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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5354152" data-attributes="member: 59082">But I'm not saying that it is simply reprinting old material - and I already corrected you on that. I am saying that it is mainly reformatting, repackaging, and rehashing old material (which is also different from "reprinting"). There is a big difference between simply, which means only, and mainly, which means "for the most part, but not entirely."Regardless of to what degree Essentials actually provides new material, from what I've seen so far it is not enough for me to buy everything, and it is also not enough for me to not feel disappointed in WotC's output over the 7-8 month period in question because not only is there a relatively small amount of actually new material, but it is included in reformatting of old material, and it is almost entirely new "crunch" with little to no new "fluff." To put it another way, let's say that 4E books pre-Essentials have been of three basic kinds:1) Core books and their expansions (PHB 1-3, DMG 1-2, MM 1-3)2) Crunch-centered supplements (The Power books; Player's Guides)3) Fluff-centered supplments (Campaign settings and theme books, e.g. Demonomicon, planar books, etc)I buy all of 1 and 3 and almost none of 2 but instead get occasional DDI updates. During the 7-8 month period in question, there are no books in the 3rd category, with lots of books that re-format the 1st and offer bits of the 2nd. So the new material that is being offered is A) Integrated with a lot of old material that I already have, and B) Of the crunch-centric variety that is of less interest to me and that I can get through DDI. Again, I'm not saying that this is "wrong" or that WotC is evil for not providing me with what I want, but it is a pretty significant gap in their publication schedule with a rather narrow variety of books being presented.I think my feelings are in the minority, although maybe a significantly sized minority. To be honest I am surprised at how many people seem to be taking to Essentials whole-heartedly.   Again, I'm not saying that new content is not there but that A) it is mixed in with a lot (more, really) old content that I'm not interested in re-purchasing, and B) it is of a narrow variety without any "fluff-centered" products.As for the price, WotC has effectively split one $35 hardcover (PHB) into three $20 softcovers (the two Heroes books and the Rules Compendium). That's $60 to just get the Essentialized versions of the material in the PHB, $80 if you include the Class Compendium.At this point the only Essentials product that I feel is worth my money is the Rules Compendium, because it is a nice table reference. I may also pick up the Monster Vault and, despite my misgivings with the format and my wish for a revised PHB, I am curious about the Class Compendium. But for me regular purchasing of WotC D&D books won't start up again until Heroes of Shadow.</blockquote>

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