Question: Beta or Final?

[Scurvy_Platypus]

As I said in another thread, I was mostly neutral in regards to the Beta. I _really_ dislike the Final. I don't care about the art/production values, I'm purely interested in the rules. I spent the $10 on the pdf, but where I'd be willing to spend the money on a Beta book (assuming I could find one that wasn't $70+ U.S.) I promptly told one my groups "I'm not buying a hardcopy".

 

[Aus_Snow]

If you have a chance to browse the book (or indeed, if you pay the thoroughly reasonable price of $10 for the PDF) I think you'll find the final rules are quite the improvement on the Beta. Well, I did. Also, all the additional stuff. And the production values. The convenience of having it all there, in one place, neatly organised and indexed. . .

No, I'm not a salesman.

 

[pawsplay]

Edition preference tends to be a religious issue. However, I am of the opinion the final version is a great improvement. The Beta remains interesting for historical reasons and as a mine for ideas.

 

[Ares]

As I said in another thread, I was mostly neutral in regards to the Beta. I _really_ dislike the Final. I don't care about the art/production values, I'm purely interested in the rules. I spent the $10 on the pdf, but where I'd be willing to spend the money on a Beta book (assuming I could find one that wasn't $70+ U.S.) I promptly told one my groups "I'm not buying a hardcopy".

Wow, things are tough south of the ol' equator. I spent $25 on my Beta hardcopy. At least you have great health care!

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Wow, things are tough south of the ol' equator. I spent $25 on my Beta hardcopy. At least you have great health care!

You misunderstand... there's _no_ copies of the Beta to be had. The only copies I can find are for sale online in the U.S. and they're charging $70+ for them.

Out here? It's not happening period.

Getting it shipped from the U.S. to here? That's not happening either. The shipping option that everyone uses costs an additional $50+ U.S. as well.

Which means right now, if I'd like a copy of the Beta book, I'm going to have to shell out a minimum of $120 U.S. Luckily for me the NZ exchange rate has gotten better, so it'd cost me around $204 local currency; earlier in the year it would have been more like $230.

Pathfinder Final book is around $80 local I believe. That's typical price for a new rpg. Complete Arcane in the used shop has been marked down to only $40 local.

Books are expensive and shipping even more so. That Dreden Files book I would have spent $8 on in the U.S. and not thought anything about buying? $25 in the shops here.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Is it because of distance and access to shipping from mainland North america?