D&D (2024) New leak looks real bad

[JThursby]

No. Linda has warned off several folks that they can’t talk about it or won’t. Until they have put out a piece, I think.

The TTRPG community should collectively be thanking Linda for the journalistic integrity needed for these issues to have been treated as serious in the first place.

 

[Haplo781]

 

[Clint_L]

What I was actually saying was "is WotC putting out stuff that's going to be worth $30 a month?"

Yes, that wasn't hard to understand. You stated it clearly.

What I am saying is "worth" is up to the consumer. It's subjective. What's worth $30 to me and what's $30 to you will be different. And that's okay. "Worth" is not objective.

So arguments about "worth" are pointless until we see what is being offered and we have to make individual decisions about whether or not to buy it. If it succeeds, then we'll know the pricing was more or less correct. If it fails, we'll know it wasn't.

It is not hard for me to imagine WotC offering something a product worth me paying $30/month. And it is also not hard for me to imagine them offering a product that I pass on.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It is beyond me how anybody who plays pnp and mmos is even trying to compare the pricing.

Because it's about the entertainment dollars. If I can get, in theory, 24/7/365 game play in WoW for $15/month, for double that amount, I'm going to expect double the enjoyment out of it.

Yes, it's obviously a different product, but that actually makes it worse. Unless Hasbro secretly has the world's greatest AI that no one knows about (they do not), they cannot offer anything comparable to WoW. (Which, as you say, at best is still inferior to a decent game of D&D.)

They're not going to have a giant staff of professional DMs sitting around online, waiting for people to jump on and play.

So what are we left with?

Unlocked content that we may not want anyway (I have never purchased most of WotC's content in a given year), a hypothetical VTT, the OKish encounter builder and what else? Nothing $30/month worth at this moment.

This is like comparing leisure walks to professional racing. Most pnpers I know play roleplaying games once or twice a month, while those mmo buddies log in daily and spend too much time in worlds created by hundreds of people over years on a daily basis. Nothing an online ruleset can offer will ever be legit to comepare to this. Whoever thought this up by Hasbro should try to play both first for some time. I doubt s/he ever had.

I think it's pretty clear the folks at Hasbro are product managers who've never actually used the products in question or listen to those who have.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

WotC also has two D&D MMOs (DDO and Neverwinter). If they want to get people paying to play in AI-run campaigns, I wonder if those games’ futures are in jeopardy. Why pay when you could play those for free?

And neither one is setting the world of MMOs on fire. If the D&D brand has this magical hold on consumers, each of them should be much more popular than it is.

 

[Reynard]

Caveat: I have been wrong constantly throughout this process, so I am probably wrong here too.

Anyway, I am guessing that when this bomb drops tomorrow, what we are going to see is internal communications that suggest these things but no actual actionable plans. AI GMing alone feels like wishful thinking by some MBA, and $30/month sounds like an attempt to get a sense of what the community/customer base is willing to give. I don't think there is an imminent announcement from WotC. Rather, I think the leaks are coming from an increasingly frustrated staff.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

He's hearing it from multiple independent sources, most of which (Roll for Combat, D&D Shorts, Ginny Di) are impeccable, but sure let's pretend this is unfounded clickbait.

Those aren't other sources. Those are other people reiterating the same information.

"Multiple independent sources" would be multiple people inside WotC or a third party publisher providing proof.

This is like saying something you saw on cable news must be true because other cable news outlets are saying the same thing. It says nothing about the accuracy of information if multiple folks are repeating it.

I like Ginny Di and D&D Shorts, but neither of them are journalists.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think the leaks are coming from an increasingly frustrated staff.

This is the norm for leaks.

They have tried and failed to address this the "right way" internally, and leaking is all that they have left. And, worse yet for the suits, it appears to be working.

 

[Haplo781]

Those aren't other sources. Those are other people reiterating the same information.

"Multiple independent sources" would be multiple people inside WotC or a third party publisher providing proof.

This is like saying something you saw on cable news must be true because other cable news outlets are saying the same thing. It says nothing about the accuracy of information if multiple folks are repeating it.

I like Ginny Di and D&D Shorts, but neither of them are journalists.

They each have independent sources inside WotC. I'm not sure what else you want short of outing people who would be sued and fired.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They each have independent sources inside WotC. I'm not sure what else you want short of outing people who would be sued and fired.

People should take a day or two and wait for Gizmodo.

For all we know, Ginny D, D&D Shorts and whomever else are all talking to the exact same person. Gizmodo's coverage will make the approximate number of sources more clear. Multiple sources both raise the credibility of the leak and make it harder for Hasbro to identify each of the leakers.