Class Compendium: Gone?

[Echohawk]

Honestly, Aegeri, it amazes me how much people HANG on every bit that shows up on the WotC site.

This is very true. There have been several products -- particularly novels, but also power cards, minis and an occasional game product -- that have been released without ever making it to the online catalog. I wouldn't read terribly much into the sudden disappearance of items from the WotC web site. My guess is that if anything, products have been delayed, not canceled.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

This is very true. There have been several products -- particularly novels, but also power cards, minis and an occasional game product -- that have been released without ever making it to the online catalog. I wouldn't read terribly much into the sudden disappearance of items from the WotC web site. My guess is that if anything, products have been delayed, not canceled.

A patch of rough seas slowed the freighter coming from China with the books. Maybe it even sank and they had to reprint the whole run. Who knows. I agree that it's hardly worth panicking over.

 

[Shroomy]

Were these books actually ever removed from Amazon? Because the Amazon frontpage is telling me that I should preorder the Class Compendium and Mordenkainen's Magnificient Emporium right now as of a minute ago.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Seems to me that WotC really needs some better PR people involved in their product placement online. I mean, assuming that it was simply an error (say, the products are being revised with finals for the covers in place, and a web designer takes off the old listings then goes on holiday before putting the new listings up) that's still showing a lack of recognition that the hardcore thrive on their site details (crumbs). And, for better or worse, the hardcore are the ones on forums and blogs going nuts every time something weird happens without explanation.

Still, I think the fact that the preview articles for CC being absent is a sign that the product has been pulled. Just hoping its because they are delayed and not because they have been pulled. I'm not buying any Fortune Cards from them, only books.

Honestly, haven't seen D&D's product lineup in such a disarray since, oh, 1996 or so....

 

[The Little Raven]

Honestly, haven't seen D&D's product lineup in such a disarray since, oh, 1996 or so....

Not even in the same ballpark. 1996's disarray led to TSR ceasing publication on anything, and employees worrying that the company could not pay them. WotC is nowhere near that point, or Hasbro would have mentioned it on their last phone call.

Right now, we have a change in a computer catalog that occurred while WotC offices are closed down for the holidays. We haven't heard from anyone because they're all spending time with their families instead of monitoring our nerdrage. Let's wait until people are back in the office and they realize what we're all buzzing about before we jump to any conclusions.

 

[davethegame]

In '09, there ended up being some shuffling of products from what was announced at Gen Con to the announcements at DDXP (that ended up being the actual schedule.)

Gen Con '09: GenCon 2009: 4e Extravaganza (with Photos) : Critical Hits
DDXP '10: Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-01-31 : Critical Hits

Gen Con had no mention of Essentials or Gamma World, and from what I understand, Essentials had a pretty short turnaround compared to other products. I wouldn't be surprised if they've decided to re-do the schedule for next year since they can produce products on a shorter time frame and have gotten reactions to Essentials. Further evidence of some shuffling is this: Arcane Springboard: New unannounced D&D 4e products coming?

For reference, Gen Con '10: Gen Con 2010: D&D New Products Seminar : Critical Hits

I'd be pretty sad if the Emporium book disappeared- magic items, especially taking into account the new rules, are an underdeveloped part of the system right now. Unless we're getting a bunch of updates digitally to classify old items (and more than just saying everything's uncommon), it's going to remain a weak point.

 

[pedr]

The downloadable instructions for Season 4 of Encounters says that, while the printed adventure says that Class Compendium is available for character creation, it is actually not (going to be) available.

So there is confirmation that WotC are not expecting the Class Compendium to be released in time for a Feb 9th event.

The instructions do mention the shadow-based products as part of Season 5 so they still seem to be planned. ("NEXT SEASON: THE DARK LEGACY OF EVARD Get ready to take a walk on the dark side in the next season of D&D Encounters, featuring material from Heroes of Shadow and The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond!")

(Now I have access to the PDF again, here's the exact quotation: "Note: The adventure lists Class Compendium as a player resource, but that product is unavailable during this season." The instructions also discuss the way that Fortune Cards will work, and explains that the Twitter buffs will enhance the use of fortune cards rather than being standalone boons for the players. Cards aren't required, but the suggestion is that players buy two booster packs for the first week, at least. The player rewards for the season are additional Fortune Cards)

 

[AlioTheFool]

The Class Compendium book's promise of having multiclassing rules was the only reason I went and dumped money into all of the Essentials products (Lord knows my players want nothing to do with them). If that book doesn't come out, the only thing I'll buy from Wizards after that is minis. I really hope this is a mistake, but I also highly doubt it. I wrote a blog post a couple of months ago running down the list of things WotC has told us to wait patiently for and not delivered. Looks like they're going to add to that list.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The downloadable instructions for Season 4 of Encounters says that, while the printed adventure says that Class Compendium is available for character creation, it is actually not (going to be) available.

So there is confirmation that WotC are not expecting the Class Compendium to be released in time for a Feb 9th event.

The instructions do mention the shadow-based products as part of Season 5 so they still seem to be planned.

Wasn't the release date always Feb 15? I mean I guess that means it might have been available on a limited basis by the 4th, but not all stores that run Encounters are premier stores. Not really sure why, given that, it was ever listed as a resource that would be available for a Feb 9th event... Sounds more like they goofed on that to start with. Then again I haven't got anywhere to play in Encounters since my FLGS is staffed by 4e haters or something, so maybe I'm just not up to speed on how all that works.

 

[Rydac]

The downloadable instructions for Season 4 of Encounters says that, while the printed adventure says that Class Compendium is available for character creation, it is actually not (going to be) available.

Pedr any chance of link to the downloadable instructions for season 4?