Are the official WotC forums worth going to?

[Morrus]

Going back to the actual subject at hand -- there are two big differences between WotC's messageboards and EN World's:

1) Size - WotC's boards are enormous, and so a lot more is going on at any given time. This has two effects. First, you get a much wider demographic, so there will be more good posters as well as more "bad" posters. One of the unfortunate things in life is that the "bad" seems to stand out more, while the good chugs away happily in the background. Second, the job of moderation becomes much, much harder -- the WizO's have to keep track of a lot more than the mods here at EN World do. Having a strict set of rules makes that job easier, while we at EN World can get away with a more flexible approach.

2) Ownership -- WotC's messagaboards are owned by a corporation, whilst EN World is owned by an individual. This naturally makes for different environments. One of the most obvious differences is that WotC's boards reflect WotC's own product lines, whereas the forums here are generally broader in scope. That's not a bad thing (as WotC's enormous membership shows), but it probably attracts different types of people -- notably those who are after support for official D&D products, as opposed to those who are into d20 gaming in general.

I don't spend much time at WotC's boards because I don't have the time, and if I'm going to be spending time on any messageboard on the internet, it's going to be my own! My general impression, from the few times I have glanced over those boards, is that the demographic appears to be a bit younger than it is here (I think the average age here is in the late twenties).

 

[Impeesa]

Sometimes I take a look around several different areas just to see what's up, but currently I visit the WotC boards primarily for the Character Optimization board. The people there are incredibly clever, and help keep me on my toes with my own crazy builds.

--Impeesa--

 

[RavenProject]

I ceased to visit the WotC boards not because of the immaturity (which can be ignored) but because of the huge amount of people who have no idea about the rules but always seem to be first at answering questions. I'm one of those guys who believe, that one should only answer questions if he's 150% sure about it or has looked it up in the rules. However, over there at WotC, you'll find 5 completly wrong answers on top of 1 that's correct.

So, for me it is quality or better said the lack thereof, that stops me from visiting the official D&D boards.

 

[DaveMage]

I also can't understand why novel discussion was banned in the FR forum. Was it because the mods got tired of people using R.A. Salvatore as a punching bag?

Just a guess - maybe they don't want the liability risk if someone posts an idea for a story. Alternatively, they may have had complaints about spoilers.

Again, just guessing.

 

[Dinkeldog]

I primarily go to the psionics forum over there, but perhaps I'll start looking through the Eberron and FR forums as well. When I have time, which is always a precious commodity.

 

[dren]

I browse the monster and psionics posts at WoTC exclusively. Nothing else on those boards really appeals to me since I play in my own homebrew and have little interest in picking up every book or supplement.
I like the broad nature of ENW a lot more, plus folks are friendlier. I play the game, know the rules quite well, but virtually everyone there seem to know to have maximized rules optimization for maxing out characters. Also, the flamings have really turned me off. I can see new users being bombarded with butt-munchers ready to jump on the smallest error...then being intimidated and not asking questions that really needed answering.

Morrus, you, and everyone else here at ENW, rock!

 

[nHammer]

Reading the responses that talk about board moderation on WOTC's boards and on these boards, something came to mind. The title of this thread is "Are the official WotC forums worth going to?". Nowhere in dreaded_beast's first post did he ask for a comparison of WOTC's boards and EN World's boards. I think a comparison of the boards is just asking for trouble. Maybe some moding is need here.

 

[MerricB]

As with any board, it's what you make of it. There are idiots on both boards.

I love the Miniatures forums on Wizards because you have two wonderful designers - Mike Donais and Rob Heinsoo - posting there frequently about the game. They read the posts, and pay attention to what's going on.

You have Rich Baker on the FR boards in a long-running thread on all things FR.

And every so often Ed Stark, Andy Collins, Andy Smith or some other WotC person will pop up and tell you what they've been working on or why something was designed the way it was.

Cheers!

 

[Gothmog]

In general, I'd say checking/posting on the WotC boards aren't worth the trouble. The general maturity level over there is VERY low, and there are several posters (ones mentioned earlier in this thread) who seem to eagerly wait to jump down other's throats and try to intimidate, humiliate, and bully them with virtually no consequences by the WizOs.

Also, I have noticed an incredible resistance to discussing rules or ideas that depart from the core rules conventions in some way. Such a suggestion is usually met with outright derision and hostility by the fanboys there. Its as if many of the posters there cannot conceive that people might WANT to play the game differently than the way its presented in the books, and want some feedback from others. Instead, they are barraged with a stream of "thats broken", or "you shafted the x", or "that screws up the build of y". Shudder.

Powergamers and munchkins also run rampant over there, and a person asking advice about a lower powered game or roleplaying is often trolled by the twinks. The Character Optomization threads are a DMs nightmare come true, and all the talk of "builds" and maximizing characters with no thought at all given to character concept or personality just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[EricNoah]

I would say dreaded_beast now has a good selection of opinions to go by, and I don't see this thread going anywhere positive soon. As I said when I first posted, this kind of thread makes me uncomfortable simply because it inevitably turns into "why we rule, and why they suck" which I don't feel is a very fair thing to do especially in a sort of "behind the other's back" kind of way. EN World is part of a larger community of gaming websites and as such we need to treat the other sub-communities with respect. I dunno. Does anyone feel that there needs to be a lot more discussion on this issue?