(Rant) SVGames' Slow ESD Updates...

[The Sigil]

Am I the only one frustrated by the horrifically slow updates to the ESD program?

First at the WotC Store. Now at SVGames. We go for a month with no updates. The "release schedule" at Bastion Press is inaccurate - in theory, WotC/SVGames already has stuff for well into next year in their hot little hands... is it really THAT hard to release stuff?

I had hoped with the move to SVGames, we would see ESD releases on a regular weekly schedule (as advertised at Bastion). Admittedly, I also hoped they would speed up the release schedule and get products out on the market sooner (I've never been patient), but I wasn't naive enough to count on that.

Apparently I was wrong on both hopes. Since August 6, 2002 (over a month ago), exactly one (count 'em one) title has been released (Chainmail-miniatures rules). Some real gems like Keep on the Borderlands and Ravenloft were supposed to be released last week but still nothing.

Is it too much to ask for you people to hit the release dates you yourselves set? Especially knowing that some of this material was scanned a year ago and that you've been sitting on it for 6 months? It's not like we're waiting for you to finish scanning it - the work is done and supposedly the stuff is already in your hands! I understand SVGames had a server move, but that's no excuse for over a *month* of inactivity on the WotC ESD front.

Okay, there. I feel better.

Just make sure that the rest Gazetteer Series is out by Christmas. Heck, I'd settle for just GAZ 5 (Elves of Alfheim), GAZ 6 (Dwarves of Rockhome), and GAZ 10 (Orcs of Thar).

--The Sigil

 

[Leopold]

i just want Night below to come to SRD, that way i don't feel so bad for using a scanned in backup copy!!

 

[Heretic Apostate]

What I'm hoping is that the quality will improve. I hear some of the early ESDs were real dogs in quality. If I ever get back into collecting RPGs (and get a connection faster than 56.6k ), I hope to download a bunch of ESDs. As in, a couple hundred. (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Birthright, Planescape, some Greyhawk and Dragonlance, some Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al-Qadim. And selected adventures, of course.)

 

[Staffan]

What I'm hoping is that the quality will improve. I hear some of the early ESDs were real dogs in quality.

Actually, the early ESDs were higher quality than the more recent ones, and definitely smaller. For example, Ruins of Zhentil Keep is 254 pages long, and approximately 15 megs. Red Steel is only 190 pages, but almost 40 megs. I understand that this is due to a change in OCR/typesetting methods. Originally, they tried to reproduce the exact typesetting done in the original sources, which lead to the text being treated as actual text. Now, they overlay a picture of the page over the actual text so they don't have to worry about typesetting. However, pictures take up a lot more space than text.

 

[The Sigil]

What I'm hoping is that the quality will improve. I hear some of the early ESDs were real dogs in quality. If I ever get back into collecting RPGs (and get a connection faster than 56.6k ), I hope to download a bunch of ESDs. As in, a couple hundred. (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Birthright, Planescape, some Greyhawk and Dragonlance, some Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al-Qadim. And selected adventures, of course.)

Funny you should mention that. I probably have well over 100 already (there are over 500 IIRC already released and I still don't have some of the gems I'm looking for).

I echo Staffan's comments about the quality. I liked the earlier ones MUCH better.

--The sigil

 

[The Sigil]

BUMP!

I sent svgames an e-mail last Friday asking them when their next ESD release was scheduled to hit the online store.

Still waiting for a response.

I hate to gripe, but this is getting ridiculous.

--The Sigil

 

[JeffB]

Well there was news to the extent that Bastion would not be doing anything besides D&D a few weeks back....all the other TSR stuff they had planned on putting out was canned...

With things the way they are at WOTC , it would not surprise me one bit if Hasbro cancelled the rest fo the ESD's...I cannot imagine that they are profitable enough.

 

[The Sigil]

A good point there, but...

Most of the D&D products have already been scanned and delivered to WotC (see the Bastion Press site). IOW, WotC has already had to pay for them, so making them available costs them nothing more - all it can do is make money at this point through sales.

And given that they will not be losing money even if they put out the ones they already have, could they really afford to lose money from the PR blow cancelling the rest of them would be? Wouldn't be a big blow, but would hurt.

Basically, holding them back worst-case hurts and best-case saves zero. Releasing them best-case makes money and worst-case costs zero. I should think the conclusion is elementary. Then again, the powers that be these days do not seem inclined to follow my own econominc thinking.

--The Sigil

 

[Citizen Kane]

I'm also frustrated by the slow progress of the esd program.

BTW, what products are people still waiting for in particular?

I'm waiting for A1-4 and I3-5 (I don't want to have to download each module separately). I'm also waiting for the d&d rules cyclopedia. Also WG8.

 

[The Sigil]

BTW, what products are people still waiting for in particular?

I'm waiting for A1-4 and I3-5 (I don't want to have to download each module separately). I'm also waiting for the d&d rules cyclopedia. Also WG8.

For me, it's also the Rules Cyclopedia and especially the rest of the GAZ series - esp. Dwarves of Rockhome and Elves of Alfheim.

Basically anything from the Boxed Sets era, I want.

There are a few other "gems" from some of the other lines (e.g., Planescape) that I'm looking for, but the Known World (NOT Mystara) line is what I'm looking for.

--The Sigil