Challenge to WotC: Initiative

[Shortman McLeod]

Should've made it a double-dog dare - THAT would get their attention!

Yep, especially if we add a "no erasies" clause.

 

[Arnwyn]

Initiative will be familiar to anyone who has played a role-playing game. But will be easier and funner, make life simpler for the DM, and give players more options.

*choke*

 

[helium3]

I don't see why WOTC can't release bits of information about rules like initiative, slowly, in order to hype the new edition rules. I don't buy the resposne from WOTC that they can't reveal one bit without explaining everything so it makes sense. That is plainly contradicted by the reality of how 3.0 and 3.5 were released.

See, here's a bit of real life experience that might shed an interesting light. I'm designing a card game, and one of the early problems I had to deal with (and am still dealing with in fact) is that if you design a game that's too complex with too many interlocking parts it becomes very difficult to teach that game to other people, because explaining one part really requires being able to understand a different part to see how they work together.

So, perhaps 4E is much more complex compared to 3E than the designers are letting on?

 

[ThirdWizard]

I think that the reason some of you are jumping on this thread (ThirdWizard, Cadfan, yourself) is that you think WotC won't release the information, and you want to preemptively make this seem as though it was a good thing.

I think it is a smart thing. I think that releasing much of any hard information on 4e prior to Christmas would be a bad move, because they're still trying to move 3.5 edition product. The more people on the fence this year, the better for them! They can try and pull those people over after the holiday sales have ended. I imagine that this is the reason we haven't seen much in the way of hard mechanics so far in any of the articles or blogs, because their Marketing department (or maybe PR or both) are deciding what can and what cannot be talked about.

Think about it. Right now, their marketers like you more than me. I'm not buying any more 3.5 because I'm so optimistic that 4e will be better that I won't spend the money. But, since you're undecided, wanting to weigh the facts of the new system against your preferences, you might actually buy or get some 3.5 stuff between now and June. The more they make you want 4e, the less money they make for the next six months! They can wait to sell it to you.

Also, replying to questions posted is one thing. Replying to "challenges" to answer questions is probably a different matter. There's a difference between "Hey, I'm curious about X" and "I challenge you to tell us about X." Especially when there are timetables on things it starts to look like a demand. One is far more confrontational, and the more confrontational the message, the less likely to get a response (thus my "dare" post - I was unusually busy today at work or it would have been more in depth).

It's not about good and bad. I really don't care if they don't want to release any information at all, besides my own burgeoning curiosity. It's about business decisions and staying on whatever marketing path they've decided is best. I choose not to interpret their silence as a bad sign until May of next year. Others are free to interpret as they wish, and that's fine.

Maybe they will explain it. Maybe I'm totally wrong. And, if I am, feel free to point it out to me, I really won't mind! I'm wrong a lot. But, as Darkwolf71 said in the first response, I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Also, replying to questions posted is one thing. Replying to "challenges" to answer questions is probably a different matter. There's a difference between "Hey, I'm curious about X" and "I challenge you to tell us about X." Especially when there are timetables on things it starts to look like a demand. One is far more confrontational, and the more confrontational the message, the less likely to get a response (thus my "dare" post - I was unusually busy today at work or it would have been more in depth).

Hey, you! Do what I tell you!

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

RC, I am with ya on this, but I think that the marketing focus chosen will result in no answer to your 'challenge'.. at least, immediately.

Perhaps this thread will be read and provoke a move later on in the marketing campaign tto include a 'mech-head' front that visits solidly grounded forums {like this one} to expound on the crunchy stuff.

On the other hand, perhaps WoTC is pulling back from the all out OGL concept and wants to keep its crunchy bits safe from other companies until after publishing?

I am not in the printing biz, but isn't it a little late to not have the PHB layed out and off to press?

TerraDave ... Thanks for the chuckle!

 

[Hairfoot]

Quite simply, if 4E isn't dolphin-free, I won't buy it.

 

[grimslade]

I think WotC is keeping pretty close to the vest with 4E. I doubt we will see anything of substance before the new year. Most likely not anything until DDXP at the end of February. It is a departure from 3E's roll out. Most of the info we received for 3E was leaked by playtesters and then confirmed or denied by WotC. Playtesters today are locked away in a remote leper colony in Maine until 4E's release, so we will be getting precious little info from that avenue.
I would love to have more information now, but looking at the 'aggro' thread, I can understand why WotC isn't releasing more. I may not like it, but I understand it. There is precious little signal coming out of the noise on these and many other boards. It would be a full time job to sift through it. In the end, the 'dare' is not what got all those companies attention, it is the vote of the wallet. If 4E fails to sell, they will revise the rules and switch marketing. If it suceeds expect more market-blogs and adjective laden Design notes.

 

[glass]

Wait I'm confused...

Does this mean WOTC can, or cannot print "Dolphin Safe" on the PHB?

Depends on if the mystery 8th race is dolphins (or tuna)!


glass.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Most of the info we received for 3E was leaked by playtesters and then confirmed or denied by WotC.

I have a collection of Dragon magazines that suggests otherwise.....

ThirdWizard, you may be right about the holidays.

Hairfoot, with a new core MM every year, how will you ever know that dolphins won't show up eventually?

Otherwise, WotC reps have said that they were "bending over backward" to give us info. It cannot both be true that they are bending over backwards to give us info, and that they refuse to give us the smallest piece of requested info possible.


RC