Cost of Core Books PDFs

[JoeGKushner]

If Scott's replying to questions, can he answer this one.

Have the PDF's been updated with the errata as it currently stands now?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

If Scott's replying to questions, can he answer this one.

Have the PDF's been updated with the errata as it currently stands now?

No they are the same files as the books in print now.

 

[JoeGKushner]

No they are the same files as the books in print now.

If there are updated, when there be different version numbers so that people know how current the errata is on the books?

Any guess on how long it'll take to errata the books?

 

[Voadam]

Ultimately, you as a consumer will prove me right or wrong.

Yep, just want to give you feedback.

I buy lots of gaming pdfs and the 4e pdf books are within the monthly budget I set for myself.

I'm continuing with 3e for now, however, and not buying the 4e books or the 4e pdfs.

If there had been an srd with the game rules I could reference online I would already know the rules and might be testing D&D now in a pbp game and considering how I liked how the game plays. Based on my experiences with 3e and 3.5 if I adopted 4e I would be getting a lot of 4e sourcebooks in the future.

I was given the 4e DMG as a present and I'm reading through it but I'm not that interested in investing a lot of money at the moment in investigating a new system I might like or not like. $50 is more than I want to invest in trying out a new game right now. Instead I'm spending my $50 monthly gaming budget on 3e OGL pdfs for the immediate future as that is the system used in the games I am playing in and DMing.

I'm familiar and comfortable with 3e, have the house rules I like, I have tons of material for it, and tons of material available to buy for it that I am interested in getting. That last part is the real competition for my gaming budget money.

Buying 5 Scarred Lands pdfs is a more attractive choice for me than buying one 4e pdf. Buying 6 2e D&D pdfs looks more attractive to me than buying one 4e pdf right now even though I am not currently playing 2e.

4e is pretty much in the same place as Exalted for me right now. It looks interesting with many cool aspects but is an expensive different system that I am not currently playing and would have to learn. If either was priced significantly cheaper I'd pick up pdfs of them and check them out, but as things stand they have priced themselves out of the range I'm currently willing to spend on them. I therefore spend my money on other gaming pdfs.

I'm disappointed that the 4e pdfs were not priced within a range to get me to consider getting them. If they were, or if I receive both other core books as gifts, I expect I will check out the whole system.

Hope this feedback was useful to you.

 

[Vanuslux]

I'm somewhat on the fence. I'm certainly not buying books I already own for the current 4e PDF prices, but if the prices of the PDF stay comparable to Amazon prices then I very well might start giving my money to RPGNow again instead of Amazon. I do think the prices now are still on the steep side, but I don't think they're completely insane like some people seem to think. When they were charging full retail for PDFs, that was insane (in my opinion).

 

[Lazybones]

It seems like the solution is for Amazon to start selling PDFs. I imagine that the cost of serving a PDF (storage and bandwidth) is significantly less than the cost of storing and delivering a print book.

Amazon might even be willing to sell a bundled book and PDF.

Hmm... a Kindle version, perhaps?

 

[Darkwolf71]

Hmm. I busted TB for snark? Could you maybe point that out? I agree with the previous posters, you seem a might bit touchy today. Perhaps decaf?

Sure thing.

You know, there is a reason there is both a Walmart and Tiffany's. Or Kia and BMW. Its all about what you value, what you're willing to pay ... and if you're capable of paying for it. Consider, for a moment, that you're simply not the target market. Do you similarly snark at someone for buying a Rolex? Or a BMW?


The fact that so many folks here have their panties in such a wad over the price of gaming PDFs (luxury items!)

You seem to think that buying both a PDF and physical copy of a book is "irresponsible". I don't think owning copies of each are - nor do I think your example above is relevant. Two copies of a movie offer you the same thing. A PDF and a physical book may have the same content, but offer different benefits.

No, I think buying both a PDF and and physical copy of a book at full price is irresponsible.

I love books. I like to be able to see/feel/touch them. I love the smell of books. But I can't copy information out of one and port it to another document easily. Searching for specifics term is slow, especially if said term isn't in the TOC or Index. Even moreso if you're not sure which term a book is in. (But those seaches are damn easy with PDFs!) And you ever try to travel with 100 gaming books in your backpack/luggage? Not the most efficient use of space.

I never said PDFs didn't have their uses. If I thought that, I wouldn't give a rip about the price, now would I?

You know, it occurs to me that we have a television upstairs, one in the bedroom, and one in the living room. We pay for cable for each. Is that a waste? Is that irresponsible? I have a variety of wedges in my golf bag. Is that a waste? Is that irresponsible? Last night we went to a Quote-a-Long showing of the Princess Bridge, despite the fact I've seen it dozens of times, and own the DVD. A waste? Irresponsible?


Utility comes in a variety of forms. Too bad so many folks seem to be of the opinion that their definition can be the only one, and decide

And it occurs to me that I must have hurt your feelings, because now your just being snippy.

Oh, let's not forget:

- not to mention the folks that simply MUST BE RIGHT AT ALL COSTS - just blows my mind.

because the irony is the best thing you've posted all day.

 

[portermj]

I understand where people are coming from. When one sees a physical book on sale for $21.99 it only seems logical that the PDF should cost at most $21.99. IMO that is a oversimplification of the issue but it is all many of you have to go on without better industry insight or insider information.

Ultimately, you as a consumer will prove me right or wrong.

Thanks for your response, but isn't there a middleman between WOTC and retailers that isn't there for PDF's?

 

[ki11erDM]

No they are the same files as the books in print now.

Man. That is the one thing I want to know before I hit the buy button. That would single handedly make them better than the other... ones... I might have... seen some place. Any way! If you guys commit to pushing out the ‘updates’ to your 4e catalogue it would make it worth my while to pay for both versions or move over to PDF for some buys.

I know you will be putting out the updates on DDI but would be darn nice to have them in PDF form.

 

[sjmiller]

Have the PDF's been updated with the errata as it currently stands now?

No they are the same files as the books in print now.

Scott, I must say, this is a point where I feel you have really dropped the ball. A pdf can usually be updated quickly and easily. I know this because it is what I used to do for part of my last job. As long as the fixes are minor and do not cause changes in page breaks and the like, I can't see why WotC does not make the errata changes in the pdf before selling it. If the pdf is updated in the near future, will those buying it now be able to download the corrected version, or will they have to buy a new one? With a print copy the errata is not as big a deal, as they can be hand written into the book. Not so with the pdfs.

Now, I will freely admit, I have not seen the current errata, so I cannot tell if the changes are major page changes or not.