Love the Game, Hate the Marketing

[Raven Crowking]

Shadeydm, you really missed your calling in life. Its obvious that you're a marketing whiz!

I know....I was drinking my morning coffee when I read this.

 

[Wolfspider]

Oh wait you guys already thought of all this... dang!

Heh heh heh. Well done. Very well done.

And the "$E" thing? A worthy successor to the classic "T$R."

 

[SteveC]

I just had a laugh at this Monday's column on death and dying.

After some comments the Rouse (jokingly) suggested coming up with our own free marketing plans. So it was late last night and I couldn't sleep, so I did just that.

I suggested a weekly design and development column with a monthly "theme" where each week you'd reveal a new part about the game.

Here's what I wrote for February:

"Since February is the month where we pay tribute to love, the topic for this month is COMBAT! The first column will be 'on death and dying' where we talk about how characters live and die in the new edition.

At the end of each column, we have a short "how to play 4E now" section (maybe sidebar?) where we give some suggestions for how to use these rules now."

...So in other words I liked the new article.

--Steve

 

[Mirtek]

There are actual marketing professionals behind this (like myself) and we have not even made a dent in the very large budget for advertising, public relations, and promotions yet.

You know, maybe this is exactly the problem !

You should have made the first dent right in October to keep Dragon and Dungeon going smoothly from print to online. This has cost you customers that won't be coming back no matter what you do once you decide to finally make a dent in your budget.

Less budget for advertising, public relations, and promotions and more budget for hiring guys to do Dragon and Dungeon

Rant or no rant, that sounds reasonable to me. There is plenty of time left.

Not for getting the fans they let down with broken promises about Dragon and Dungeon.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

You know, maybe this is exactly the problem !

You should have made the first dent right in October to keep Dragon and Dungeon going smoothly from print to online. This has cost you customers that won't be coming back no matter what you do once you decide to finally make a dent in your budget.

Less budget for advertising, public relations, and promotions and more budget for hiring guys to do Dragon and Dungeon

Not for getting the fans they let down with broken promises about Dragon and Dungeon.

Never say never.

I hate peoples who also hold eternal grudge for relatively minor things....

 

[Lackhand]

Never say never.

I hate peoples who also hold eternal grudge for relatively minor things....

Do you hate them forever?

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Never say never.

I hate peoples who also hold eternal grudge for relatively minor things....

I hear you about eternal grudges (and I'm willing to forgive WoTC if 4E rocks), but I hardly consider the killing of the Paizo versions of Dungeon and Dragon (especially Dungeon) to be 'Relatively Minor'.

Dungeon had a consistency of quality that I was able to rely on . The Adventure Paths were my iconic 3E adventures much like 'Keep on the Borderlands' was for me in 1E. I never found that I could rely on WoTC adventures for the same level of consistent quality, and when WoTC adventures did excel I almost always found that they (ex: Red Hand of Doom) were written by Paizo staffers.

Ken

 

[Hussar]

I hear you on the Dragon side of things which has been extremely disappointing.

But the Dungeon side? Jeez, what's the problem? You got a triple sized module from Ari right out of the chute. You got four or five more solid modules on top. We've got three more coming. Heck, by the time 4e rolls out, you'll have enough free modules, high quality free modules at that, to run a 3e campaign for the next year or two.

Dungeon has been rock solid since the move over. Dragon... not so much. Very sparse.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I hear you on the Dragon side of things which has been extremely disappointing.

But the Dungeon side? Jeez, what's the problem? You got a triple sized module from Ari right out of the chute. You got four or five more solid modules on top. We've got three more coming. Heck, by the time 4e rolls out, you'll have enough free modules, high quality free modules at that, to run a 3e campaign for the next year or two.

Dungeon has been rock solid since the move over. Dragon... not so much. Very sparse.

It's mostly the adventure paths that I miss. The current Dungeon isn't doing one.

As for the individual adventures...well, I guess our personal tastes differ.

Ken

 

[Hussar]

Well, fair enough. By the same token, there simply isn't time to do a complete adventure path. It takes 12 months. And, let's be honest here, it's totally not in WOTC's interest to do one either. Why give you an adventure path for 3e that's likely going to take you about 18 months to play, right before 4e rolls out? That's a bit too much to expect isn't it?

As far as the individual adventures go, well, they don't seem too much different than what we have been seeing. Same writers by and large. Doesn't seem to be a huge difference.

As I said, on the Dragon side of the street, I agree with you 100%. Even if Dragon hadn't been doing much in the way of new mechanics for the past few years, they still had lots of solid stuff most issues. Certainly, even shortly post relaunch, Dragon was better than the half assed thing we're seeing now.

But, in any case, I think your expectations are way too high if you think that there should be another AP in Dragon before 4e hits. OTOH, I would expect a post 4e AP within a few months.