Pathfinder 1E Paizo being mysterious

[mhensley]

the Necromancer boards are down as well

just saying

 

[joela]

Paizo and Necromancer, sitting in a tree....

the Necromancer boards are down as well

just saying

Huh. The forums are down. Speculation. Could the two be merging?

 

[keterys]

You know, I have to think that if Paizo had an Adventure Path out for 4E Launch that it would be downright iconic... I can't imagine that a huge percentage of 4E plans wouldn't play it, making it the slavelords or GDQ of 4E, preserved forever.

That's a hard opportunity to miss, as D&D fans.

Man, I hate that things weren't ready months ago so they could have made an honest decision and figured everything out.

 

[Sojorn]

Me and my group are those very players Wulf. We tried 3ed, played it for about two years, decided it sucks and thought we are through with DnD for good. Everything we have seen about 4th ed says it is worth coming back to DnD for it. I don't think we are such a lonely example.

Count me and my friends in this group as well.

3rd was fun for a bit, then it eventually just felt like too much work to run a game for not enough reward, mostly from number and calculation bloat at the higher levels.

 

[keterys]

I think yuku itself is down - Monte Cook's boards are down too.

 

[delericho]

Despite my being a 4e-skeptic, if I were in Paizo's position, I would definately want to go to 4e as soon as possible - unless 4e is a disasterous failure (highly unlikely), that's going to be where the market is.

That said, Paizo have a fairly tight deadline for shifting the 3rd AP to 4e rules, and may well not want to support two editions simultaneously (and thus fracturing their own market, as the AD&D 2nd Ed settings did for TSR).

I suspect, in their position, I would be strongly tempted to reduce the 3rd AP from 6 months to 4, and delay a 4e buy-in until it is done. My gamble there is that the GSL and the 4e SRD are a ways off yet, and that it would take us sufficient time to prep our best products that the 3rd AP would be all but done anyway.

I would not be particularly tempted by the opportunity to publish a 4e product on "Day 1" at this stage. Unless one could secure the services of a WotC freelancer to start the work immediately (prior to getting the new rules), I don't see how it could be anything other than a rush job. And, frankly, the last thing we need is another "Creature Collection".

 

[Mistwell]

Paizo wants a big hit at GenCon. Last year it was Pathfinder #1, this year it will be the Pathfinder Campain Setting, which will be largely systemless, and possibly the first issue of the third AP. Of course they can release products outside of GenCon, but saying that the smart decision is to go with 4E when Paizo hasn't even seen the GSL is premature, since Paizo doesn't know if the GSL will allow them to make the kinds of products that have made them successful in the past.

Good thing I didn't say they should go with 4e without first seeing the GSL.

James Jacobs has stated before that the deadline for Paizo to start on AP 3, The Second Darkness was January 1st. Obviously, there's lots of stuff you can figure out without knowing what rules you're going to use, but we're 2 and a half months past that deadline. Eventually, they have to make a decision and start plugging rules into the AP, especially if they're going to try and get back on track with the schedule and have the first issue of the third AP ready at GenCon (which is an important event to them).

And that also does not mean they cannot wait for the GSL, and assuming it is OK, go with the GSL and 4e as well.

It's not a mutually exclusive thing. You can focus on 3.5/d20 until the GSL, and assuming the GSL is OK you can go with 4e as well.

This idea that it's 4e at GenCon or else 3.5/d20 until the early-adapter period ends is ludicrous. GenCon is important, but it's not the end all be all of Paizo or any company. Just as San Diego Comic Con is important for Comic Companies, but it is also not the end all be all of any Comic Book company. It's just a convention guys, and though attendance seems big, it's really a small drop relative to the ocean of customers out there (particularly this year, with Bankruptcy kinda tainting the show a bit, and other shows like the D&D Experience getting more attention due to 4e).

Anyone who comes out with a 4e product earlier than the competition will have a leg up on the competition, regardless of whether it is at GenCon or not. Heck, at least by GenCon they could have the cover art done, a name done, and broad description done, lots of things to discuss in a panel and to be covered in news, and that will be plenty to whet people's appetites.

 

[jaelis]

I think yuku itself is down - Monte Cook's boards are down too.

So is just plain yuku.com

 

[Toryx]

As much as I'd like to believe the site is down because they've got the GSL finally, I have a hard time believing that they'd do that. It's a flashy way of doing it, but it's not like you're going to have three people in a conference room reading a two page document and making a decision in 15 minutes, or an hour, or three. They've got to have their lawyers view the GSL, establish what rights they'd actually have, determine how it's going to affect their products, and then make a decision about whether or not they want to use the $5,000 to purchase the rules.

Taking their system down for days to do this doesn't make any sense, particularly sense they still won't know if they're actually going to publish any 4e materials until they have rules available to read. The GSL is only one small, though significant, part of the process and it certainly isn't enough for them to base their entire business strategy on.

 

[AZRogue]

As much as I'd like to believe the site is down because they've got the GSL finally, I have a hard time believing that they'd do that. It's a flashy way of doing it, but it's not like you're going to have three people in a conference room reading a two page document and making a decision in 15 minutes, or an hour, or three. They've got to have their lawyers view the GSL, establish what rights they'd actually have, determine how it's going to affect their products, and then make a decision about whether or not they want to use the $5,000 to purchase the rules.

Taking their system down for days to do this doesn't make any sense, particularly sense they still won't know if they're actually going to publish any 4e materials until they have rules available to read. The GSL is only one small, though significant, part of the process and it certainly isn't enough for them to base their entire business strategy on.

I tend to think the same. Which is why this seems more like a "we will not switch" thing than a "we got the GSL" thing. The GSL coming in wouldn't be something that could be looked over and agreed to after only a few hours. This feels more like something they knew about, a deadline that they were expecting in house.