D&D 4E Paizo and 4e.

[Qualidar]

Hmmm

Well, when we started all of us came from Wizards of the Coast's Periodicals Department....

What about that poor slob you ate during the blizzard. Doesn't he get a mention?

 

[Roland55]

My apologies. I was mentally lumping you together with people over at the Paizo board who are explicitly wishing for 4E to flop.

Now that would indeed be a self-destructive, self-defeating attitude!

Games evolve or die (much like any 'living' thing). I'm nostalgic enough about D&D to actually care about it -- to want it to live. It's the younger generation who will decide whether it lives ... and what form it will take. Not one of us has any real idea what 4E will be like -- possibly, most folks at WOTC don't quite know that yet -- but we do know that it is foolish in the extreme to wish failure upon it.

I don't have to like it. But I surely hope my grand-children do!

 

[Gundark]

I understand that Erik isn't trying to set paizo up as the "anti 4e" company (espically judging by his comments here on enworld).... However I do believe that people on the Paizo boards see them trying for this (I lurk there).

I worry about Paizo. I think the whole AP thing is gonna hurt them in the long run. Why? Because they're getting released faster than they can be run. There is a portion of the gaming population that will buy APs no matter what, regardless whether they get to run them or not. There will be the ones who buy them and mine them for their homebrews. However I think there will be a growing number that'll hold off cause they have too much to run and want to catch up. This is the boat I find myself in.

I think Paizo should get away from doing APs....maybe 3.75.

 

[James Jacobs]

I understand that Erik isn't trying to set paizo up as the "anti 4e" company (espically judging by his comments here on enworld).... However I do believe that people on the Paizo boards see them trying for this (I lurk there).

I worry about Paizo. I think the whole AP thing is gonna hurt them in the long run. Why? Because they're getting released faster than they can be run. There is a portion of the gaming population that will buy APs no matter what, regardless whether they get to run them or not. There will be the ones who buy them and mine them for their homebrews. However I think there will be a growing number that'll hold off cause they have too much to run and want to catch up. This is the boat I find myself in.

I think Paizo should get away from doing APs....maybe 3.75.

As long as Adventure Paths remain popular and profitable... we'll keep doing them. I certainly worry that there's some point where there'll be "too much" adventure path out there... but then again, maybe there isn't. People never ended up getting too many adventures, really. And I suspect that a LARGE number of our customers won't ever run the AP anyway; they just read the adventures for entertainment. There's also a significant (I hope!) portion of readers who are also collectors, and are adventure packrats who stockpile them for use in the unseen future (I'm in this category). And then there's the fact that half of each volume of Pathfinder is supplement, sourcebook, and monster manual, so that even if you aren't running an adventure, you can still probably find something good in that second half.

Until then, I'll absolutely be watching messageboards and emails and sales figures obsessively. So far, though, things are looking really positive. Especially given the fact that 4th edition looming on the horizon could have EASILY killed our 3.5 edition sales. As of yet... things still look good.

 

[hazel monday]

I worry about Paizo. I think the whole AP thing is gonna hurt them in the long run. Why? Because they're getting released faster than they can be run.

One thing to consider: WOTC drops like 2 or 3 splatboks a month. There's no way a single player can run that many different characters with that many different character options in a given period of time. But players (specifically my players) still snatch em up like crackheads. Even if I say "No Psionics or truenamers in this campaign", they still gotta go buy the psionics and truenaming handbooks. It's like they're somehow compelled. Never underestimate the power of marketing strategies on the weak-willed.

 

[Shroomy]

One thing to consider: WOTC drops like 2 or 3 splatboks a month. There's no way a single player can run that many different characters with that many different character options in a given period of time. But players (specifically my players) still snatch em up like crackheads. Even if I say "No Psionics or truenamers in this campaign", they still gotta go buy the psionics and truenaming handbooks. It's like they're somehow compelled. Never underestimate the power of marketing strategies on the weak-willed.

I see your point about collectibility (I for one, I have bought every GameMastery and Pathfinder released so far even though I have no plans to run them in the near future), but I could counter by saying that APs are a relatively niche product when compared to splatbooks and that the perception is that they are useable only once.

 

[Jack99]

I really dont understand the certainty some people seem to have that should Paizo jump ship and publish 3.75 (or their own system), it would be like the second coming.

Now dont get me wrong, I have a lot of admiration for Paizo, I own a not so insignificant amount of what they have published, and I will be the first to say that they write some kickass adventures/campaigns, no doubt about it.

However, it takes something very different to write and balance rules. And how much experience do they have doing that? Would they be able to pull it off?

 

[Khairn]

A lot of our readers are still very upset about the magazine transition, and are doing their best to support us.

And we're happy to do so. When the magazines were cancelled by WotC, Paizo stood up and made a very clear statement as to what their future plans were, what we could do regarding subscriptions and how they would continue to support their customers. Your open, honest and continuous communication built a lot of good will with many gamers, and once again, I just wanted to say thanks.

Personally I'm hoping that even if Paizo eventually moves to 4E, that they'll continue to support their 3E customers.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

One thing to consider: WOTC drops like 2 or 3 splatboks a month. There's no way a single player can run that many different characters with that many different character options in a given period of time. But players (specifically my players) still snatch em up like crackheads. Even if I say "No Psionics or truenamers in this campaign", they still gotta go buy the psionics and truenaming handbooks.
It's like they're somehow compelled. Never underestimate the power of marketing strategies on the weak-willed.

I am not sure it has a lot to do with marketing strategies or being weak-willed. Unless buying for personal entertainment alone means weak-willed.
From my perspective, "Marketing Strategy" of WotC is "we put out new rule-books". Unless you also count "Other Players read the books and found some good material in it" also as part of WotC strategy. (Which, maybe it is. Maybe their strategy is to put products that suite player taste? If that can be called Marketing Strategy )

 

[dmccoy1693]

One thing to consider: WOTC drops like 2 or 3 splatboks a month. There's no way a single player can run that many different characters with that many different character options in a given period of time. But players (specifically my players) still snatch em up like crackheads. Even if I say "No Psionics or truenamers in this campaign", they still gotta go buy the psionics and truenaming handbooks. It's like they're somehow compelled. Never underestimate the power of marketing strategies on the weak-willed.

I prefer to think of this as "Subscribing to the WotC Book of the Month Club."