D&D 4E Rant on the 4E "Presentation"

[DaveMage]

Wow. As far as I can remember this is just about the most interactive a company has been in developing an entire new game system. Blog posts of playtest sessions, posts of the developers thoughts on new rules (positive and negative) and so much more I can't begin to list it all.

Did you want that $200 instead?

They've certainly said a lot.

 

[Azgulor]

Did you want that $200 instead?

Well that was mature.

Clearly we have a difference of opinion. Your opinion is certainly a valid one as well. I don't believe I was disrespectful of Mr. Rouse or WotC. I didn't fire off a personal attack, I didn't slam 4e as a product, nor did I accuse WotC of unjustly wanting to make a buck. I feel that they have not delivered 4e messages as well as they could have. Rather than just trashing WotC, I cited examples of other companies that I believe do a better job at communicating with their customers.

Per usual, however, anyone who criticizes WotC is dismissed, treated as a grognard, or lumped into the anti-4e crowd as demonstrated by your response.

You keep the $200 since you don't seem to have an issue with comments like those. I view Mr. Rouse's $200/never satisfied comment as an example of the kinds of comments WotC needs to stop using. While I don't believe he meant to be insulting when making the statement, it's those kinds of comments that come across as dismissive and insulting to some customers.

 

[Rel]

Sorry. I thought we had shifted into "humor thread" mode.

Edit required?

Thanks, -- N

We do not question Moderators, Nifft! PERMABANNED.

 

[Rel]

We do not question Moderators, Nifft! PERMABANNED.

Just kidding. I thought we'd slipped into "humor thread" mode too.

 

[Umbran]

Did you want that $200 instead?

Right. The discussion at hand is largely about professionalism and respect, and you come out with this. Ironic, that. And after P-cat asked for a tone down of the snark....

Holy Bovine, do not post in this thread again.

Respect, people. Learn it. It isn't difficult to be good to your fellow posters.

 

[Nifft]

Just kidding. I thought we'd slipped into "humor thread" mode too.

Most excellent.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Sorry to take things off topic a bit, but I don't think WotC is being interactive or responsive enough. I recognize I'm just one customer among many. Quality and customer focus speak for themselves. Just because a company says they're for those things doesn't make it true even when the employees believe it to be the case. You can't tell you're customers "trust us, we love D&D and know what we're doing", you have to show your customers why they should trust you. For this gamer of 20+ years, that is where WotC is falling far, far behind companies like Paizo, Green Ronin, and others.

One thing that has to always be kept in mind is that things have to be different simply because WotC is the 800 pound gorilla. They are a division of a publicly traded company, so they have to be a little more careful about what they say than Paizo, Green Ronin and others.

When you hear from Paizo, Green Ronin and others, you usually only hear from a couple of people at each of those place, mostly because they are smaller companies. WotC with its larger staff has a liitle more difficulty speaking with "one voice." I would guess the result of that is how and what they are going to communicate may be discussed a little more formally than the smaller companies, with the drawback that some of those communications can sound forced or sanitized.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the communications from WotC staff so far. People need to remember that things are different now. With the internet and forums such as EN World and Gleemax, many people have become accustomed to the immediacy of information, and when they don't get it, they start to feel something is wrong.

 

[BadMojo]

I can't believe that as of 5 years ago White Wolf was putting together entire hardcover books with Pagemaker. *shudder*

Wasn't the "layout" of the first edition of Vampire done in a bootleg copy of Word Perfect? I'm kidding...sorta.

 

[Roland55]

I know more about 4E than I do about next summer's blockbuster movie releases and I don't know that anyone's upset at the film companies about that.

Of course not! Now ... when you know more about some of next summer's movies ... THEN you might get upset!! (Hollywood -- brrrr!)

They're doing the work. They bought the rights. They're taking all the risks -- pretty significant ones, too. Let them decide what to talk about and when.

And I'll decide whether I'm excited about it ... or not. I definitely won't be getting upset.

See -- we each have our own ... role.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I can't believe that as of 5 years ago White Wolf was putting together entire hardcover books with Pagemaker. *shudder*

I've done that a couple times over the last two years or so and I can see where it would be trouble with a gaming book, they require much more complicated layout than most. For that matter I am editing and laying out a hardcover right now with Pagemaker and feel lucky its a novel rather than the last big one which I'd say was probably on par with an RPG book. (I've already edited some six hundred pages completing the first two books and just over five hundred of book three with probably another 250-300 to go it's a monster of a text)