Dragon #361 and Dungeon #152 news

[Ry]

Paizo knew what they were doing. These guys have yet to figure it out.

QFT

Wizards has a terrible track record with technology, and they don't give me the impression that they've turned a corner in this regard. I've heard "bear with us, it'll be great... soon..." for a long time, and I expect the same at launch.

 

[Vigilance]

But they've had months before the mags were cancelled.

Which is why it's amazing how poorly it's all coming along.

Yeah, it's not like any other major projects were on their plate or anything.

 

[Ry]

Yeah, it's not like any other major projects were on their plate or anything.

If you can't do something right...

 

[Vigilance]

If you can't do something right...

I feel they will do it right.

That doesn't mean that for the next several months that 4e won't come first.

 

[Ry]

I feel they will do it right.

That doesn't mean that for the next several months that 4e won't come first.

Don't get me wrong; I think 4e will be fantastic. I'm sold, I'll buy all three books at launch. But there's never a good business reason to do a crappy job of something that you're trying to make a central part of your business model.

This is the launch of Dragon and Dungeon online. With 4e coming and so much emphasis on technology, Wizards does not need the baggage of a crappy, stops and starts online magazine launch... or gleemax launch.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

I'm less worried about Dungeon than I am Dragon. I recognize the Dungeon names, and those authors have done quality work.

I think, as a whole, we're little quick to jump on the doom-n'-gloom cart.

W.P.

 

[Vigilance]

Don't get me wrong; I think 4e will be fantastic. I'm sold, I'll buy all three books at launch. But there's never a good business reason to do a crappy job of something that you're trying to make a central part of your business model.

This is the launch of Dragon and Dungeon online. With 4e coming and so much emphasis on technology, Wizards does not need the baggage of a crappy, stops and starts online magazine launch... or gleemax launch.

I really don't think they are doing a crappy job on anything. I've liked everything I've seen from Dragon and Dungeon so far.

It's just harder to impress when A) we're getting articles in smaller doses... we're used to judging the magazines as a whole and B) it's not the new shiny... it's like buying a PS2 game now... pretty hard for that to get me excited when I can look longingly at the new stuff.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

You know what I hope to see with the online Dungeon - good maps.

I'm talking tagged and untagged versions. Paizo really did well with this, and offered their free web enhancement downloads of maps. Even if I can't (usually) use the adventure, I love using the maps.

 

[Ry]

There is something to be said for doom and gloom - something we really liked is gone. The need to show off and be awesome is high. Also:

I know the content is trickling out a little slow right now. It will pick up in the next week or so. Oh, and more Design & Development articles (the bulette, more on magic items in 4th, quests, dwarves, and lots more).

Oh, and we're hopefully going to be looking at getting a TOC page put up soon for each issue. Eventually I want to see it with a list of each issue's contents up ahead of time, and each article link will go live when the article goes up. Our overworked and dedicated dev is slammed with all the other stuff that goes with the transition right now, but I'll put this back on his radar.

*It'll be awesome soon, trust me
*hedging with the fact that your devs are overworked
*trying to mitigate with Design and Development articles you would have done anyway

They talked about wowing us with the new Dungeon and Dragon. They need to be wowing us to show that they're serious about this part of their strategy. They're not wowing - they're getting by and hedging about how long it will take to do more than that.

This isn't the end of the world, but I think they need to take stock of their capabilities and hire a LOT more staff. If they're overworked now, when 4e actually arrives and they're updating content constantly, getting hammered by visitors and hearing an enormous amount of feedback... it's going to be ugly.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Yeah, it's not like any other major projects were on their plate or anything.

And yet, amazingly enough, before that, Dungeon and Dragon were coming out in a timely fashion and in many people's eyes, better than ever, WHILE WoTC put out products.

How's that happen? It almost sounds like you're saying they're either supremely overconfident and have been caught with their pants down or that hey, they don't need to hire additional hands or anything because it's just part of the DI now and it's not that important and we should be glad we're getting anything and to give them MORE time to get it together.

But if they can't do it now, while the heat is realtively... low and they've had months of warnings (not to mention that it'd be hugely surprising if they didn't know ahead of the announcement itself), how are they going to be able to handle it, and expect people to PAY for it when the crunch really comes?