I mailed back my 3.5 D&D books for a refund today...

[mmu1]

Wonderful! I'm sure those books wouldn't have come in handy next time you need to find a new group to game with. I'm absolutely certain that future DMs and players will commend you on your preference of books and superior consumerism when they are using the new system while you are still carting around your old relics and trying to play in their game.

Good job!

So that whole "mindless fanboy" thing is working for you, then? Good.

Now, if you'd take a moment from licking your new shiny 3.5 books, I'd like to point out the existence of something called the SRD, and that I'm very glad some people seem to be able to decide whether something represents enough of an improvement to be worth $90.

But you should buy several more sets, or WotC might go bankrupt and you'll have to go to the trouble of finding some other game company to tell you what you like.

 

[Drawmack]

On the day that 3.5 was released my FLGS sold three coppies. Within a week he had sold 20 coppies and within three weeks he was sold out. Most of the people didn't even know of 3.5e until one of their friends showed it to them then they went out and bought it. He has currently gone through three shippments of the books and most of the response he gets to it are good.

The online role playing community is a very small percentage of the community at large. You'd do much better to campaign by sending flyers to local game stores around the world detailing why the 3.5e books should not be purchased and asking others not to buy them.

Of course, if you did that the chances are that a lot of people would read what you wrote then look through the books and decide to buy them anyway.

I believe that no matter what the fans of the game to or say 3.5e will be successfull unless they all stop playing. There are two reasons I say this:
1) when your 3e books get worn out what are you going to replace them with?
2) when all the suppliments coming out are 3.5e are you going to stop buying supliments?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I believe that no matter what the fans of the game to or say 3.5e will be successfull unless they all stop playing. There are two reasons I say this:
1) when your 3e books get worn out what are you going to replace them with?
2) when all the suppliments coming out are 3.5e are you going to stop buying supliments?

1) Used copies from E-bay if we are still playing this version when they wear out.

2) Yes.

 

[Barak]

Wonderful! I'm sure those books wouldn't have come in handy next time you need to find a new group to game with. I'm absolutely certain that future DMs and players will commend you on your preference of books and superior consumerism when they are using the new system while you are still carting around your old relics and trying to play in their game.

Good job!

Riiight. Considering one can easily find a group of D&D basic players to play with, I'm sure he'll be doomed to the Pit of Hell if he tries to find a group without having the 3.5 books. Or who knows.. Maybe he'll do what WotC promised us would be just as good, and play with his 3.0 books amended with the SRD. Heck, around these parts, one would be hard-pressed to find a group who plays 3.5. In the real world, a lot of people don't really care about new editions if they are happy with what they have, and most people who want to play around here already bought the books in the 3 years that 3.0 was what you got. So I'd bet that it will be quite a while before you find mostly 3.5 games going on.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

So that whole "mindless fanboy" thing is working for you, then? Good.

Oh yeah! It's working like a champ!

Now, if you'd take a moment from licking your new shiny 3.5 books, I'd like to point out the existence of something called the SRD, and that I'm very glad some people seem to be able to decide whether something represents enough of an improvement to be worth $90.

Don't be silly, licking the books ruins the finish. You have to sniff them.

But that's a very good point about the SRD. It's free and it allows people to reach their own decision to see if 3.5 meets their needs. I know a couple guys in my group who have already decided to use the SRD rather than get the books.

I, however, will go back to being a mindless fanboy and sniff my shiny new books some more!

 

[Tortoise]

Here's something interesting ...

I'm not going to debate whether the changes in 3.5 are bad or good, that's subjective and best left for each individual to decide. Instead I will merely point out that releasing 3.5 has once again split the market into two groups, those who play the older version and will be less likely to spend money on stuff that supports the new version, and those who convert fully and will be less likely to spend money on stuff that supports the older version.

WOTC (Hasbro) did exactly what they didn't want to do financially.

 

[Mark]

Don't be silly, licking the books ruins the finish. You have to sniff them.

That was part of the P.R. Huff-N-Stuff marketing campaign, was it not...?

 

[Tsyr]

Considering one can easily find a group of D&D basic players to play with,...

Wellll... I wouldn't go quite THAT far... Around here I might be able to dig you up some 2E players, but most of the ones I used to know have converted to Hackmaster... I'm not doubting they exist, I'm just questioning the notion that finding OD&D players might not present a certain level of challenge.

 

[Psion]

WOTC (Hasbro) did exactly what they didn't want to do financially.

Actually, no, they really didn't. As much as I would like to pretend that this move wasn't financially prudent, it really was.

First off, it is well known that core book sales are the brass ring of the D&D market. Supplements, adventures, etc., do not compare.

WotC already sold near as many copies of the core as they were going to sell, barring the occasional replacement or new entry. So, sales of core books probably had slowed to a trickle. To rejuvinate these sales, they had to produce new books that had markedly different material, or people wouldn't buy them.

Further, owing to the structure of the d20 license, d20 product sales help drive core book sales. So, by making the core book more different than was expedient for the needs of the adience, they also create the situation where the new d20 books based on the SRD are different enough that the existing books are not sufficient to use the existing supplements. So by making the books more different, they help drive the sales of the new books indirectly.

This is good for WotC and good for d20 publishers. For the audience, on the other hand, the situation is less than optimal. But that's the nature of the hobby. By their very nature, RPGs are low maintenance, so you have to expect that the businesses that stand to benefit from it are going to try to change that situation to drive more sales.

 

[boxstop7]

*rolls eyes and tries best Ralph Wiggum voice*

It tastes like burning...

~Box