And in 2014?

[Scrivener of Doom]

Interesting, I don't think I've ever seen the product schedule for D&D not laid out for the next six months. So very GW.

Unless they're not releasing anything new for the next six months or so at all, which I find very hard to believe.

Although maybe they really do have nothing to announce... because Hasbro doesn't care what happens with the RPG because they're pinning their hopes on a movie or movies to restart the value of the brand.

 

[Stormonu]

Although maybe they really do have nothing to announce... because Hasbro doesn't care what happens with the RPG because they're pinning their hopes on a movie or movies to restart the value of the brand.

The product schedule includes not only RPG products, but novels as well. I find it very strange not even those are posted on the Products page.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

The product schedule includes not only RPG products, but novels as well. I find it very strange not even those are posted on the Products page.

Good point.

I wonder if that's just symptomatic of their normal sloppy approach to the website or something else?

Things have clearly slowed down there on the DDi front beyond the planned hiatus. Neither Dragon nor Dungeon have yet to be released for November, and the illusion of extra content was created last week by posting the Lords of Waterdeep art gallery for the second time.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

So as of 4E it seems that the ability to take your books away IS a real possibility. I wonder how many people will still play 4E without any kind of electronic support. The DDI goes dark forever and you are left with just what you have in print or saved as pdf. What will you do?

I stopped buying books in 2010, relying on DDI for all the stuff. Here's what I've done after cancelling my subscription last month:

Level-up characters. Apart from magic items I'm ready to run my PCs for one or two years as long as they survive
Copy&paste interesting monster to Word. I've got Monster Vault, Threats to Nentir Vale, and MM3 ready to go
Downloaded all of Dungeon and Dragon
Downloaded the sourcode of Mortaneus' Combat Manager and started to adapt it to my/out needs

I'm not so much interested in the fluff-stuff, so this will keep me going. Maybe I'll have a look at ebay and scout for further 4e books, but probably I'm too lazy for that.

So even if I don't have the books, the won't be able to takle them away fromme.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Yeah, I suspect that they will wait until mid-January to early February to update their release schedule. I think at first it is going to be very bare. This isn't the first time they've failed to update the schedule for the next year in time for the end of December. Same thing happened at the end of 3.5e. 4e came out in June of that year.

I think you'll find that at first the update will go live with just the rest of the Sundering adventures and Sundering novels. Those will last until June/July. Everyone will continue to wonder why there is almost no products at all on the schedule for another month or two. Then in March they'll will be an announcement about the release of D&D Next in either June or July. Then the surprise announcement of at least one new product or product line to coincide with the release of D&D Next. Likely a new way of getting minis to people as its clear that Dungeon Command is no longer supported. They will also announce that after a couple of month hiatus, the new and improved Dragon magazine will be released. It will contain exclusive previews of D&D Next and possibly opportunities to get in on last minute closed beta testing of rules(possibly some rules that won't be in the core rulebooks but will be slated for one of the first expansion books). It will likely also include some sort of character builder for D&D Next.

Then at GenCon they'll make an announcement of the rest of the expansion books they have planned for the rest of the year.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) It will likely also include some sort of character builder for D&D Next. (snip)

Considering the abysmal track record that WotC has had with electronic tools, I wonder if the existence of a character builder will only be announced after it is already in its final form?

 

[Shemeska]

The product schedule includes not only RPG products, but novels as well. I find it very strange not even those are posted on the Products page.

They've been pimping the heck out of the FR Sundering novels in various places, including recordings of some of the authors discussing them.

However at the same time I've seen virtually no discussion of them going on (the FR boards on WotC's forums remain a ghost town with days or weeks between any new posts, and Candlekeep isn't as bad, but it's still seriously subdued compared to the 3e period).

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

They've been pimping the heck out of the FR Sundering novels in various places, including recordings of some of the authors discussing them.

However at the same time I've seen virtually no discussion of them going on (the FR boards on WotC's forums remain a ghost town with days or weeks between any new posts, and Candlekeep isn't as bad, but it's still seriously subdued compared to the 3e period).

Mind you, when was the last time you saw anyone discussing a DDi issue of Dungeon or Dragon online?

 

[delericho]

Mind you, when was the last time you saw anyone discussing a DDi issue of Dungeon or Dragon online?

There used to be monthly discussions of the contents pages, at least. IIRC, they were always on the dedicated 4e board here; I don't recall seeing them since that got folded into general D&D. So, how long ago did that re-org occur?

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

There used to be monthly discussions of the contents pages, at least. IIRC, they were always on the dedicated 4e board here; I don't recall seeing them since that got folded into general D&D. So, how long ago did that re-org occur?

A couple of years ago, perhaps?

Tempus fugit, and all that.