How can WoTC get new players buying Essentials?

[TheAuldGrump]

Pretty much.

Over the years, there have been three paths into D&D:

(1) A set of three hardbacks. (PHB/DMG/MM)

(2) A boxed set containing all the basic rules necessary for play. (OD&D, Holmes, Moldvay, BECMI)

(3) A boxed set or book that's pay-to-preview and tells you to go buy something else. (FirstQuest, FastPlay, every Basic Set and Basic Game since 1991.)

The first seems to work OK, but is extremely expensive and expects the new player to digest hundreds of pages of text before they can start to play.

During the time period where the second sort of product was available, D&D enjoyed massive popularity and mainstream success. According to multiple sources, the top two (or possibly three) versions of D&D ever published were published in this format.

The third sort of product has never sold well. We are now looking at two decades worth of failed products in this vein with something like a dozen different variations.

It's certainly possible that the success of Product Type #2 was entirely coincidental and just happened to correspond to the period of D&D's mainstream success (which I'm not saying wasn't also dependent on a lot of other factors, too). But those products were successful for the better part of two decades before they stopped making them.

But I don't think it takes a genius to give it a shot... just to see what happens, ya know?

And I wouldn't waste any more time on pay-to-preview boxed sets.

Hopefully Pathfinder Basic is closer to option #2. (For some reason, I actually suspect that it will be. Closest thing to optimism that you are likely to see from me. )

I am sorry that WotC wasted this opportunity - I had hopes that Essentials could fill the niche that BECMI fell into. It's a pretty big niche, I think you could fit a truck in there.

The Auld Grump

 

[tuxgeo]

Re the Red Box, I remember the buzz, I remember being convinced it was going to herald something of a renascence for D&D - because people DO come into my LGS looking for 'D&D,that game I used to play' - and more often than not leaving without a purchase after seeing the scary, confusing array of hardbacks. AFAICS the market was crying out for a new version of the Mentzer Red Box; around 5 levels of play would have been ideal. 4 PC classes, 4 races, 5 levels, a scattering of magic items up to 9th level (around 36 items would cover the needs of 1 level 1-5 campaign, counting +2 as different from +1, so maybe only 18 items really), a selection of monsters 1st-5th level with the EL 7 Young Red Dragon as capstone. Could have been great.

Instead the Red Box turned out to be little more than a preview, in some ways less substantial than the free Keep on the Shadowfell download. I think WoTC really shot themselves in the foot there, they threw away a great opportunity and won't get one like it again for a long time.

(Urg. Must spread XP around before giving to S'mon again. . . .)

Your idea is far too awesome to be acceptable to most corporate gamemongers. What -- a simple, basic version of the game that is eminently replayable? That would be like a boardgame, but without the board!

Agreed that the content of the box is vastly more important than the fact that the art on the cover is rendered in shades of Red.

 

[falcarrion]

Different for sure. Necessarily worse? Arguable.

The way I look at it, old dragon format is a BMW and the new format is a Yugo.
What would you rather have?

 

[Lalato]

The way I look at it, old dragon format is a BMW and the new format is a Yugo.
What would you rather have?

I had a subscription to old Dragon. I rarely, if ever, used the material presented there... but I enjoyed reading it a lot. Great material for the throne (if you know what I mean and I think you do).

I have a subscription to new Dragon. I regularly use the material presented there... and I enjoy reading it. I sometimes even read it while at work (don't tell my boss).

Maybe I'm an aberration (let me get my tentacles around your head to suck out the brain!), but for me, new Dragon has been more useful overall. I do miss some things about having a physical magazine, but I wouldn't say it's BMW vs Yugo. Your mileage (for either car) may vary.

 

[Fifth Element]

The way I look at it, old dragon format is a BMW and the new format is a Yugo.
What would you rather have?

Like I said, if you frame it as a matter of personal perception and preferences, you can have it any way you like. Framing it this way, the choice is obvious. But not everyone sees it that way, that's all. Some might see it as a Model T and a Prius, who knows.

 

[falcarrion]

Like I said, if you frame it as a matter of personal perception and preferences, you can have it any way you like. Framing it this way, the choice is obvious. But not everyone sees it that way, that's all. Some might see it as a Model T and a Prius, who knows.

I'll take the Model T. It's worth more.

 

[Lalato]

This did get me thinking though... it would be pretty cool to be able to buy individual issues of the DDI Dragon. When you log into your account at Wizards, those articles would remain available to you even if you're not a subscriber. Something like that or maybe something like purchasing individual articles for $1.00 might fill the need that some folks have for getting a particular issue/article that is behind the paywall.

Anyway... just a thought (that I'm sure others have had well before I thought of it just now).

 

[amerigoV]

The way I look at it, old dragon format is a BMW and the new format is a Yugo.
What would you rather have?

Both! In the old days, if you bought a real car, you got a Yugo for free!
The Yugo: the rise and fall of the ... - Google Books

 

[S'mon]

(Urg. Must spread XP around before giving to S'mon again. . . .)

Your idea is far too awesome to be acceptable to most corporate gamemongers. What -- a simple, basic version of the game that is eminently replayable? That would be like a boardgame, but without the board!

Agreed that the content of the box is vastly more important than the fact that the art on the cover is rendered in shades of Red.

I just don't understand WoTC. They had a flash of marketing brilliance. They had people like me in my LGS saying to confused would-be purchasers of 'D&D, that game I used to play' - "Just wait for September! A new Basic Set is coming out! It'll be great!" - And what do we get? The same damn starter set preview rubbish they've been failing with for 20 years.

 

[MrMyth]

I never needed to subscribe to Dragon Magazine to look at a copy and decide if I wanted to buy that issue. The Magazine also had columns such as Sage Advice that answered questions from readers. Basicly most of the stuff you mentioned could be found in issues of the Magazine. They also did reviews of other company's products. They sometimes had modules that could be played. This came so popular that Dungeon magazine was created. Alot of the articles, modules, fiction, etc was created and written by gamers. Big difference in my book.

My point was more that, while you could peruse a store copy of Dragon magazine, having all those features as instead intentionally free articles on the website is undeniable more generous to consumers.

More than that, your claim was that they were moving away from this sort of thing on the website and that nearly everything was locked behind the paywall, and that claim simply is not true. There is a ton of free content, including several new features just added in to the mix.

Now, if your concern is that the digital magazine itself isn't providing you with the same sort of content you remember from the print magazine, and thus isn't of interest to you as a consumer... sure, that's a reasonable position to have. But it also isn't what you said, and what you did say was, in the end, simply incorrect.