Just remembered about the leaks during 4e.

[Evenglare]

I just remembered that a few weeks before the core 4e books launched there was a huge leak of those PDFs of the core books. This thread doesn't really have a point, I just thought I would jog some memories. Did they ever catch the guy who leaked? Or explained what happened? Some people speculated that it was intentional to draw attention to the game. I guess on a side note, have they announced if they are going to go digital pdf (or whatever) released at the 5e launch?

 

[delericho]

I just remembered that a few weeks before the core 4e books launched there was a huge leak of those PDFs of the core books. This thread doesn't really have a point, I just thought I would jog some memories. Did they ever catch the guy who leaked?

I never heard anything.

Or explained what happened? Some people speculated that it was intentional to draw attention to the game.

Again, no word. IIRC, The Rouse commented in one of the threads at the time that they were clearly old, error-filled versions of the books. So I would presume it wasn't an accidentally-on-purpose leak - if they were going to do that, surely they'd want to accidentally-on-purpose leak a version that makes them look as good as possible? (Though, that said, I suppose if they wanted plausible deniability...)

I guess on a side note, have they announced if they are going to go digital pdf (or whatever) released at the 5e launch?

No word yet, but it would be good to see.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) Again, no word. IIRC, The Rouse commented in one of the threads at the time that they were clearly old, error-filled versions of the books. (snip)

If he said that - and he may have to discourage further pirating - he was wrong.

Anyway, it seems some smarter* people who are (at least vaguely) familiar with the 21st Century seem to be in charge at WotC now so I suspect we will be seeing PDF releases very early. I must admit, I don't think I would have become such a big 4E fan without the (legal) PDF releases. I've really gotten used to books of all sorts being in e-formats.

* No slight on Scott Rouse. Slight aimed at the clowns who took the legal advice from the legal clowns who suggested that removed PDFs for sale would reduce piracy. Of course, Google proves that it has the opposite effect. Moral of the story: never let legal clowns make business decisions.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

If he said that - and he may have to discourage further pirating - he was wrong.

Anyway, it seems some smarter* people who are (at least vaguely) familiar with the 21st Century seem to be in charge at WotC now so I suspect we will be seeing PDF releases very early. I must admit, I don't think I would have become such a big 4E fan without the (legal) PDF releases. I've really gotten used to books of all sorts being in e-formats.

* No slight on Scott Rouse. Slight aimed at the clowns who took the legal advice from the legal clowns who suggested that removed PDFs for sale would reduce piracy. Of course, Google proves that it has the opposite effect. Moral of the story: never let legal clowns make business decisions.

I'm certainly hopeful in this regard, given they've slowly been putting older stuff up for sale again, after taking it all down (which was very irritating, given I'd bought a bunch of it!).

I mean, I will say this, or rather scream it "I AIN'T NEVER GOING BACK!" (please ignore the grammatical curiosity of this phrase), with regards to carrying around 3+ heavy hardback books just to have the complete rules on hand. There are three ways that this can be solved, of course:

1) Some kind of online DDI Compendium/Adventure Builder/Character Builder. This is my preferred main solution, as I virtually always have internet access (I know some others do not!).

2) Good quality PDFs available reasonably soon after paper release and at sane prices (so not more than 60% or so of paper, preferably more like 30-40%).

3) Small softback versions of the rules - this could get pretty unwieldy after a while, but 4E managed to do a decent job with this.

But carrying a physical PHB, DMG, and MM with me? Nope. Will not do it! (esp. as they are a chunky 320 pages each!) Let alone the other books that are likely to become more or less necessary with time.

 

[Thaumaturge]

After going to a number of GenCons in the 3e era with all of the books necessary to play my LG character and then going to a couple of GenCons with all of the character info I needed on my iPad, I'm not planning on going back, either.

The Basic D&D PDF will make it reasonably easy, just by itself, to eschew carrying books... as long as someone is playing a Basic character.

I would expect not to hear anything about PDF releases for the next 2 weeks. Based on the most recent L&L article, the next 2 weeks are about hyping the Starter Set. I now expect PDF release information to come in the 2 weeks prior to the PHB release. If we're getting it.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I would expect not to hear anything about PDF releases for the next 2 weeks. Based on the most recent L&L article, the next 2 weeks are about hyping the Starter Set. I now expect PDF release information to come in the 2 weeks prior to the PHB release. If we're getting it.

Thaumaturge.

I'm personally fine if they don't release info until after the hardcopy sales, even (a bit skeezy but not severely), just so long as the info is eventually something I can pay for digitally.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I'm personally fine if they don't release info until after the hardcopy sales, even (a bit skeezy but not severely), just so long as the info is eventually something I can pay for digitally.

As a person who'll likely buy both a physical and digital (if available), I agree. But I know some people only want to buy the digital versions of the books. For those people, I certainly hope theoretical PDFs come out day and date.

And there are the people who'll scan the books and put them online, which means it's smart business for WotC to release them day and date, if they're going to release them.

Thaumaturge.

 

[delericho]

If he said that - and he may have to discourage further pirating - he was wrong.

Anyway, it seems some smarter* people who are (at least vaguely) familiar with the 21st Century seem to be in charge at WotC now so I suspect we will be seeing PDF releases very early. I must admit, I don't think I would have become such a big 4E fan without the (legal) PDF releases. I've really gotten used to books of all sorts being in e-formats.

* No slight on Scott Rouse. Slight aimed at the clowns who took the legal advice from the legal clowns who suggested that removed PDFs for sale would reduce piracy. Of course, Google proves that it has the opposite effect. Moral of the story: never let legal clowns make business decisions.

Nitpick: The Rouse was specifically commenting on the illegal leaks of the PHB/DMG/MM that came out before the physical books were released, not the few legal PDFs that were released (and then pulled) later.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) 1) Some kind of online DDI Compendium/Adventure Builder/Character Builder. This is my preferred main solution, as I virtually always have internet access (I know some others do not!). (snip)

I sincerely hope for an offline version. Living in the Third World I often do not have internet access (or electricity... or water) so it would be nice for offline versions as well.

Anyway, the simple fact is: who wants to carry around a lot of heavy books? I have travelled too much and been on too many planes in my life to ever want to be bogged down with luggage. I have also changed countries several times and shipping a metric tonne of books is relatively expensive but - even worse - a pain to pack and unpack properly.

Nitpick: The Rouse was specifically commenting on the illegal leaks of the PHB/DMG/MM that came out before the physical books were released, not the few legal PDFs that were released (and then pulled) later.

In my effort to ensure that I was in no way expressing or implying that Scott Rouse was a clown - far from it: he knew what needed to be done but was overruled by clowns - I probably obscured the fact that I was responding to the comment that the illegal PDFs were early drafts. They weren't.

(snip) And there are the people who'll scan the books and put them online, which means it's smart business for WotC to release them day and date, if they're going to release them. (snip)

The reality in 2014 is that these books will be available online the day of their release. WotC needs to silence the internal clowns who would suggest that making the PDFs available for sale at a reasonable price at the same time as the hard copies are released is going to increase piracy when it most definitely will not.

 

[Quartz]

I remember comments about PDFs of assorted products being placed on newsgroups and file-sharing sites and how they were going after the people who put them there because the PDFs were individually keyed so they could tell who had leaked what.