Can Wizards turn around their D&D support?

[MerricB]

Tell that to the people at Paizo - they seem to be doing just fine with sticking to print.

Note well that Paizo are *not* sticking to print. They have quite a few PDFs now!

It's also very hard to say "Paizo are doing well" and assuming Wizards can do the same, if just due to their difference in size (not necessarily the size of product runs, but certainly of the organisation).

(I'm curious as to whether Paizo could do the D&D boardgames itself if it wanted to...)

Cheers!

 

[Mercurius]

Note well that Paizo are *not* sticking to print. They have quite a few PDFs now!

It's also very hard to say "Paizo are doing well" and assuming Wizards can do the same, if just due to their difference in size (not necessarily the size of product runs, but certainly of the organisation).

(I'm curious as to whether Paizo could do the D&D boardgames itself if it wanted to...)

I thought of the same thing - that Paizo may be doing well because they are a smaller company. It may be that in this day and age an RPG company can only really top out at Paizo's size. In some ways I think WotC may be similar to something like Borders or Barnes & Noble - they expanded and expanded in the 90s and early 00s but since the internet has become some dominant they weren't able to sustain their level, so we have Borders downsizing (which may help B&N, at least in the short term).

On the other hand, part of my point is that if you produce a quality product in a regular, timely manner and have good customer relations and communication, then you will be successful. It is a tried and true business formula - quality + customer service = success - that works almost without fail. So I'm not sure that we can say that WotC's recent "troubles" are solely because of the (alleged) slimming of the market - I think it is a pit that they've dug themselves into.

 

[Shemeska]

In some ways I think WotC may be similar to something like Borders or Barnes & Noble

Speaking of Borders, it appears that they owe somewhere between 100k and 3million to Hasbro. So how much in Borders from Hasbro is from somewhere other than WotC?

 

[Tazawa]

The chance that Trevor posted something without having run it through the various departments it touches for approval approaches 0.

This quote pretty much sums up WotC's communication problem. The fact that their community manager has to get approval from multiple departments before posting on their company message boards shows how serious their problems are. It shows that their management doesn't trust their own employees to do their jobs and have resorted to micro-managing every interaction with their customers.

 

[MerricB]

So I'm not sure that we can say that WotC's recent "troubles" are solely because of the (alleged) slimming of the market - I think it is a pit that they've dug themselves into.

I think it's a combination of factors. One thing I find really amusing is how people are claiming D&D Miniatures "failed". Hmm - around for seven years! That's pretty good for a product that made a *lot* of money, and that had to be retired due to the changing economic conditions.

One of the other games I play is BattleTech, and Catalyst seems to have gotten themselves out of the financial hole they were in (really impressive, actually). They've done this with a combination of print and PDF-exclusive products. I really, really love their PDF-exclusives, partly because of the low cost, partly because I don't have to store physical copies of them, and partly because PDF is actually a pretty good format for them. (The new Intro Boxed set is just coming out. Hooray!)

Cheers!

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

This quote pretty much sums up WotC's communication problem. The fact that their community manager has to get approval from multiple departments before posting on their company message boards shows how serious their problems are. It shows that their management doesn't trust their own employees to do their jobs and have resorted to micro-managing every interaction with their customers.

That's pretty typical of corporate policy in my experience (both from the inside, and looking in from outside).

I agree that it sucks, but so do most hierarchical power structures.

 

[Ninja-to]

We really should try to avoid making claims before something actually exists.

WotC's track record may not be great, but it doesn't do our hobby any good if we start speculating ourselves into misery.

Interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong (which I totally could be) but aren't the updated dragon stats and abilities only available in the DDi Compendium (which you have to pay for)?

 

[Incenjucar]

Interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong (which I totally could be) but aren't the updated dragon stats and abilities only available in the DDi Compendium (which you have to pay for)?

The new versions of monsters are in the Monster Vault boxed set. Old versions are still viable, they just present a slower, less-dangerous encounter.

 

[Incenjucar]

This quote pretty much sums up WotC's communication problem. The fact that their community manager has to get approval from multiple departments before posting on their company message boards shows how serious their problems are. It shows that their management doesn't trust their own employees to do their jobs and have resorted to micro-managing every interaction with their customers.

Considering the backlash from so many of the recent articles, I can't blame the management for their lack of trust. WotC's communication problem is more in quality than in quantity these days. They have provided incorrect information, provided information in a snarky tone, and provided information in a way that sounds like political spin. Many of them are wonderful designers, but many of them are equally bad communicators lately. Possibly due to stress, possibly due to pressure from above, possibly due to a dozen other factors, but the issue remains.

 

[Aegeri]

The new versions of monsters are in the Monster Vault boxed set. Old versions are still viable, they just present a slower, less-dangerous encounter.

He does have a bit of an argument here though. If you check the compendium, try looking for the old "Young White Dragon" in it. You'll soon find that in an odd decision, Wizards have in fact completely replaced the old MM White Dragon with the MV version.

Personally though the Dragons were okayish at low levels. It was the higher level ones that suffered a lot from the usual solo problems. At the same time the old dragons are very very very easily fixed. More damage is simple. Then they get action recovery and instinctive action from whatever the original dragon was.

Simple.