If it didn't matter WotC wouldn't be saying "no comment".
LOL let me see if I get this straight - if something doesn't matter, then if they say "I don't have a comment" that means it matters?
Seriously, you've gone beyond stretching it. You've now literally said it matters no matter what they do or do not say, as opposed to figuratively. You actually said "no comment" means something.
The thing is, WotC very much wants information released on their schedule.
Why? How do you know this isn't their schedule, and why do you think it matters to them at all, much less "very much"? Where are you getting this from. I want your source cited for where you're getting this, because it really looks like you, and you alone, going off on this part of the topic. Everyone else is just talking about the price and date. If it was so important, SOMEONE would have made the argument as to WHY it is important and how this has done something damaging in some way to someone's bottom line.
They very much want to be in control of what we know about their products and when.
Show me where they say they care about how you find out the price and release month? You're just making bald assertions and then claiming it's fact.
It's been that way since 4e when they slowly released information at certain times, like dragonborn being core, the changed planes, and the like.
This has nothing to do with a price and more specific release date range for 5e. NOTHING. There's no association at all between the two.
By continually teasing information there was always some new topic to talk about which kept the fanbase going for the six months of sparse content prior to release.
Right...and finding out from B&N instead of from WOTC changes this how exactly? Or that this was an "important" information release why?
And if they're in control of our infodumps, we keep going to their website for information and updates, and are exposed to their hype, their marketing.
Except they did the last two in press releases not even on their main site. Meanwhile a bunch comes through Twitter responses. And then some more from YouTube. And then sometimes from interviews. There is no pattern or practice of what you claim to be happening, actually being the case.
We visit to learn about the release and see teasers of content like, oh, the warlock and sorcerer.
However, they suck at telling us things. And we've seen so much of 5e and have been in a holding patter for so long there much less they can tease us with.
Because WotC is so terrible at this, we get our information elsewhere and the official site has slowly become old news.
This is alllllllll just you. The rest of us have been just fine talking about what they publish, and what news comes out, however it comes out. You've built up all this dramatic tension where there isn't any for most people out there.
It really sounds like YOU want it done a certain way, and when it's not done that way, you build up reasons why it was bad to not do it the way you'd have done it. But...none of your reasons are really that meaningful to most people.
We all learned about the warlock about it after the Twitch game, before Mearls wrote his article.
And this was clearly by intent. You claim they do it just by articles, but he even said during the game he was doing it there in the game, publishing the game for everyone to see, and then he would follow up with an article. THAT was his intent - but you're pretending it was his intent to do it through the article first apparently? With not a single shred of evidence to back that up other than, apparently, how you think it should have been done.
And everything he "revealed" about the sorcerer was kinda already known after the 24-hour Charity game a few months back.
For those who paid attention to the charity game, yes. And for those who did not, they got it from the article. There is no screw-up there - it's just not how you wanted it done apparently.
When I want to hear about D&D news I go to ENWorld first, then ICv2, and a couple blogs. And most of the time I hear about news from Twitter first. There's no real reason to visit the D&D site and thus I am unexposed to their hype.
But you're under the mis-impression their intent is to drive all news through their site, rather than using multiple means to distribute their news through multiple platforms. You know, like most modern companies do. Driving all news to one location just isn't how it's done in the new media world anymore. You do it through many different social media roads. We're all finding out simultaneously no matter where the information is published first - where it's published first no longer has much meaning to people. Put the data out there, by any means, and everyone will get it if it is newsworthy. And...they won't go digging through your site to find other data, they will just dive in and start talking about it right away.
And they've kept us waiting for so long. We've heard "we can't talk about products" for two years. And we really want them to talk about products. And now someone else has come along and beaten them to talking about their own products. So now anything they say on the subject just won't feel as impressive or "must read".
It was never impressive or must-read to hear about a more specific release date and price point. Someone would have posted it, and that would have been it, just like this one. It's not enough information to write an article about it - it's just two data points.
Seriously, you've made this claim that it's a big deal, but your only support is vague generalities combined with sky is falling disaster conclusions. SHOW ME WHAT A MORE "IMPORTANT" INFORMATION RELEASE OF THIS IDENTICAL INFORMATION WOULD LOOK LIKE. Without more, it's just almost nothing! How is this on the level of spoiling the Oscars? Substantiate your point already. Because right now it sounds like, "I'd have done this different" combined with, "How can I bash Wizards more today".
