Do you think Eberron will go the way of Ghostwalk?
- Thread starter dreaded_beast
- Start date
Food metaphors are soooo 20th century.Belegbeth said:Trying to please everyone is the surest way to ensure an mediocre product. Some people like Pilsner Urquell, other people like Glenmorangie. Yet others like Kona coffee or Earl Grey Tea. Mix them together and you get ...
Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches.
Have a picture of a dinosaur on me.
johnsemlak
First Post
Awesome link. That should be required reading for D&D-fan site messageboard users.MerricB said:
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Morgenstern
First Post
Belegbeth said:
Ok, I'll bite - what would be better? Hog-riding halflings?
You're small, but you would like to have mounts, arguably one of THE greatest advances of the human species here in the real world. If you are a sensible, want-to-live kinda race, you look at what's around, and you start breeding whatever is closest to the mark to meet your needs.
We would be dinosaur riders if that was what was around. Cripes, it's not like people give Luke and Han endless crap for riding around on horned kangaroos in a world with speeders.
You use what you've got, and the halflings had lizards. What's the big deal?
Calico_Jack73
First Post
MerricB said:
Sorry, gotta speak my mind about this...
Given that a vast majority of players order games on-line these days I don't think that game/book store presence really matters that much anymore. In pretty much every case I can buy a book cheaper on Amazon than I can at a book store and I know right away if they do or don't have the book. I don't have to call all over town looking to see if any of the stores have it in stock. WoTC pisses me off over the cost of their materials. When I originally bought my Scarred Lands books I did so because their books had great content AND cost quite a bit less than WoTC. Case in point... The FR Campaign Setting book cost $40 and my Ghelspad book cost me only $30. Sword & Sorcery also oftentimes runs specials where you can buy bundles of books for much less than if you bought them separately. Good products and good prices made me move away from WoTC to support 3rd party publishers.
WizarDru
Adventurer
I'm not arguing with you here...but do you have any evidence to back up that claim? It's a pretty bold assertion, really. I buy some books online...but others I don't. I'm buying Mutants and Masterminds in a store, where the discount is the same as the online purchasers. I bought several of my WotC books online, but some books I've bought in person as an impulse buy. I'm just not sure I accept that the millions of D&D books that have been sold are being done so online....especially when I see D&D books at BJs for $20.Calico_Jack73 said:
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Calico_Jack73
First Post
WizarDru said:
I'd take the fact that WoTC is closing up most of their stores as a signal that they are losing money by selling books in their retail stores.
Okay I was a bit bold in saying "The Majority" and I take that back. I know that there are people out there who are loyal to their FLGS and don't mind paying extra and say that buying on-line undermines the hobby. I disagree... the publishers are still making their money and they are the ones who produce the necessary materials for us to continue the hobby. I value every dollar I make. Just because I have a good job and can afford to pay more at a FLGS doesn't mean that I want to waste my money. If I can get it at Amazon for less, I will. Still, you can't ignore the fact that WoTC was losing money at their retail stores and I would have to assume that it wasn't the FLGS that was causing it. Some say that it is because the FLGSs sponsor more events which is rubbish... the WoTC store in DC sponsored in-store events all the time. If the WoTC stores were making money they'd be opening more, not closing the ones they had. They certainly had a better selection for d20 books than any FLGS or mainstream book store so selection wasn't the issue.
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Note: The Ghelspad book is only 224 pages, while the FRCS is 320 (and with a rather small font). FRCS is also hardcover, has color throughout, and comes with a map - I don't know if these also apply to Ghelspad, because the WW catalog only lists the page count. In other words, the FRCS might be more expensive, but you also get more stuff.Calico_Jack73 said:
WizarDru
Adventurer
Well, maybe yours did...but I think that says more about your local gaming stores than WotC. WotC is closing it's retail stores because they were a bad idea, poorly conceived and poorly managed. Our local WotC store opened, and it was cool, but not profitable. They had a section for LAN gaming, but at prices that precluded them making any money. They tried to sell video and computer games, but at much higher prices than any other store, such as Electronics Boutique, Game Stop, Babbages and every major department or toy store except Kay-B (and you saw what happened to them). They had a reasonable selection of stuff, but they had to sell at full retail, as opposed to the nearby comic shop and the hobby store that had already been in the mall for 2 decades, and already had a loyal base.Calico_Jack73 said:
After the fiasco over Sword & Fist, the WotC stores were some of the last to receive WotC product, and the first to be shorted when print runs ran low. More than once, I went to WotC first, found they DIDN'T HAVE A WOTC PRODUCT, and then walked across the mall to the hobby store to buy it there. In the rush to prevent the alienating their retailers, WotC took away their stores greatest strength. They hired two kinds of employees, that I could tell: gamers who didn't work and workers who didn't game.
After they yanked out the LAN equipment, much of their RPG section and divested themselves, eventually, of all their overpriced videogames...they became another Spencers, with more parlor games. And all of this ignores the really terrible economy and changing market dynamics of the last four years, not the least of which has been three successive waves of layoffs at WotC itself. Is it any wonder that WotC has been closing the stores down?
In short, the WotC stores failure has nothing to do with how much people buy online, IMHO; any more than they indicate the failure of video games to sell in the retail channel or LAN gaming facilities. It shows that WotC had no idea how to run a chain of game stores, and probably should never have entered into them in the first place.
Now, that doesn't mean that more and more folks aren't buying their books online. They surely are. But many FLGS offer discounts to their better customers that match online purchases, with no delivery hassle or shipping costs. Purchasing a book at a FLGS isn't always just throwing money down a hole.
That said, I think the online purchase method is only going to gain in strength, but it will never fully replace the bookstore. Those stores that recognize that service is what keeps me coming in will keep my business. Amazon and gameoutfitters are swell, but they don't recommend things to me, or have browsing space that's organized...and they don't sell minis or other supplies, either.
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