3.5 Printings?

Zulithe · Aug 20, 2003

Me and my friends are just starting a new 3rd edition campaign, but a few of them have purchased 3.5 rulebooks. I've read a little from them and the changes seem great.

Since we won't be starting a 3.5 campaign very soon though, I decided to hold off on purchasing 3.5 until maybe a second printing. There were some pretty glaring errors in my 1st edition of the 3rd edition PHB/DMG/MM, call me a stickler!

So I guess I was wondering if anyone knows, or would care to speculate on when the 2nd printings will be churning out?

Conaill · Aug 20, 2003

Don't expect a 2nd printing for the next couple of years.

The only reason there was a 2nd printing of the 3.0 PHB so soon after release is that WotC underestimated the popularity of the new edition. By the time they got around to printing the DMG and MM they had much better marketing information, and did much larger print runs.

If you had decided to wait for a 2nd printing of the 3.0 DMG when that one came out, you would still be waiting right now...

Paul_Klein · Aug 21, 2003

That's not true, both the DMG and the MM 3.0 are on their 3rd or 4th printings. I just noticed this the other day at Borders.

Paul_Klein · Aug 21, 2003

As an aside, I'm also waiting for the 2nd printings of 3.5

Technik4 · Aug 21, 2003

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but I would say expect 4th edition around 2-3 years after a second printing of 3.5, if that late.

Technik

doctorjeff98 · Aug 21, 2003

Hmmm...I had thought about waiting for a second printing of 3.5---maybe I should wait for 4.0---or maybe 4.5?

Zulithe · Aug 21, 2003

Thanks for the replies.

Darn, I figured we might see a 2nd printing sometime around January but I am probably way off! Maybe I'll just buy the Gift Set this September

Conaill · Aug 21, 2003

They may have done reprints of the original DMG and MM, with all the old errors still in there. But they definitely have *not* published a reprint with all the known errata applied and errors corrected - which is what some people said they'd want for 3.5. Printing up another batch of the same books is a lot cheaper and easier than going back in and making changes to the contents.

On the positive side, Andy Collins has said over on the Wizards board that they are very busy trying to get an errata document out as soon as possible.

Paul_Klein · Aug 21, 2003

I'm positive about it.

When you look at the bottom of the credits page of your books, you'll see this: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. If it goes all the way to 1, then that's a first printing. If it is, of example, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4, then that is a 4th printing. Both the DMG and the MM are on their 4th or 3rd printing (if I remember correctly, the DMG is on its 4th, and the MM is on its 3rd).

Hope that helps.

Li Shenron · Aug 22, 2003

I haven't bougth 3.5, I knew it was going to be carrying quite many errata. If there is no plan from WotC to print it again with at least half of them corrected, then there is no plan for me to buy 3.5 at all. I can easily play with the SRD alone, except for a few things which are not there, but I don't think I'll miss them.

WotC already made me buy 3.0 when it was full of errata, it won't happen twice. However, I still want to believe that the "Gift Set" will come in a corrected print. After all, I really don't see the reason why it should be so difficult to correct errors before a following print.

edit: actually... what is really missing from the SRD? The long part in the DMG about how to be a good DM - which I suppose it's quite the same as in 3.0 - but what else? The Red Wizard and half of the arctifacts from the DMG, maybe a couple of monsters from the MM, but I think nothing from the PHB. In the end, I could just have those missing bits by few photocopies.