OH NO! THE CANCELLED A BOOK! ( That they never actually announced)
(AND THEY'RE GIVING US THE CONTENTS FOR FREE.)
D&D 5E (2014) My Ideal Release Schedule
- Thread starter Zardnaar
- Start date
OH NO! THE CANCELLED A BOOK! ( That they never actually announced)
(AND THEY'RE GIVING US THE CONTENTS FOR FREE.)
BryonD
Hero
Under what I would consider "normal" circumstances, I would completely agree with you.Personally, I'd much rather have the announce things and thus, inevitably, have to cancel products occasionally, rather than the current model of radio silence until the book is basically done. It's kinda unfair to criticise them for lack of communication if they're also going to get criticism when they do communicate.
To cancel a product is going to be a disappointment. But if you need to cancel, so be it. But this is in the context of "there is hardly anything to cancel". They have canceled 100% of the non-adventure products so far.
There isn't any one thing that is really a problem.
No products out yet is not a problem just a few months after the release.
Canceling ONE book is not a problem.
Light release schedule is not a problem.
Playing things quiet is not a problem.
When you start stacking them all together. It becomes a problem.
They don't get criticism when they do communicate. (aside from the whole "it is the internet thing, but you have to just roll with that no matter what)
They get notable criticism for communicating and then failing to live up to their communication. If they are completely lost right now, they should spend the next three months in radio silence figuring things out. There will be complaints, but so be it. But once they have things figured out they should start communicating the things that they have worked out (building hype and anticipation) while finalizing those products and laying the groundwork for the NEXT thing they will announce.
There will be bumps along the way. But if they establish hood, reliable communication, the occasional bumps will be accepted with the "normal" level of grumbling, not the "this justifies just being quiet criticism."
If we take for granted that they WANT a very light release schedule with the real goal of maintaining the brand then they should be talking it up MORE because hype is how you maintain brand.
If we reject that theory and think they want to make money on D&D as an RPG, then they should be building hype for things to sell us.
It looks like they are in chaos. Maybe they are in chaos. That would be bad. Maybe they have their act together and just are not reflecting that publicly. That is still bad.
BryonD
Hero
First the whole "never announced" thing is WORSE. If you have mock-ups of a cover floating around and it isn't announced then you have MAJOR brand control issues.
Second, see my post above. Paizo has had issues with products along the way. It can be handled much better. The shallow reaction here missing the point.
I will never complain about free product.
The amount of free product so far is negligible. I will happily pay for product.
But all of that is beside the point.
The point is not what they are or not producing, it is how they are fumbling the hype and publicity for the game as a whole.
I'd also like to point out that the presence of threads like this REINFORCES their decision to not announce products way ahead of time. The amount of grief directed their way for "cancelling" a book that they never even announced makes them far less likely to announce things ahead of time.
delericho
Legend
I agree with almost everything in your post, but...
At the moment, WotC get criticism for everything they do (even if that's nothing). Perhaps it is just "the internet", but I imagine it must be quite tiring constantly being under that fire.
I do agree that the way forward is for them to figure out what they're going to do, then execute to that plan, and (no less important) to communicate what they're doing every step along the way. Because it is possible for them to get out from under the cloud of negativity that greets their every move, but it's going to be a hard road, and not communicating is a sure way not to do it. But, even so, that's going to be a hard road to follow.
At the moment, WotC get criticism for everything they do (even if that's nothing). Perhaps it is just "the internet", but I imagine it must be quite tiring constantly being under that fire.
I do agree that the way forward is for them to figure out what they're going to do, then execute to that plan, and (no less important) to communicate what they're doing every step along the way. Because it is possible for them to get out from under the cloud of negativity that greets their every move, but it's going to be a hard road, and not communicating is a sure way not to do it. But, even so, that's going to be a hard road to follow.
delericho
Legend
Exactly. It was the same when B&N leaked the PHB page count and price point - suddenly we had several multi-page threads here decrying a massive price hike, complete with comparisons with every previous edition adjusted for inflation, people noting that this wasn't a confirmed price point, and months of silence from WotC...
after which WotC made their 'big' announcement of the PHB release date, page count and price point... which was met largely with apathy because it merely confirmed what we'd know for ages.
Other than right here, on this very post:
They've released a pile of free products. Basic PHB rules. Basic DMG rules. A Web enhancement for Lost Mines, a Web enhancement for HotDQ and one for RoT. 10 pages of Eberon. Plus, they said the "cancelled" book is being released as a Web enhancement for Princes of the Apocalypse.
Really? I haven't seen a Lost Mine web enhancement, and the HotDQ/RoT ones were only helpful for folks who didn't already have the DMG/MM.
Kramodlog
Naked and living in a barrel
August. They leaked the info to an online distributer in August of 2014. http://www.enworld.org/forum/conten...E-APOCALYPSE-for-D-D-5E-in-2015!#.VPSE3PmG-T8
In January they leaked the covers of both books. Then a bit later the handbook got cancelled and PoA was officially announced (what a surprised!). This time around we do not even get any leaked info. My guess is if we do not get any info in May or June, the official announcement will be made at GenCon for a release in October/November. Maybe for 2016.
For those who say "if they announce anything and then cancel it, people will whine", yes they will. But creating some hype with the risk of cancellation is better the zero hype we have now.
MrZeddaPiras
[insert something clever]
I would be mighty fine with them not releasing any more character splatbooks. Ever. What I would like to see is some shorter adventure modules: even pdf only would be fine, as long as they are well written and well put together. And some campaign setting box, like the ones TSR used to make, though I guess that's just nostalgia talking.
