D&D 5E (2024) Lorwyn: First Light has been released

[Parmandur]

In the broad strokes I completely agree. But in the nitty gritty, some products are more clearly price gouging while others are at the mercy of increased supply and distribution costs and are running at the same thin margins they always were. And getting into the weeds as to why and wherefore and what's to be done is pretty definitely going to run afoul of the "No Politics" rule.

Everyone but the 1% are getting poorer, wealth inequality is the downfall of civilizations, and a slim $15 booklet is still barely more than a Big Mac and fries. All of the above can be true at once. For the price of one not particularly fancy meal, that's a decent amount of artistic product.

Yeah, again, not personally interested in tgis...but if I were already invested in using Beyond with my friends, and we were excited about Lorwyn...even this slim volume could create many sessions of play.

 

[mamba]

Those are all examples of artistic products that have no intrinsic value, only subjecitve enjoyment. The value of an item without intrinsic value (that is, objective and concrete, like real estate or oil or something) is simply what people who want an item will pay.

the value someone ascribes to things with intrinsic value also varies widely from person to person, that is not really all that different from things with no intrinsic value

Well, no, thst is not relevant to value on a luxury good. The willingness of the customer to pay is what matters, not the costs to produce.

yes, that is how you arrive at the price of something, you try to figure out at what price point you maximize your profit, i.e. the function of '(price - cost) * number of expected buyers' reaches a maximum. I still compare against the competition though to see what a reasonable price would be, and that is where this DLC fails miserably.

So at least we now are at WotC charges as much as they think they can get away with rather than saying that this is a good price. I settle for that

 

[mamba]

Remember, people have different income levels and varying degrees of want... for you this is indefensible, for many it's completely fine. Speaking in these absolutes doesn't help anything.

I based this on what the competition charges for comparable products, personal interest and income are not part of this at all.

There are tons of products that I am not interested in, and I never complain that they are too expensive because of that. This one absolutely is too expensive in comparison to the competition.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah...to a point. Would I buy a $15 Shadowdark booklet? Yeah probably. Would I pay for the 'privilage' to gain access to a $15 online only, single platform, $15 Shadowdark 'product'?

Negative.

I did a price comparison on Drivethrurpg.

Phantasy Star and Daggerheart are $30 pdfs. Full systems.

3 older FR products are $15. Page count varies but small ones are 64 pages. Eg Cormyr. PDF

So the new ones are piss poor value. Asterions seems to be regarded as ok everything else not so much.

Another botched mediocre adventure from WotC. Shocked and stunned.

 

[Scribe]

Daggerheart are $30 pdfs

Yeah thats a brutal comparison. This DLC should have been $5.

 

[Parmandur]

the value someone ascribes to things with intrinsic value also varies widely from person to person, that is not really all that different from things with no intrinsic value

Well, no. That's not what intrinsic means: intrinsic means something is valuable outside of anyone's opinion, like land or resources. Hobby books have no intrinsic value, because the only value is subjective.

yes, that is how you arrive at the price of something, you try to figure out at what price point you maximize your profit, i.e. the function of '(price - cost) * number of expected buyers' reaches a maximum. I still compare against the competition though to see what a reasonable price would be, and that is where this DLC fails miserably.

The competition isn't other game companies, it's WitC own print books and other hobbies.

So at least we now are at WotC charges as much as they think they can get away with rather than saying that this is a good price. I settle for that

It's the same difference: if somebody looks at this and feels it is worth as much as a sandwich to them, then it is fair. $15 is very little money in late 2025.