Monte Cook speaks ... and he doesn't hate 3.5!

[Tom Cashel]

The following phrase has accompanied every single bit of information that has been leaked about 3.5. If you haven't noticed it yet, here it is, nice and big:

Nothing is complete or final until you buy the book in the store.

I can only assume that applies to "backwards compatability." If you don't like the book when it comes out, then don't buy it. But getting mad at a corporation for lying makes me think that you've never heard the story of the fox and the scorpion. It's like getting mad at the sky for being blue.

"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."

 

[Henry]

Let's please cease the personal insults. I don't want to close this thread with that kind of tone. Civility works so much better.

 

[Jody Butt]

The following phrase has accompanied every single bit of information that has been leaked about 3.5. If you haven't noticed it yet, here it is, nice and big:

Nothing is complete or final until you buy the book in the store.

I can only assume that applies to "backwards compatability." If you don't like the book when it comes out, then don't buy it. But getting mad at a corporation for lying makes me think that you've never heard the story of the fox and the scorpion. It's like getting mad at the sky for being blue.

"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."

That phrase refers to specific rules changes, not the entire nature of the project. You're not fooling anyone, here.

WotC initially stated in, December 2002, that the changes included in the corebooks would be fully compatible with the backlist of products. Go and check the FAQ on their website, and see for yourself. Full backwards compatibility was claimed. The changes were to be small.

Then they changed their minds.

 

[Jody Butt]

And if their marketing stance had simply been, "we believe this is going to make D&D a higher-quality product, and we believe that gives you a compelling reason to change," I would have had no problem with that. Even if they had also said, "we feel the need for new product to juice up our sales" (which, of course, is an unlikely thing to say).

Instead, it's "because YOU demanded" a bunch of stuff that clearly was not widely demanded, in that it came as a surprise to everybody. And it's "minor, back-compatible changes" which are largely neither. And somehow there's anybody who does not find this objectionable in itself?

I find it <i>very</i> objectionable, so much so that my support for Hasbro's D&D is over.

 

[Steverooo]

This bugs me

Yes, but we know that "nothing is complete or final until you buy the book in the store."

When I first heard that 3.0 was being revised, I wrote to WotC and asked where and how I could input ideas on the revision. I was told that it was already done, and there was no way I could... Then, many moons later, this mantra began playing...

 

[Jody Butt]

I'm with you there.

The SRD has 95% of the rules. The WotC site has an amazing ammount of free stuff. All a gaming group really needs is a PHB, some dice, internet access, and a school or work printer. For US$30 - $40 five guys can kick back and level up from 1 to 20.

I'm frankly a little stunned that WotC's position is seen as money-grubbing.

Read the first post, again.

Monte: "And the assertation that WotC is giving away 3.5 for free is absurd. That may be the result, but it's not at ALL the intent. WotC is hoping--nay, gambling--that no one will use just the SRD, and will buy the new books. The SRD is for d20 publishers, not fans. Sure, gamers can look at the SRD too, but that's not why it's there. Don't believe me? Scan the PH and post it on your website and see how fast you get an email from WotC legal."

It's all about intentions, my friend.

 

[Emiricol]

You quibble semantics to avoid the point of this. He said a lot of things. People with a particular agenda (3.5 is baaaad) are quoting half, without the rest.

That IS taking things out of context. Which is de facto misquoting, since a quote is supposed to convey the opinion of the person quoted.

Cheers.

 

[iamrpgdm]

A couple thoughts

I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts in this thread. I thought I'd post a couple thoughts I had on this matter.

1 - If you believe everything marketing tells you, you shouldn't. How many times have you watched a preview for a movie and thought it would be the greatest hit of all, only to find out after watching it that the only parts you liked were those in the preview? You market what you think will cause people to buy. You are free to buy a car without test driving it.

2 - You have the right to purchase or not purchase 3.5. 1e, 2e, and 3e are still playable and many people will still play them.

3 - If you're unsure of purchasing 3.5, wait until it is out and then look at it in your FLGS to determine if you want it or not. If you don't have a FLGS, then view the SRD and the conversion document. You could also order it from Amazon, etc. and look through it. If you don't like it, send it back for a refund.

 

[Mark]

You were joking when you inferred that Dr_rictus is un-intelligent, right? Forgot the smiley? Doing your Hong impression?

Let's please cease the personal insults. I don't want to close this thread with that kind of tone. Civility works so much better.

Hmm... I guess that could be read that way. Nope. Sorry. Meant to mean that if he's joking, which I assume he is, then they can't be insulting his intelligence. My bad and no offense, I hope.

 

[Beretta]

I for one am glad for some of the 3.5E revisions. Some work needed to be done and it has - for the most part.

What I don't want to see happen in WotC is an adoption of the "GW Syndrome". That being, with every new revision you improve the game's system significantly, but leave in some obviously 'broken' mechanisms that will need fixing (such as magic), or else design broken army books/codices (Chaos) so that you have a 'valid' reason to revise the core rules and its associated supplements every 5 years or so.

Rinse and repeat, and it seems as though you have an ongoing cash-flow as long as new blood keeps entering the hobby.

It seems to be the case with the splatbooks. They're all pretty ordinary, which is why I'll be looking over "The Complete Warrior" very carefully before I buy it.

If D&D goes the way of GW, I'll be dropping this hobby faster than I did that one.

That said, I like most of what I see in the core 3.5E, and I imagine I'll be able to get a lot more milage out of it if I can spot any bad mechanics (mystic theurge) and ban them.

edit - spelling