Seems strange (and by strange, I mean condescending) to me that Johnny Wilson said "IF Dungeon/Polyhedron is still viable by Origins and GenCon time, I will listen to you all at the Paizo at the Mike conferences. At that time, I will discuss options with you and see what you think about other approaches we can try."
This statement to me implies two things:
1) The magazine may cease to be published prior to, or aproximately coinciding with, Origins/GenCon due to continued poor sales; and/or
2) Opinions expressed by readers and members of messageboards will not be considered as valuable or desirable harbingers of change; only "elite" attendees of the aforementioned conventions (a tiny but vocal minority of gamers to be sure) may suggest changes to the magazine and have them be considered. If this is the case, it certainly sounds aliennating to the majority of the readership, to put it lightly. I, for one, was offended by his (admittedly perceived) arrogance and dismissive attitude towards criticism of his publication and his company's failure to give the readership what it wants, let alone reassure us that our opinions matter and positive change is indeed in the works.
Granted, this is taking his remarks very literally, and perhaps not as he intended. Of course, this being cyberspace, I have no way of knowing what he meant unless he posts again and clarifies his position.
However, whatever he meant, it seems to me to be extremely short-sighted to delay any consideration of addressing changes to the magazine by any length of time unless there is no point in doing so; e.g, if the magazine will cease to be published this year anyway, and any energy put into changing it won't save a sinking ship, so why bother?
Polyhedron should be immediately and permanently jettisoned/scuttled along with Living Greyhawk Journal. These features not only have limited appeal, but reduce the number (and quality, if recent isues are any judge) of the D&D adventures, which is the primary reason most people buy the magazine, and was the magazine's sole original focus which readers (DMs) have come to rely upon since its inception in the late 80s. What I do know is, the level of "hit or miss" usefulness we have always seen and grumbled about in Dragon is unacceptable when it comes to Dungeon. Dungeon should be what it always has been: a reasonably priced source for D&D adventures. We don't need full color glossy paper; we just need creative adventures we can use. Nearly all the best issues were in the old B&W 1e/2e days. Now we get pretty pictures on fancy paper but the level of writing has fallen with few exceptions (the first 3e issue, the drow cover issue and the white half-dragon cover issue being the only ones that really delivered high quality over multiple adventures in the same issue).
The increased cover price is too high as well; I stopped buying every other magazine I ever had any interest in when prices went over $5 each... Dragon and Dungeon being the sole exceptions (however, I'm much pickier now and won't buy every issue because they are so expensive and usually have extremely limited usefulness).
TBH, I predict that Dungeon will go under within a year, with Dragon staying on life-support for another couple. This is based on pure gut instinct, not any kind of insider knowledge. I don't see how they can continue to publish drek and make money.
I would be in favor of combining Dragon and Dungeon into one mega-magazine ($7.99 cover), however, dropping all the awful comics and fiction and concentrating on what the magazines should be about: D&D rules expansions/clarifications and adventures. They could even keep the awful flip-flop cover design that drives me nuts, lol. Just give us useful crunchy bits and adventures. If we want bunches of comics, we can buy Dork Tower or KotD from Kenzer (putting these in Dragon is akin to free full page ads for Kenzer in my mind); if we want crummy third-rate sword and sorcery fiction, we can buy the latest WoTC or R.A. Salvatore novel.
That's what I think, anyway. YMMV.
