Four Whines and a Funeral

[GoodKingJayIII]

Point the Second: Charging additional fees for virtual minis. Come on, man, that's an ass move. I've always hated dropping $19.95 at the amusement park's gate only to find The Coaster of Doom will run you another $4.50. You've got tons of MMOs out there slapping out content without charging anything other than a standard subscription price, yet we have to be different to get a static 3d model? Is this the airline industry? Pffffft.

This is really the big dealbreaker for me. The product is $9.95/month... but it's not really. Gotcha! Marketing and Sales do not impress me. That is the purview of cable and cell phone companies. I don't need it from my hobby distributor.

I'll stick with my real table and print-out counters, thankyouverymuch!

 

[Boarstorm]

See, the virtual minis thing doesn't bother me. Microtransactions are the way of the future. Adapt or perish, and all that.

 

[GeorgeFields]

The laptop gets too hot on my legs when I'm on the throne reading articles for an extended period of time; I never had that problem with the paper versions of the magazines.

[humorous rant]
Where do they think those got read, anyway; the couch?
sheesh, everyone knows magazine racks belong in the throne room. Not to mention, I don't have a laptop. Dragging my computer back there with little room to set it up is a real PITA.
[/humorous rant]

Nothing WotC does online will compare to having the magazine in my hands.

 

[Destil]

Point the Third: The GSL. I don't give a hoot or a holler about 3rd Party Products. Sorry if I've offended you. But I do realize that many, many gamers do. Why stick a thumb in the community's eye? And why the heck limit (as far as I can tell) software that does nothing more than make the game easier to play? If I had faith in e-WotC, I wouldn't worry, but I don't, so I do.

Software, by the way, wasn't covered in the OGL either. And in this case all the GLS really does for you is allow you to use the D&D logo. For utility freeware I doubt this is an issue.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

See, the virtual minis thing doesn't bother me. Microtransactions are the way of the future. Adapt or perish, and all that.

...or don't pay for a practice you don't like and if enough people don't pay for it, that process will go away.

As was said earlier, plenty of companies are not involved in microtransactions.

 

[greyscale1]

I agree with everything you have said. Though I do enjoy the e-mags.

However, I have heard that your subscription comes with a bunch-o V-minis for important creatures etc etc. And since it doesn't adjudicate rules, its more likely that you will have 1 kobold V-mini with a pack of many different looking kobold minis released later.

It also comes with flat illustrated tokens for every monster. But, again, I do think it comes with some (not sure how many) free V-minis.

 

[Cadfan]

I'm glad that the virtual miniatures are a separate cost, because it means that they won't be factored into the monthly cost that I'm paying. If they were factored in to the overall cost, I'd be paying more to subsidize your virtual miniatures. And apparently I'm a stingy jerk who doesn't want to do that.

I'm happier with counters.

 

[CleverNickName]

Y'know, Wis, you and I agree a lot more than I thought we would.

Point the First...

Ugh, really? That's the first I've heard about this. I had no plans to buy the Rules Compendum since I'm still playing the old version, but now I am having a hard time seeing any reason to buy it. Well, except for the name on the cover.

Point the Second...

I agree; this is a bad business move. It's hard to believe that they would charge a fee for static, virtual content...stuff that we can't even print out and use offline.

EDIT: Greyscale1 mentioned that these v-minis will also come with flat images that can be printed out and turned into tokens. That's a step in the right direction, but that still means convincing people to pay for something that they can otherwise find for free.

Point the Third...

I didn't start looking at third-party products until 4E was announced, and then I started following Pathfinder and C&C quite closely. So yeah, thumb in the eye and software limitations and faith in WotC and all that.

Point the Fourth...

I would like to cast my vote as well for an actual, tangible, honest-to-Pelor magazine again. Not all of us enjoy digital-format books.

And yes, I believe the Paizo days were the best for Dragon and Dungeon.

Thanks for listening, and I have no doubt everyone agrees with me because none of the points above can be refuted or debated in any way.

Refreshingly honest.

 

[Menexenus]

Wisdom *Penalty*?

Pish-posh!

Henceforth, I name you 'Wisdom Bonus'!

Your post is right on the money, and it is humorous enough to keep the Edition Warriors from getting too riled up. Bravo! Good show!

 

[Agamon]

Point the First: The Rules Compendium is anything but. It doesn't include the Rules, nor will it (AFAIK). The utility value of this puppy just dropped faster than the value of my small, can't miss, mircocap internet stocks back in the bad ol' days.

Yeah, kinda sucks now, but the new rules are pretty easy, so I expect we'll get the hang of them more quickly.

Point the Second: Charging additional fees for virtual minis. Come on, man, that's an ass move. I've always hated dropping $19.95 at the amusement park's gate only to find The Coaster of Doom will run you another $4.50. You've got tons of MMOs out there slapping out content without charging anything other than a standard subscription price, yet we have to be different to get a static 3d model? Is this the airline industry? Pffffft.

Like other have said, let's not hand wring until he have the facts.

Point the Third: The GSL. I don't give a hoot or a holler about 3rd Party Products. Sorry if I've offended you. But I do realize that many, many gamers do. Why stick a thumb in the community's eye? And why the heck limit (as far as I can tell) software that does nothing more than make the game easier to play? If I had faith in e-WotC, I wouldn't worry, but I don't, so I do.

If the GSL is leading to what GG, Adamant and Necro are doing, it works for me.

Point the Fourth: Dammit, I miss my regular dead-tree versions of Dragon and Dungeon. I don't care if Paizo's doing it or not (though I firmly believe the best heydays of either magazine were under the Paizo regime), but someone should be doing it. On paper. Sending it in the mail. The laptop gets too hot on my legs when I'm on the throne reading articles for an extended period of time; I never had that problem with the paper versions of the magazines.

Weird, I read that Alchemical Goblin article while my car was getting washed, and not on a PC, but paper. I was at work, knew I was going to wash my car, printed out the article and off I went. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have my Dragon magazine on hand back in the day.

Plus having the Dragon stuff (potentially) in the Compendium is better than sitting it on my shelf. Dragon mag was always a decent read, but I'll be damned if they got much use.

But nostalgia-wise, I do miss my mags.