NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Justice and Rule" data-source="post: 8910144" data-attributes="member: 6778210">Casuals don't matter as much as the whales really do when it comes to a game like D&D. This is not a hobby where everyone is invested equally, but rather by its nature is very lopsided. In my groups, it was only the DMs who really bought books, while those who largely played games borrowed them. You might get someone buying a PHB or a Xanathar's, but most of content being released by Wizards is campaign setting or adventure stuff and aren't really meant to be bought by everyone.And honestly that's not a bad strategy for business: It keeps the entry into the hobby low and thus makes it more attractive to the very casual. Those who eventually want to run things then have lots of options of buying stuff, and you can keep your output low and your quality high (in theory, at least) so as not to overwhelm those who might be interested in buying without getting to the "I can't keep up, gonna have to ration" levels of product output.The problem is that while this is likely only being noticed and pissing off the more engaged part of the fanbase, that part of your fanbase is a disproportionate part of your revenue stream. DMs are the people who are going to be the ones watching influencers, trying to understand how the mechanics work better, what things they could be doing better or worse. This means they are also more likely to be the ones being bombarded with how bad this is.The worst part? Those are the people who are bringing you into the hobby. There are a lot of people who will play D&D as a player. It's fairly easy to do so. If the DM leaves because he doesn't want to be the DM anymore? Well, that means you're likely losing a group of casuals because many people want to play and not run the game. This is the definition of a game that cannot place more value on casual players because the people who bring those casuals in and keep them playing are the ones running things and buying all the books.</blockquote>

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