At Least 4 Months For Conversion Documents

Those waiting for official conversion documents from earlier editions of D&D to 5th edition are going to have to wait a bit longer. WotC's Mike Mearls says that "the person who needs to do the final approvals on them is serving on a jury that will take another 4 or so months. Sorry!" So it looks like we're talking July/August at the earliest. Thanks to Adrian for the scoop.

 

[Mercurius]

This puzzles me. While I can (and have) been critical of WotC over several things, I don't see how this one is indicative of a fumble.

They've had one of their few employees pulled into jury duty that will likely last 4 months. That's hardly WotC's fault!

And while they could probably shuffle things around a bit so that someone else does it, that's a question of priorities: is there someone else working on something lower priority? And is it worth taking a hit of retasking that person, letting them get up to speed on the halted project, and then finishing it off?

It would appear that the answer is no. Perhaps everyone else is busy putting the finishing touches to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, or to the next storyline, or the OGL, or bringing back the magazines, or whatever... I don't really know what it is, but if they're all on higher priority stuff, then fair enough.

And credit to WotC where it's due: they didn't have to tell us why there was a delay. Heck, they didn't even have to tell us that there was a delay, since they'd never actually told us when to expect these guides. But they did, and given the complaints about lack of communication, that's at least a step in the right direction.

I get that jury duty happens - hey, I actually just served a few weeks ago (although my trial was one day, thankfully). None of us knows the real story, which is undoubtedly more complex than we realize. But I'm simply pointing out that WotC finds a way, one way or another, to fumble things - and this isn't the only thing over the last year. I'm not even expecting perfectly smooth sailing and I'm not one to overly complain about things. I'm not speaking out of nerdrage, but more bemusement.

With regards to this communication, why not explain a bit more? They know their overly sensitive audience and that everything will be picked apart, over- and mis-interpreted. Why not say, "The guy who needs to do the final work is on jury duty AND we can't allocate other resources because everyone else is working on the OGL, Forgotten Realms setting book, etc - which you're going to love!"

Often it is what you don't say - and, as usual, they're not giving us much here.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Why not say, "The guy who needs to do the final work is on jury duty AND we can't allocate other resources because everyone else is working on the OGL, Forgotten Realms setting book, etc - which you're going to love!"

Often it is what you don't say - and, as usual, they're not giving us much here.

Because that wouldn't matter either. For a lot of people it STILL wouldn't be enough. It's NEVER enough. No matter what WotC does... a segment of populace is going to complain about it and say that WotC is mismanaged, horrible, unable to do the simplest things, yadda yadda yadda.

They could have said nothing about the docs. People would complain. So they give a reason WHY they are late. People are still complaining because it wasn't "enough". They could go ahead and add in the couple extra sentences you mentioned in your post, and people would then come back that THAT wasn't enough.

It's NEVER enough. Ever. Some people will find ANY reason to think WotC is horrible and constantly go on about it (here and elsewhere). It makes me wonder why any of these people even still bother to play the game in the first place when there are some many other companies out there that they probably think are the bees knees and they could play those games and have nothing but sunshine and daisies fly out of their books. I know I'd love it if all the people who can't help but complain about every single thing WotC does would finally just crap or get off the pot.

 

[delericho]

You can't possibly think it isn't something that would have lent itself to more easily being developed in tandem during the playtest.

It probably would have been easier, but it would still have taken time, which means delaying the release.

At some point you have to realize that this is the crux of what the conversion guide is and that it is a no-brainer to put it together at the same time.

"You can have the PHB released in Aug 2014 without a conversion guide, or you can have the PHB released in July 2015 with a conversion guide. Choose."

It's really not a no-brainer.

At some point someone needs to stop making excuses re-examine an employment policy that cuts them so thin they can't complete work this Spring that should have been done last Summer.

Unless of course WotC don't agree that it should have been done last Summer.

 

[Jester David]

Why would legal need to approve a document on how to use, say, 3E materials or characters in a 5E game?

Well, it's not a writer. We've seen them tweet and post articles. So it's either a manager or someone in another department (although, Crawford being absent would explain the first vague Sage Advice column and lack of a second).

I imagine legal needs to sign off on everything at WotC to make sure it complies to policies and doesn't include anything that could lead to a lawsuit.

I don't think we are talking about OGL or equivalent. That could be delayed for lots of reasons.

But it could easily be the same reason.

 

[Mark CMG]

I'm not speaking out of nerdrage, but more bemusement.

I'm with you on this. It's mind-bogglingly delicious.

Why not say, "The guy who needs to do the final work is on jury duty AND we can't allocate other resources because everyone else is working on the OGL(. . .)"

You're cracking me up, man. The DMG was late, they're struggling to get other products out that make money with an ever-decreasing staff, and now they're explaining that someone being out on jury duty is delaying a project from last Summer another third of a year. They aren't working on the OGL, IMO. They probably don't even have time to have meetings where they think up ways to imply they are while not committing to it.

 

[Mark CMG]

It probably would have been easier, but it would still have taken time, which means delaying the release.

Call me an optimist. I see a staff that is half full where you see a reason to cut and delay projects.

"You can have the PHB released in Aug 2014 without a conversion guide, or you can have the PHB released in July 2015 with a conversion guide. Choose."

It's really not a no-brainer.

. . . or have enough staff to include the conversion guide . . .

Unless of course WotC don't agree that it should have been done last Summer.

Sure, I can imagine some folks would disagree that the best time for the conversion guide is when the new edition is released. I wouldn't want them anywhere near the D&D IP but I can imagine them.

 

[Wicht]

That is ridiculus! WotC's communications have been top notch since 5e's launched!

In fact, communications are WotC's strenght, right after producing affordable books!

Is it sad if I can't tell if this is sarcasm or the legitimate opinions of a rabid fan?

 

[Shemeska]

Jury duty, the new 'printer problems' for the 21st century.

Not really, but it had to be said. That's got to be an annoying wrench thrown into schedules when the work is already done or mostly done.

 

[Wicht]

This puzzles me. While I can (and have) been critical of WotC over several things, I don't see how this one is indicative of a fumble.

Speaking as someone without a real dog in this hunt, I would hazard its because traditionally and appropriately, the standard time for releasing a conversion guide is the same day, or week, as the initial release of a new edition, not a year or two down the road. Most companies do normally manage to pull it off regardless of staff size.

 

[halfling rogue]

You know what would be cool, especially after the delay? If they released a conversion guide for each past edition along with a module of each edition. Maybe released in an article as a kind of "here's how we used the guide to convert this module from Edition X". So that we could get a conversion guide, the 'how we did it' article, and the new updated 5e adventure.