Does Wizards of the Coast deserve our business?

[theoremtank]

Many of the people on these boards are probably aware of Wizards of the Coasts software product eTools. Those that purchased it (average $30 - $40) know that the product was essentially put out incomplete and very buggy. Nonetheless, many eTools customers have found this product to be essentially without support. Numerous people have contacted Wizards of the Coast via email, snail mail, and telephone about their dissatisfaction and inquiries about patches. How has Wizards of the Coast responded to the widescaple dissatisfaction from their paying customers? Wizards of the Coast has chosen to ignore them! That means ignoring the emails and letters of paying customers and essentially giving out no information over the phone. They have commited to nothing in regards to supporting eTools to their paying customers. Which is all most eTools customers want to hear. People on these boards would be hard pressed to find any mention of this failed software product on the official Wizards of the Coast site. If Wizards is proud of this product why are they not pushing it more on their site? There are those eTools customers that believe the product has some use and potential if it was ever finished, however the majority of these people I'm guessing are completely dissatisfied with the support.

Ultimately the question I'm posing for discussion is this....Do you want to continue to give your business to a company that has thus far treated its paying customers with such a level of unprofessionalism and disrespect?

 

[KenM]

I belive that wizards refers everthing about etools to fluid, the company that made it. fluids forms went down 2 days after etools came out because it was flooded with questions. The offical response was "we did not antichpate such I high volume regaurding this product" total BS, IMO. this proctuct, orginally master tools, was delayed a year and half. The fourms are back up now, but this total lack of support is unaccaptible from a professional company.

 

[Dr Midnight]

As I understand it, E-Tools and its time as Mastertools was a big big heartbreak for Wizards. They invested a ton of time and money into the thing, and when they stood back to look at what they had, they weren't happy. They released E-Tools, which is a dramatically cut-down version of what they'd been developing, and have been trying to cut their losses by putting it out and at least making a little money, if not what they'd need to be profitable. This might explain why they're not really PUSHING the product... they're just recouping what they can.

Again, this is just "as I understand it" and guess.

Do you want to continue to give your business to a company that has thus far treated its paying customers with such a level of unprofessionalism and disrespect?

I think that's unfair, considering that this is a struggling company still putting out some of the best stuff in the RPG field. You can't really say Wizards doesn't work like hell to put out products people want to buy. Hero Builder's Guidebook being an exception of course...

 

[herald]

Etool forums at Fluid is still dead, and have been for three weeks. I would doubt that it will come back at all.

 

[KenM]

I just tryed to go to the fluid site, they're fourms are down. again, been so for a few weeks apparently. Been awhile since I tryed the fliud boards. I went over to the wizard board and appaently they had a big falling out with fluid over etools. Its in wizards hands now to get a patch out/ support.

 

[theoremtank]

As I understand it, E-Tools and its time as Mastertools was a big big heartbreak for Wizards. They invested a ton of time and money into the thing, and when they stood back to look at what they had, they weren't happy. They released E-Tools, which is a dramatically cut-down version of what they'd been developing, and have been trying to cut their losses by putting it out and at least making a little money, if not what they'd need to be profitable. This might explain why they're not really PUSHING the product... they're just recouping what they can.

Again, this is just "as I understand it" and guess.


I think that's unfair, considering that this is a struggling company still putting out some of the best stuff in the RPG field. You can't really say Wizards doesn't work like hell to put out products people want to buy. Hero Builder's Guidebook being an exception of course...

I agree with the majority of what you have said, yet I believe there is something severely wrong with releasing a bad product just because Wizards of the Coast already invested money and is therefore trying to recoup whatever losses possible. This may be a business tactic but it is nonetheless wrong and should rightfully promote distrust and repercusions from the eTools consumers. eTools should have just been shelved and forgotten. I believe a lot of us who purchased eTools and now suffer WotC's silence feel that we were decieved and that our consumer trust was betrayed. The most frustrating point of having bought the software for $40 is that the company is supplying no options for my satisfaction. The company has commited nothing in the way of supporting this product and I lack the legal ability to get a refund.

 

[theoremtank]

I belive that wizards refers everthing about etools to fluid, the company that made it.

I don't believe Wizards ever refered people to Fluid for support as they are the ones responsible for technical support. Printed on the back of the cardboard sleeve that eTools came in is...

For techical support, contact:
425-687-2156 or
techsupport@wizards.com

When eTools was first released, most consumers flocked to Fluid's message boards for support because
1.) Wizards lacks any info on their site about eTools
2.) Fluid employees were initially very active on their boards with responses before Wizards quited them.

 

[Mynex]

I just tryed to go to the fluid site, they're fourms are down. again, been so for a few weeks apparently. Been awhile since I tryed the fliud boards. I went over to the wizard board and appaently they had a big falling out with fluid over etools. Its in wizards hands now to get a patch out/ support.

Really? And where did you get these 'facts'?

I'm more than a casual reader, here and over at wizards boards.

And other than a rumor from an anonymous source that was posted here in the news section, I find _no_ mention that wizards has a patch, that there was any type of falling out at all.

I'm not saying it may not be true, but continuing to spread an unconfirmed, anonymous source 'news' report is not a proper thing to do in my opinion.

If Wizards does indeed have a patch, then it should probably have to go through some checking over by their staff.

If they did indeed have an arguement with Fluid, would either company say anything to that fact? What would it gain them to do so? Who cares really? Either there is or isn't a patch, either there is or isn't a 'falling out'.

We'll probably never know about the latter, and the former is of interest only to those that have bought E-Tools in the 1st place. *shrug*

 

[tetsujin28]

So far, none of the DM helper programs I've used have worked correctly -- they're all buggy. But, that said, I've heard that the Artist formerly known as Master Tools is the worst of the lot, which is sad: I liked what I saw in the demo version that came with the PH.

What I've found is that none of them are as intuitive as the original character creation demo, and require far too much knowledge of programming and/or scripting to be any good to the average, non-programming user (i.e., me).

 

[Alzrius]

As a person who did not buy eTools, I just wanted to share my perspective.

I doubted eTools would be a good product almost from the start. When a company has to delay something for over a year to work on it, you know something's got to be going wrong, and then when they declared they were scrapping the mapping feature, that just rang out that there were design problems to me. This wasnt due to any knowledge of computer software design (because I have none), but simply due to instinct. It also helped that I remembered being less than 100% satisfied on the AD&D Core Rules, and Dragon Encyclopedia, and even with the free character generator CD in my D&D Player's Handbook. Id just had low enough expectations for computer products from WotC that I wasn't at all interested in eTools.

The way it is now, Im surprised at how dissatisfied people are with the product, but not by much. Wizards of the Coast isn't a computer software company, theyre a company that makes pen and paper roleplaying games. That's why they got outside help from Fluid on making eTools in the first place. I can't really comment on the silence at Fluid, since I know so little about them, but its hardly fair to call Wizards disrespectful for this. They obviously don't have the know-how to release a good computer product, and are probably frantically scrambling to do anything about eTools now (according to the news page here on EN World, a patch is going to be out soon). However, they have been very good about hearing and responding to non-computer concerns in the past, so Im far from ready to write them off entirely. If they make another CD product, I doubt I'll buy it, but as long as they keep making great RPG books, and doing so well listening to their customers about those, I know I'll keep giving them business.