Treebore said:
So Gleemax is completely MtG? If so I don't like MtG anymore. I haven't bought anything since... since... whatever edition/set that had the new "Icy Manipulator" in it. About 8 years ago.
I think Gleemax is about bringing more of their games togethor, rather than treating each games part of the website as something separate. It doesn't mean merging the games, but there is obviously some overlap.
I may be a lot less hostile over WOTC cancelling Dragon/Dungeon if they actually told us what they are doing, and if it is running by September 1st.
But since they want to keep me in the dark and tell me to "be patient" because they did such poor planning that they don't even know what they are doing yet, no.
It's always hard to judge why there is no information before the information is out, so I don't see the antipathy.
I've found that I much prefer companies that communicate with their fan base. So I like Green Ronin, Paizo, Goodman, TLG, AEG, et al They answer my questions, they let me in on their plans. They act like I, and the rest of their customer base, matters.
I have always found the product schedule for WotC to be available far in advance. Sure they don't post on message boards as much as some of them do, but they are generally forthright with what they're doing long in advance of when it's released. It's generally easy to know what you're getting in a WotC product before it's released.
Plus I like their product line ups better, anyhow.
So I am the "irrelevant" WOTC customer. The one who is old and obsolete, and not of enough importance to keep happy. So why should I care about WOTC? I have more than enough rules books from them. They could dissappear tomorrow and my gaming world wouldn't change.
Since this is a reply to you, it might seem personal, but it's a more general observation. You're an irrelevant customer because it's an uphill battle with you, whereas you expect quality from Paizo or Green Ronin and they don't have to work as hard to catch your interest. This is displayed repeatedly on ENWorld by numerous threads about how some WotC material is broken without the folks ever having really looked over the stuff, or people condemning WotC because their release schedule descriptions don't meet expectations.
WOTC is not the "end all, be all" of the RPG hobby. There are plenty of companies to step up and fill the void. So I don't care if that void is ever created. In fact, I would welcome it.
WotC is not the Final Word of RPGs, but it is the most popular and the most prolific. Release dates are kept that are planned months in advance, material is generally excellent quality. None of this is apparent through watching the most vocal ENworld posters though.
Realistically though, this is like video games. The Xbox has games I like, and are targeted at me, and I'd rather they keep making similar games to keep me entertained, rather than branch out to try to catch others and lose my interest.
Lots of folks are nostalgic about Dragon magazine, but even the most ardent fan has to admit that the magazine changed greatly through the years. Hanging onto the idea because you liked what Paizo did with it is commendable, but hating WotC because it's been around for a long time, neglects what the market actually is. This is a bit of a show though, Dungeon might have been bringing folks to Paizo, rather than to D&D. Pathfinder is a better format for them, if that is true.