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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primal" data-source="post: 5451569" data-attributes="member: 30678">Well, I think it has a lot to do with awesome production values and customer relations; Paizo has, IMO, far better art direction than WoTC does, and their products look pretty damn good. And, as Paizo fans often point out, Paizo employees and freelancers are very forthcoming and have a really good rapport with their customers. However, WoTC staffers comment only rarely on their own forum, and they like to keep a lid on things as long as possible. Also, Paizo listens to their fans; not only do they respond to feedback, but every now and then they also ask: "What do you want us to publish?" or "What do you want to see in X and Y?". As we know, public playtests are also linked to this, and AFAIK at least 'Cities of Golarion' and 'Dungeons of Golarions' were originally suggested by posters on the Paizo forums.But, gorgeous art and layouts, plus openness and vigorous communication with their fans are just one part of the story; if you ask me, it's their high standard of quality, writing and attention to detail that has grabbed a lot of the former and current WoTC customers (at least among the 25+ crowd). For example, APG is in my opinion the best D&D supplement I've ever bought, and this single book contains enough material for years and years of play. And not only do their adventures read well, most of them play very well, too -- at least in my experience -- and Golarion is to me what FR used to be, i.e. a detailed setting with a lot of elements from my favorite literary genres. Speaking as a librarian, boxed sets are not ideal material for public libraries; Paizo's books are, and that is why Pathfinder is getting more attention at the library I work at (and other city libraries as well, I guess). In fact, as far as I know, there aren't too many 4E groups in my country, but I personally know several groups that are playing Pathfinder; I even have several Pathfinder GMs among my co-workers. I don't know about US, but if I had to guess, I'd say Pathfinder is definitely more popular than 4E in Europe.Finally, Paizonians know exactly what they're doing, what their fans want to see and where they should be heading; WoTC, on the other hand, seems to be flailing around in darkness and desperately trying to hit something. I would actually want to try running 4E, and I guess I'm one of those people who they tried to hook with Essentials, but I'm not interested in Fortune Cards or boardgames or "4.5-ish" revised books with added options; I want minis and new printings of core rulebooks with errata (and I dislike digital products, so DDI is not an option for me). I still buy Dungeon Tiles (which is, IMO, their only product line that still has great production values and usability), but as I'm looking at their product catalogue for this year, I feel sorely disappointed. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /></blockquote>

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