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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5499580" data-attributes="member: 61155">Ok, so here is what you initially said that I objected to: "I think the problem is promotion. Back in the 80's and 90's you had Dragon magazine to promote DnD stuff. You had articles on new products, articles written by gamers and ad's that that promoted all kinds of stuff RPG related. Now if you want to see this article you need to subscribe. If you want to see this...subscribe..... subscribe...subscribe. The more you try to push me to subscribe the less likely I will. They need to open the gates once again to the gamers. Let some of the gamers write articles and let these be read by everyone and not just subscribers. The next great name in RPGs can be just an article away. The more you lock down the ddi website the more people you will loose." That is certainly saying that the majority of content on the site requires that you subscribe - that they are pushing you do so, that they are 'locking down the DDI website'.  None of that is true, and that's what I was commenting on. Tons of free content on the site, including articles that I feel very closely match the promotions you talk about - including something like 20-30 free excerpts and preview articles showing what to expect in the product.   Well, yes. And it remains true - the last month or so, they have been having serious issues with the magazines. The thing is, that is a very recent development, and it has not effected the free content on the site. That's what I've said from the start: "Right now, they are having some serious issues with the magazines, and providing the proper amount of content to subscribers. But as for what you get for free? There is an abundance of content." That's my real issue, here. Every time I see a post like yours, which is making wild and inaccurate accusations about problems with WotC or the website, I feel it distracts from the genuine concerns that might be laid against them. And it makes it hard for them to take anything seriously - you made a number of claims about their site based, as you said, largely on hearsay and second-hand descriptions of what is going on.  I mean, you are free to not like their website. You are free to not subscribe to their service. But what I see more and more are these comments that aren't based on personal experience, but instead are just a game of 'telephone', passing along complaints that grow more irrational and incorrect the farther they go down the grapevine.  Honestly, WotC tried very hard to leverage the website to advertise Essentials - via free excerpts and content, and having huge advertisements for it plastered all over the site. They included advertisements for it in their other products, including the board games, which I think were a particularly good way to draw in new players. I think we also had the D&D comic starting up, which also helps draw attention to Essentials.  I don't think that advertising it was really the problem. I don't think having something like print copies of Dragon would have helped - if someone was in a game store, flipping through magazines, they would already be aware of Essentials due to the plentiful advertisements for it all over the place.  I think the main issue was having trouble figuring out what they wanted the Red Box to be. I think it could have been a better starter set, and I think they could have made it clearer what other Essentials products a player picks up from there.  I think the real 'expansion' of the brand will come more on the digital front, honestly. When they get video games going again. Through stuff like D&D Tiny Adventures - find ways to easily link such minigames to actual products and get people in the door. When they have a smooth functioning VTT, and can create an 'intro game lobby' where people can hop in and check out what D&D is like in an environment designed to demo it.  But I think we are still a ways off from that, and that WotC needs to be a bit more coherent in their vision before they can really make another push to bring in new players.</blockquote>

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