I mourn.
I mourn the loss of a piece of brand identity that has been with D&D very nearly since the start ...
Dragon magazine.
I mourn the loss of the best buy in gaming ...
Dungeon magazine.
I mourn the source of never ending variety, and the source of adventure and supplemental material for the core D&D campaign settings.
I mourn the end of the print form of the gaming comics I look forward to every month.
I mourn the loss of opportunity for so many aspiring RPG writers to publish their work in an official D&D source.
I mourn the loss of a product made of dead trees, that can travel everywhere, be read everywhere, that doesn't die when the power goes out, that supports gaming on camping trips and deployments and other places where computers and internet access just don't go.
I mourn my primary source for learnign about non-D&D gaming products through advertising.
I mourn the death of two products cut down at the very zenith of their lives. Erik and the Paizo team had taken both products to a level that was their best ever. And while the people won't go away, something is missing without those products and titles.
I'll convert my subscriptions -- one just renewed -- to Pathfinder, because I have been impressed by Paizo's product quality thus far. But I fear that the cost-to-content value will never meet what I received in Dungeon.
I won't support the WotC online initiative. Like many others, I want a product I can hold in my hands, and enjoy somewhere away from the screen and keyboard in front of which I already spend too much of my life. It's not a question of quality of writing, it's a question of value and utility of product.
I've cut back my WotC purchases dramatically in the past six months. This decision encourages me to cut back even further. It feels -- almost -- like WotC just killed a good friend I have had for 25 years.
