New Chris Perkins podcast up on Gaming Steve

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

My understanding was R&D is primarily a rules shop, more than background.

From the way they talk it doesn't seem like someone does one without the other.

 

[Stogoe]

Eh; I've found that I don't really remember info in a podcast that's on in the background, unless I actually stop and make it my sole focus, making them pretty useless for their intended purpose as a multitasking aid.

 

[Aluvial]

Nearly everything that Chris said had something to do with money. I know that it's a business, but it seems like the insider thing is money, money, money. Money for the subscription, money for the tiles, money for the new monster models...

And then all of this business with the Repository, which sounds nice, but then again, fan a ton of fan created things won't get supported...

Then there was this bit about how your character sheet will be labeled as "tournament legal" or not. What was interesting was that he said that if you had an item that was "not of an appropriate level" you would get some type of warning, and your sheet would be marked...

So munchkinism is dead?

Overall, I'm still not sure... sounds like it could be expensive. Right now, you would get plenty of articles and little tid-bits/extras, etc. so... now this will all cost?

hmm,

Aluvial

 

[Badkarmaboy]

They've been specifically interviewed about the model for it as well. Their emphasis on the secondary market is considered an innovative approach compared to most online games works to stifle or control it.

Having never played Magic or Magic Online I have the following questions:

1. How does Magic Online make wotc tons of money?

2. How is their approach to the secondary market innovative?

Now that I've got that out of the way, I think that charging for random digital miniatures is the single most retarded thing I've heard come out of D&DI. I think that if I go out and buy the MM, I should have access to the figs OR if I go buy the miniature-I should have access to the digital counterpart. It's a shame because at some point I'm going to want to use it when I end up in Iraq and I want to game with my friends back home.

 

[timbannock]

I know this is crazytalk and all, but shouldn't we (as someone mentioned before, I think) get all the "digital minis" for every monster in the MM1 when we buy the MM1, for example? And then same for the MM2 and Fiend Folio and so on?

Why pay extra for this cr...er, stuff? I don't get it.

 

[Creamsteak]

The thing that caught me as "new" there was the 'tournament legal' thing. I like the notion that there's a checklist for character portability between games, but I'm having trouble beleiving that whats RPGA legal is necessarily what I'd want to play with. The boundaries are all mechanical it sounds, which to me implies that player's are going to just be min-maxing within some prescribed formula of what is allowed. It doesn't sound like the death of munchkinism, it sounds like people are going to optimize within some certain boundaries.

 

[MerricB]

Having never played Magic or Magic Online I have the following questions:

1. How does Magic Online make wotc tons of money?

2. How is their approach to the secondary market innovative?

Now that I've got that out of the way, I think that charging for random digital miniatures is the single most retarded thing I've heard come out of D&DI. I think that if I go out and buy the MM, I should have access to the figs OR if I go buy the miniature-I should have access to the digital counterpart. It's a shame because at some point I'm going to want to use it when I end up in Iraq and I want to game with my friends back home.

In Magic Online, you buy virtual boosters. Same price as real boosters, same contents... except they're virtual cards. You can use the cards to play games online, you can trade with them, sell them, etc.

If you get a complete set of virtual cards (that is, one of each card from a particular set), you can redeem them for a real set of cards - you lose access to the virtual cards, and get sent actual physical cards. I've friends that have done this. It is really, really cool.

For me, Magic Online would be much, much better than trying to find real games of Magic. You can always find games, there are always tournaments starting up. Very nice indeed.

If the DI has virtual minis that use the same scheme, it may be successful. I'm somewhat suspicious because the DDM game is much weaker than the Magic game in terms of sales - most of the DDM sales are for RPG purposes, and players who play both in real life and online would be more common than just players who play online.

Cheers!

 

[Wolfspider]

Articles are a pointless and limited format, since they require me to pay attention to nothing else while reading, unlike podcasts which can play in my ear while surfing forums or writing material.

You sure thrive on confrontation, don't you?

 

[Wolfspider]

Ugh... How much of D&D insider is going to have to be purchased separately? I don't mind having to buy the books, I don't mind having to pay the activation fee, I don't mind having to pay the monthly subscription fee. But according to the podcast I'll have to buy each and every mini for every monster I want to use in on the digital gaming table, and it was implied that it'll be a randomized collectible pack as well?

So they're back to this randomized digital miniatures nonsense? Ugg.

 

[FadedC]

Well the secondary market for magic online can't really be compared to the secondary market for other online games like WoW. Magic is a card game, and the emphasis has always been on cards being worth money and being bought and sold. Thus a secondary market is built into the game.....there is no way to aquire cards without spending money on them or trading for them. You could even argue that the secondary market is not really secondary but rather a primary part of the game.

In other games the secondary market actively works against the point of the game....using real world money to buy items that are intended to be aquired using in game using in game resources. Kind of like paying your DM 10 dollars to give you a new magic sword, or bribing one of the players at your tible with real world money if he gives you his magic items in the game. This is the kind of thing that should be discouraged and has little in common with buying cards in MTGO.