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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 3484563" data-attributes="member: 1457">Every game company is aware of the danger of overpromising on a feature set. Far more prudent to talk in generalities, then reveal specifics a few months before launch. That's why the most important feature--the release date--isn't announced until the last possible moment. To use your example, Blizzard was one of the pioneers of the "when it's done" release date. To continue your example, Blizzard has been working for *years* on the product they'll be announcing May 19. Yet we haven't heard them say word one about it in public. The value of buzz is highest right before and during launch; it's wise to keep the good stuff in your hand until you can play it for maximum effect. Er, they already did announce their plan for those sorts of articles. While they didn't address those two specific features, they've revealed an awful lot about the Dragon and Dungeon components of the DI. The minutiae isn't really worth talking about; what if they chose to keep the feature but alter the name/roll two features together? People will complain that WotC "promised" one thing, delivered another. Far better--at this point--to not get into specifics. There's just no upside in going through the Dragon table of contents and declaring "this one particular article stays, this one goes".For all I know, you in fact are an expert in securities law--I'm not; I just have a business degree and buddies who are partners in firms that do specialize in securities law. Given my ignorance, I'll let this point go. But honestly, weighing the value between "promising" features on product in development against the risk of fines and jail... I have to conclude that it's better to not get into specifics too prematurely when communicating with the public. The upside just isn't worth it.Again, what's the upside? The logo could change, "a piece of art" is of questionable (negligible?) value, and there's no such thing as a "non-committed" bullet point list. We've all read the threads about Dragon. There are some reasonable responses, but there's also a scary amount of teeth-gnashing and hysteria. If WotC were to release a tentative feature list those same people would take the list as gospel, and cry bloody murder if WotC "broke their word" by changing or dropping a feature. Again, you've got to weigh the small potential value against the huge guaranteed risk. Regardless of what you or I would do if we were in charge of corporate communication for WotC, there's no objective right answer or ideal solution. There's no single PR strategy that is perfect or that WotC "should" do. They've got a lot of smart people over there, and they've communicated as much as they feel they can--and this interview by Morrus is a direct response to a set of questions posed by this particular community. Wizards certainly didn't have to drop everything and come here to answer questions. But they did. They replied as best they could, thanked Morrus for the opportunity, and even asked the community at large for feedback and suggestions. And still they catch flack. Good grief. I'm sure there's someone at Hasbro on the phone with WotC PR saying "What's the matter with you people? Every time you reach out, you get bit. Disengage and go quiet. It's just not worth it."-z</blockquote>

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