Can Wizards turn around their D&D support?

[billd91]

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?

I would suspect quite a bit. Borders has been selling toys and games for years. They may not be a huge segment of their sales, but they've had them in stores for a long time.

 

[Incenjucar]

Personally, I find the removal of the "obsolete" versions of the monsters to be BS. They should be available, even if they're marked as obsolete, unless they're planning to release actual errata to correct them and the versions are nearly identical aside from numbers.

 

[Ninja-to]

WotC is supposed to use the D&D brand to deliver a profit to Hasbro shareholders. I don't think that the DDI offerings will ever be as good as they could be for the same reason that has always hampered the D&D brand, it is a niche market. This plan with the DDI is never going to work because they lack the subscriber base in order to justify the required development budget and residual subscription fees to put out a product of a quality that today's gamers expect. For the brand to explode digitally they need to bring something that can simulate the tabletop experience and add animation, voiceovers, and any other number of features that make the digital experience superior to regular tabletop play.

I agreed with your post except for the quote above.

Normally I'd have said that you're probably right here. However, after the old offline CB was released, and because it was very, very convenient and worked so well, I thought this was the new direction for D&D. Finally, we're getting close to a complete software package to run D&D from. I still like tabletop minis and mats, and I still like to roll dice. I was loving the chance though to run all I needed from a single, efficient application from a laptop. Imagine playing sound effects of things they PC's hear, showing them pictures of things they see... the possibilities are endless and so simple. There are kids living in basements pumping out software faster and cleaner than the 'teams' at WotC (Maptool, Masterplan etc).

As others have mentioned, I also have enough books and material to last me years in 4th Edition gaming. I don't need any more. What I would pay for is improved ease of use and if I could have digital gaming finally make it to my tabletop games (I have no use whatsoever for the VTT) then all the better.

But we know that's not going to happen any time soon, unfortunately.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Personally, I find the removal of the "obsolete" versions of the monsters to be BS. They should be available, even if they're marked as obsolete, unless they're planning to release actual errata to correct them and the versions are nearly identical aside from numbers.

It's quite the mixed-message they're sending; it's okay to retire monsters due to "obsolescence" but they can't/won't do the same thing for thousands of garbage feats and hundreds of powers?

The reason why it's okay for one and not the other eludes me (and before someone quotes me and posts the link - YES I know the "official" reason that the cruft is not being retired - it's a lame one).

 

[Incenjucar]

It's quite the mixed-message they're sending; it's okay to retire monsters due to "obsolescence" but they can't/won't do the same thing for thousands of garbage feats and hundreds of powers?

The reason why it's okay for one and not the other eludes me (and before someone quotes me and posts the link - YES I know the "official" reason that the cruft is not being retired - it's a lame one).

I actually just had this exact conversation online.

 

[Aegeri]

I actually just had this exact conversation online.

Yes, that you did

 

[Echohawk]

In some ways I think they shot themselves in the foot in terms of printed books. From where I'm sitting now I can look over the see the bookshelf+ full of 3.5 hardcovers I purchased from WotC. [...] My 4ed stuff is such a small collection next to it.

This made me curious about hardcover shelf space between 3rd and 4th editions, so...

3rd edition (including 3.5)
Time span: August 2000 - March 2008 (91 months)
Width of hardcovers on shelf: 155cm
Expansion rate: 1.7cm / month

4th edition
Time span: May 2008 - March 2011 (34 months)
Width of hardcovers on shelf: 52.5cm
Expansion rate: 1.54cm / month

So the change in hardcover releases between editions is about a 9% drop if measured by hardcover cm/month. That's less than it feels like to me!

 

[ProfessorCirno]

WotC has made a habit of killing off the worker bees once or twice a year; this time they should aim for the queen bee (and no I am not getting my genders confused; it's because of the testicle-free "leadership" that has been on display that I think "queen bee" is appropriate). ~ lets avoid insulting individuals please - Plane Sailing, ENworld admin ~

Know what helps get your point across?

Random, meaningless latent misogyny.

Mod Note: When you've seen a moderator address a point, we'd appreciate it if you left it alone thereafter. ~Umbran

 

[vaultdweller]

I'm wondering now how much of it is due to Bill Slavicsek.

Can someone remind me what Slavicsek's role in D&D is now? I remember reading about some position changes some time ago, but can't remember who ended up in charge of what.

 

[Balesir]

Publishing books and creating software are different types of businesses. While the people that create content can do so it needs to be converted in a way that is accessible and relevant to the consumers or users of the product. WotC has some really good creative minds at work but based on what we have seen with DDI I do not feel like they have a real clue about how to publish software. This can change, but until it does they will continue to alienate their subscriber base with substandard offerings.

Yep; they have fallen into an overcontrolling, paranoid mindset that is blocking any possibility of producing really excellent digital support. The key point they are missing is that, in software provision, you don't make money by "beating pirates" - you make money by pleasing paying customers and making them want to pay for what you offer. When pirates can offer a cheaper product that is just life - but when they can offer a better product you know the has reached raised hand level...

Having been on the inside of several successful and not so successful software development efforts, I can state categorically that the symptoms of the DDI problems indicate that that senior management has failed utterly. I'll bet y'all a case of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that I'm right.

That doesn't mean that middle management, PR, liasons with the non-software folks, developers, testers, etc. have been blameless. You get this kind of slow motion, digging out ahead of what is almost a train wreck, then there are multiple dropped balls*. But the main reason those guys are dropping balls is because senior management is micro managing (poorly), making bad budget decisions (cutting wrong here and bloat over there), and then compounding the problem by not taking responsibility.

All good - but you forgot policy. The overall policy and strategy for DDI has been increasingly borked, and the responsibility for that falls squarely with the senior management. I 100% agree with you, though, that the problem is not with the worker bees or the lower management levels - the problem is at the top, and without that right, all the rest is doomed to futility.