changed at point of failure - not point of massive success. Previously editions were struggling. Not the case here. This thread is also about what is reasonable.

This thread isn't about 'what is reasonable' at all. Please try reading the title or the original post. That literally has nothing to do with this thread. This thread is about how much the impact Hasbro/WotC has on the voter's perception of D&D.

Since you already tried moving the goalposts there last response and were called out, and are knowingly doing it again, there is no reason to continue to try to reason with you.

 

[Blue]

Consider this.
...
The problem comes when (like an HGTV reality show) the people can't agree on which plan to do. Remodeling keeps the good parts but not every bad part can be fixed. A whole new home brings with it unforeseeable complications and a far greater cost. Neither is perfect.

Your points are well reasoned, but have nothing to do with this thread.

This thread is about the impact that Hasbro/Wizards has on my feelings towards D&D. 5e has major cracks to me, and I asked if not going to a new edition should be counted against Hasbro/Wizards. And was told yes.

It doesn't matter if it was reasonable for Hasbro/Wizards to go to a new edition - that's not what the thread is about. It's about how much the company impacts my view of D&D.

 

[Velderan]

I still remember the blow up a year or two ago when Paizo was hit with all sorts of accusations from dirty offices to employee harassment. There were some heartfelt mea culpas and changes to corporate structure (I believe them Unionizing was a result of this). Still, their past behavior shows that any size company can be prone to abuse and neglect, and I hold as much animosity towards Paizo as I do WotC.

Which IMO should be zero for either of them. They have both made mistakes and addressed them, like most companies that want to remain in business tend to do.

I would really be interested in how many people who answered a 5 in this poll give anywhere near the same scrutiny to every single company they buy stuff from. That sounds exhausting.

 

[mamba]

I would really be interested in how many people who answered a 5 in this poll give anywhere near the same scrutiny to every single company they buy stuff from.

who knows, it’s not like it is a requirement either. Maybe other companies are just better at not letting me learn about their mistakes, it’s not like I voted 5 though

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Can you give me a helpful sports analogy?

The first time these words have ever been uttered on EnWorld!

 

[AnotherGuy]

Consider this.

D&D is a house WotC has lived in for the past 10 years. They have made it a home and added little things to it over the years, but now they want to tackle a major renovation project because the house isn't working for their needs as well as it used to.

They have two ways to do this:
1. Strip the house down, move a few walls and add an addition, and then redecorate with fresh paint and such
2. Knock the house down and build a new house using ideas of the old house in the new blueprints.

You're missing 3a-3z (modular approach)
3a. Insert a plunge pool
3b. Insert a jacuzzi
3c. Build a deck
3d. Extend the porch
3e. Build a deck and insert a pool
3f. Turn the tv room into a bedroom.
3g. Move a wall, build an extra fire-place and extend the porch.
3h.-3z.