Have you noticed something? Wizards is listening!

[MerricB]

When I think back over the messageboard conversations over the past several years, I can remember several complaints about Wizards products that would keep on coming up.

The ones that were most prominent:

* Too much "crunch", not enough "fluff"
* Too many books aimed at players, not enough good books for DMs
* No adventures

Is it just me, or does it seem to you that Wizards read those comments, and changed their writing guidelines accordingly?

We've got the new prestige class format and the "races of..." books giving much more background and role-playing advice and not just the stats.

The DMG2 is the most prominent of the new books for DMs, but the Genre, Environ and Monster series must surely also be up there as DM orientated books.

Wizards are not only occasionally producing a new adventure, but they provide adventure ideas aplenty and adventure sites in books like Sandstorm and Lords of Madness.

There are a few other examples I can think of (complaints about the Map Folios not being scaled for minis... hey, look at the Fantastic Locations series!)

I'm sure that not everyone's complaints about Wizards are being addressed, but there surely seems a concerted effort at Wizards to pay attention and do things.

Cheers!

 

[EricNoah]

It's very heartening.

Somtimes these changes seem glacially paced, but I guess that's because they plan and create these products so far in advance.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I agree, and I applaud WotC for listening. There are far too many naysayers around who would rather bash than praise, but I think WotC should be given credit where it's due.

 

[BonesMcCoy]

Yeah I agree, now if they'd just re-release AD&D we'd be all set!

 

[Steel_Wind]

I agree Merric.

My guess is that sales and more narrow market focus has a lot to do with it. The more products they release in the 3.5e line, the more specialized the books for 3.5e become in terms of subject matter. That's simply a consequence of dwindling possibilities for new products. (Gottem, Gottem, Gottem, *Needem*)

The more specialized they are, the more the book is marketed towards "the lifestyle gamer". That means hardcore.

That means us.

But I have noticed the changes and I am pleased to see them.

Heroes of Battle is a perfect example of this. New subject matter - DM focused book. Crunch and fluff in balanced amounts.

Great book by the way - I'm very pleased with it so far.

 

[Shemeska]

It's a start, but it's a good start.

 

[IronWolf]

I've been liking some of the changes I have been seeing. I was most impressed by the Lost Empires of Faerun (keeping in mind I am selective about which books I pick up and this is the most recent one). Lot's of background information without overdoing any of the crunch. There are several others I am looking forward to, with DMGII being one of them (and the Waterdeep book of course).

 

[Felon]

Well, they've got to eventually realize there is a saturation point for prestige classes and feats. Especially the latter--most characters don't get that many feats, maybe seven or eight over the course of twenty levels, so why bury players under thousands of them?

WotC, if you're listening, how about some miniatures-friendly products? You want the game to be more minis-oriented, but you're not giving us tools beyond the minis themselves. How about giving us terrain features we can drop onto a battlemat or transparent templates for area effects?

 

[MerricB]

WotC, if you're listening, how about some miniatures-friendly products? You want the game to be more minis-oriented, but you're not giving us tools beyond the minis themselves. How about giving us terrain features we can drop onto a battlemat or transparent templates for area effects?

Well, terrain features may well be those tiles in Frostburn and Sandstorm.

Transparent templates for area effects are in most of the Retailer Kits, and also one of the DM rewards from the RPGA.

The May Retailer Kit has three 20-ft radius fireball templates in it.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=rpga/hq/campaignseasons

Cheers!

 

[trancejeremy]

20 ft radius fireball template? Hrrrmph, they need to come out with a line of fireworks to simulate the effects of spells.