Ampersand: 2011 releases officially gutted

[Nemesis Destiny]

A little piece of extra news - WotC_Huscarl has blogged about the reason for the delays with Dungeon & Dragon content.

I just caught this as well, and while I suspect that it is nothing more than additional spin, since there is little very specific information there, it does somewhat give me hope that the material lost from the books that were canned will be released to subscribers. Better to see it behind the pay wall than not at all.

 

[Ahrimon]

I've tried to stay positive through all of this. I like essentials and think they make a great addition to the 4e line. But this really takes me back. While the content may still be available, this is technically the end of Dragon and Dungeon magazine. I've been a subscriber since the AD&D era and to see these two magazines die behind the curtain of seperate web articles really saddens me.

I have to wonder if WotC got a good taste of the DDI continuous subscription drug and is now hooked. They're looking for every reason to put everything behind DDI and keep that subscription fix coming.

 

[mudbunny]

A bit more information on the changes to the product line-up can be found in the following WotC Knowledge Base Article:

D&D Product Lineup Changes FAQ

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

I have to wonder if WotC got a good taste of the DDI continuous subscription drug and is now hooked.

I've emailed Slavicsek to tell him the announced changes may have the opposite effect on me.

 

[AntlerDruid]

Wow what depressing news.....with Dragon now just being pitiful for the past few months (there are few exceptions like the Hexblade articles though).....and the new CB being completely worthless to me as it doesn't allow House Rule additions.......the movement of Heroes Of Shadow another month..........I really hope there will be additions of physical books that come out....


if not there better be ALOT more articles online then there is now.....at LEAST 3x more.....with CRUNCH......not endless "flavor" articles


...if they have positive plans for release of material, then they should have included it with this announcement......now it just feels like doom and gloom.

 

[caudor]

That's weird, the wind is blowing toward the storm...

I wonder why there have been many sudden changes in direction within the last year?

-From hardcover to digest
-From digest to hardcover
-From 4e to Essentials
-From Essentials to ???
-Rapid shifts in how DDI material is presented...including handling of character builder
-Remaining uncertainty about the pulling pdfs and future offerings.

To sum it all up in one word: uncertainty

For a product line as old as D&D, it seems the roadmap for this game has been changing any which way the wind blows in recent years. Does anyone truly know which way this ship is headed?

 

[Piratecat]

I'll theorize, pulling all this information from my butt. I have no data to back any of it up, it's doubtlessly riddled with holes in logic, and it's worth exactly what you're paying for it - zilch! But it's fun to consider.

Given:

- Recent releases (Essentials, Red Box) are targeted to new gamers or disaffected older gamers.

- Pathfinder is selling roughly what 4e is according to one report (rumor?) I heard. If the size of the RPG "pie" is equal to what it is during 3e (almost certainly not the case; 4e has brought some people into the hobby for the first time, and some people have dropped out), then WotC D&D sales are about half of what they used to be.

- D&D is expensive, manpower-heavy and slow to produce. WotC pays good money to freelancers and has good salaries for employees; they work years ahead of schedule, making it hard to predict market trends. D&D employs a relatively large amount of people relative to its sales size compared to other brands at WotC and Hasbro.

- The DDI delays, cuts and errors match a pattern of not enough manpower to deliver expected results in the anticipated time. Changes in schedule have the net result of trying to free peoples' time by reducing work that does not directly produce income (such as no longer compiling the web articles.)

To me, that spells trouble. It indicates that the D&D line is under-performing and is trying to do more with less.

I'm not sure what to say about that, other than I don't believe that WotC would sell the D&D brand - not with DDO doing well and both a movie and another major computer game on the way. My guess is that in a worst case scenario they maintain the brand until they can revitalize it.

Huh. I just depressed myself. I play 4e and love it, but to me this is definitely the low rumbling of distant thunder.

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

Fail. The new digest format is one of the few things that I thought WotC had done right lately. They are nice quality, cheaper and take up less space on my bookshelf. Going back to the overpriced hardback format is a horrible idea.

There has to be a reason for this. Perhaps the Essentials format wasn't as successful as we thought?

Not that it matters much...for all practical purposes, most of the published conten

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

I've been posting here for nine years, and a good part of it has been to tell people, no, the sky is not falling.

Well, I'm not gonna say that this time. This looks bad to me, in part because the online content seems to have decreased in quality and quantity. Essentials needs a good steady stream of quality crunch, or it will wither on the vine.

Here's my 'the sky is not falling' comment.

1. We knew D&D minis were on it's last legs already. They just finally put the horse out of it's misery.

2. Regarding the change to hardcover of Heroes of Shadow, and the cancellation of the other three books...I don't know about most people, but I'd decided not to buy anymore 'crunch' books. All that stuff is much better consumed by myself via the DDI tools. And since they've also stated in the FAQ that the material in those three cancelled books will be published via DDI, I'll get that content eventually anyways. Possibly _earlier_.

3. There isn't a lot left now to get excited about though...the Shadowfell boxed set and the next Monster Vault and possibly Ravenloft...but anything else that is exciting is NOT going to get announced via DDI. It'll be at DDXP, which is only in a couple more weeks.

4. My main concern is that the content from the cancelled books won't be _added_ to DDI...but replace content we normally would expect.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

There has to be a reason for this. Perhaps the Essentials format wasn't as successful as we thought?

Not that it matters much...for all practical purposes, most of the published conten

I was hopeing those new format would lead to Nook/Kindel ebook support...