Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pickin_grinnin" data-source="post: 6297758" data-attributes="member: 6697674">No.&nbsp; I have lost all faith that they WILL produce a good product.&nbsp; They are capable of doing so.&nbsp; Whether they will or not is less of a sure thing than it was in the past, though.WotC has gone through a lot of changes over the years, including being purchased by Hasbro.&nbsp; What they did in their earlier, smaller years as a company doesn't necessarily relate to how they will make decisions now.&nbsp; The decisions they have made about their card games is irrelevant - that's a whole other industry in and of itself.&nbsp; The fact is that they made a big blunder with 4e.&nbsp; It wasn't a bad game in and of itself, and if it had been released as a whole new game there wouldn't have been so much controversy.&nbsp; As the next version of D&amp;D, though, it alienated a large portion of the established customer base.&nbsp; Some of the changes they made were done in an effort to make the game more appealing to video gamers, on the mistaken assumption that they could draw in a lot of people from that demographic.&nbsp; That shows some very short-term, dangerously flawed thinking.Marvel and DC use the same flawed logic when they reboot their universes to make them more &quot;accesssible&quot; to non-comic readers.&nbsp; What happens is that the big media push brings in a few non-customers, most of whom are interested for a short time and then wander off.&nbsp; Then you're left with your regular core base of customers, many of whom you have alienated.&nbsp; That's what happened with 4e, too.If WotC had been smart about how they did 4e, Pathfinder would never be the big thing it is today.&nbsp; They handed away a significant part of their long-term customer base, for no reason.&nbsp; That points to some seriously bad understanding of the business and their customers.Going into 5e, we have the WotC people who completely missed the mark on a major release of the main product in their biggest brand, coupled with influences from Hasbro, a company that has no real history with this type of game.&nbsp; They may pull it off and put out a version of D&amp;D that make people forgive them for 4e, or it all may turn into a train wreck.&nbsp; Given their history with D&amp;D in the fairly recent past when they last tried a really big, complete overhaul, there is reason to be cautious.Trying to extend the D&amp;D brand into other media and products is a smart thing, but I think it will ultimately fail.&nbsp; D&amp;D is a very derivative work - primarily Tolkien with a mishmash of other fantasy worlds thrown in.&nbsp; When your average person looks at a D&amp;D world, characters, monsters, etc., it all looks very cliche.&nbsp; There is nothing that inherently sets it apart from any other high fantasy setting.&nbsp; Non-roleplayers don't care if their games or cartoons or action figures have the D&amp;D brand or not.&nbsp; Without any real uniqueness, it becomes hard to leverage into a multimedia/cross-product success.&nbsp; That's why it has never worked in the past, despite a lot of effort, and why it probably won't work now, even with Hasbro's marketing power.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pickin_grinnin, post: 6297758, member: 6697674"] No. I have lost all faith that they WILL produce a good product. They are capable of doing so. Whether they will or not is less of a sure thing than it was in the past, though. WotC has gone through a lot of changes over the years, including being purchased by Hasbro. What they did in their earlier, smaller years as a company doesn't necessarily relate to how they will make decisions now. The decisions they have made about their card games is irrelevant - that's a whole other industry in and of itself. The fact is that they made a big blunder with 4e. It wasn't a bad game in and of itself, and if it had been released as a whole new game there wouldn't have been so much controversy. As the next version of D&D, though, it alienated a large portion of the established customer base. Some of the changes they made were done in an effort to make the game more appealing to video gamers, on the mistaken assumption that they could draw in a lot of people from that demographic. That shows some very short-term, dangerously flawed thinking. Marvel and DC use the same flawed logic when they reboot their universes to make them more "accesssible" to non-comic readers. What happens is that the big media push brings in a few non-customers, most of whom are interested for a short time and then wander off. Then you're left with your regular core base of customers, many of whom you have alienated. That's what happened with 4e, too. If WotC had been smart about how they did 4e, Pathfinder would never be the big thing it is today. They handed away a significant part of their long-term customer base, for no reason. That points to some seriously bad understanding of the business and their customers. Going into 5e, we have the WotC people who completely missed the mark on a major release of the main product in their biggest brand, coupled with influences from Hasbro, a company that has no real history with this type of game. They may pull it off and put out a version of D&D that make people forgive them for 4e, or it all may turn into a train wreck. Given their history with D&D in the fairly recent past when they last tried a really big, complete overhaul, there is reason to be cautious. Trying to extend the D&D brand into other media and products is a smart thing, but I think it will ultimately fail. D&D is a very derivative work - primarily Tolkien with a mishmash of other fantasy worlds thrown in. When your average person looks at a D&D world, characters, monsters, etc., it all looks very cliche. There is nothing that inherently sets it apart from any other high fantasy setting. Non-roleplayers don't care if their games or cartoons or action figures have the D&D brand or not. Without any real uniqueness, it becomes hard to leverage into a multimedia/cross-product success. That's why it has never worked in the past, despite a lot of effort, and why it probably won't work now, even with Hasbro's marketing power. [/QUOTE]

Verification