Razz said:
There are easier ways to do that. Increase the page counts. MM4 as a 260 page book or even a 280 would've just been perfect for a majority of people.
My bet is there would then be a vocal group complaining about how much it cost. Besides, as it is people were saying 50% of the book was statted creatures, and it's less than 15%, why should I believe they'd have reacted differently if it had been 11%, or 10%?
Razz said:
There'd be enough for everyone. Or maybe bigger Web Enhancements for them online. I can see that 15% easily placed as a Web Enhancement on the website. What's funny is those maps in the book are also going to be put for free on the website eventually, so people are also stuck paying for something that is going to eventually be free. Could've minused the maps and added more monsters.
Of course people would like it more if it was a web enhancement. Oh, except for two little things:
A: Not all gamers are on the internet. Believe it. And they'd -never- get the maps. So sad. And of course if they were the section of the public that finds the maps useful and new monsters less so, they now have to wait for you to get what you wanted out of this.
B: WotC can only spend so much money on free things. It's easy to sit around and say "I'd like this better if more of it was free." But there are business realities. Go ask fans of the Scarred Lands, or GoO, if it's great for businesses to not charge enough, or not sell enough copies.
WotC knows what it's doing in this regard. There are people there much, much smarter than me. And it's there dime. If they tell me classed monsters are going to help sell more copies than my war giant, desertmaker, or snow mogul, I believe them. They have the track record in sales to the mass market, and profits raked in, and a game still actively supported.
I know you're boycotting this book, without seeing it. Your call. It won't effect anything. And I'm quite sure not enough people are going to join you to effect overall sales. And even if they do, WotC is going to think "Gee, the market really is shirnking" rather than "Gee, we shouldn't have put in statted creatures for less than 1/6th of the book, following the lead of the first book in the line."
And if anyone from WotC is still reading this thread, which would surprise me but is possible, my guess is they're thinking "Well, he's not buying our book. Let's hear from people who are, and see what they'd like. In a few weeks, after they've read it."