Ampersand to reveal mystery of the disappearing books (apparently)

[Nemesis Destiny]

I think the biggest kick in the junk about this, now that I think on it, is how badly this was handled.

Products got pulled from release right before a long break, without so much as an announcement, or an announcement that an announcement was coming.

They have to know that people in the community watch their every move like proverbial hawks. People occasionally check in on their wishlists, only to find products missing with no explanation. So they go a month without saying a word, to then drop a bomb like this?

Brutal.

Now, from the title and in-between-the-lines, I get that they know it's bad news and Bill is trying to be positive about it, partly because that's his job. But, still... brutal.

 

[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

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Q: Why have the Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium and Hero Builder's Handbook been removed from the calendar?

Okay, was this really so hard? Could they not have done this a month ago and avoided a pile of the negative publicity?


I don't necessarily agree that this is the way to go, but stating this upfront would have spared us all a lot of the rampant speculation.

The very fact that this needed its own FAQ is telling.

 

[Stumblewyk]

On the topic of the compiled Dungeon and Dragon issues vs. individual articles...I guess I'm one of the guys you're all going to hate, because I remember taking that poll, and I voted decisively that I prefer to download individual articles. I don't want the entire issue, because 75% of it is stuff I won't use. I read individual articles as they're posted, and decide if it's something I want. If it is, I download it. If not, I can move along. I don't need an entire issue to sift through to find the 1 or 2 articles I want. =/

That being said...I don't like the tone or tenor of these announcements. And even though the loss of compiled magazine issues doesn't bother me a whit, the announcement that they're doing so, along with the others, disturbs me. I'm worried for Wizards, and I'm worried for the future of D&D.

 

[Dungeoneer]

To be frank, I'd sooner have a book that added new builds and options for things that genuinely needed it. The Artificer, Seeker and Runepriest are desperate for support. A book that gives them options would be far better than yet another god damn reprint of the fighter, rogue and whatever.

They could call it Heroes of the Forgotten Classes! (rim shot)

 

[Aegeri]

They could call it Heroes of the Forgotten Classes! (rim shot)

Thread has now been officially won.

 

[Sonny]

Seems like a pretty lame reason to not compile a magazine at the end of the month. I'm not sure how they think this is really serving their customers better.

It just seems Wizards is really lost lately. They've had some rough times over the past couple of years, and now, they just can't get out the tailspin they've found themselves in.

I'm not mad about it. In fact, it's pretty darn sad. I have no doubt that in addition to cutting products from the schedule, they're going to be getting rid of more people. If they haven't already.

I hope anyone at Wizards who gets laid off will land on their feet and be okay, it's a bad time to be without a job. I also hope whoever is left at the company will find a way to turn the fortunes of D&D around.

 

[gourdcaptain]

Seriously, they're improving things by not compiling the articles? That is just LAZY.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Seems like a pretty lame reason to not compile a magazine at the end of the month. I'm not sure how they think this is really serving their customers better.

It just seems Wizards is really lost lately. They've had some rough times over the past couple of years, and now, they just can't get out the tailspin they've found themselves in.

I'm not mad about it. In fact, it's pretty darn sad. I have no doubt that in addition to cutting products from the schedule, they're going to be getting rid of more people. If they haven't already.

I hope anyone at Wizards who gets laid off will land on their feet and be okay, it's a bad time to be without a job. I also hope whoever is left at the company will find a way to turn the fortunes of D&D around.

Earlier I had been about to post that I would rather they have laid people off again as usual rather than lay off products, but I thought better of it. I wouldn't ever truly wish someone out of work, especially in what for me would be a dream job.

Typically, having worked or published with WotC gets you noticed with the 3PPs, I would think. I'm sure most of the folks they've let go have found other work in the industry. I could be wrong.

 

[MrMyth]

I don't think this is a death knell for D&D, and worries about that are an overreaction. Similarly, I think the lack of compilation is definitely a shame, but has pretty much nothing to do with this being the "end of Dungeon and Dragon" - if they keep coming out with quality articles, that's all that is needed.

That said, I'm definitely disappointed in all of these announcements, especially with so little good news to soften the blow. The increase in free content on the site in the form of weekly articles is nice, and the enhanced editing process is important. But we'll see how well it comes together.

The Class Compendium
Seems like there were quite a few people looking forward to this on this forum, but from my understanding this was basically a reprint of existing classes + errata. The completist in me wants that, sure, but my practically speaking its not something most of us need.

The main elements that were going to be in here were rules for how Essentials classes worked with multiclassing and such. Now, I don't think it needed an entire book for that, but it would be nice to see that content somewhere.

Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium
So despite the cool name, my understanding is that this was basically going to be Adventurer's Vault 3. I never found the first two that interesting, personally, and I've heard they weren't big sellers.

I think the first one was. This one seemed more important because Essentials completed overhauled the magic item system. Right now, the rarity system is pretty much incomplete - this book promised to fill that gap. Without it, WotC has kinda left DMs to try and patch the game themselves, and that's unfortunate.

Hero Builder's Handbook
Actually, I don't even know what this was supposed to be. Sounds vaguely in the line of the Player's Strategy Guide? Anyone?

This was probably the 4E book I have most anticipated. I don't think it was a book with build advice like the PSG, but instead a book with a lot of innovations. More themes for universal use. Rules for non-combat element. Etc. We didn't know too much about it as yet, but it sounded very promising. I really hope we'll see that information show up somewhere, without too long a wait.

I am very disappointed that the books have disappeared, but haven't given up hope yet. The optimist in me says that WotC is backpedalling on the direction they had moved the RPG content in - following Essentials, we saw a whole host of new style books, rather than the "PHB1,2,3, DMG1,2,3, Martial Power, etc" that we had gotten used to. From what I've heard, Essentials was successful, but not the amazing hit they may have been counting on.

I'm hoping we will see a return to the earlier format, and some of this material harvested for it. But honestly, no way to be sure. WotC is clearly focusing on the non-RPG building of the D&D brand, which I think is a good thing. I just don't want it to come at the cost of the actual RPG content, and hope they get their strategy together, and sooner rather than later.