D&D 5E Should I bother to subscribe to DDI if 5e is coming?

[Delgar]

If the product wasn't flawed they'd have more subscribers. If they released the new online tools, with more functionality than the offline tools, they wouldn't have lost subscribers.

Build it and they will come. Give them bugs and math that was fixed over a year ago and people have valid complaints.

Has anyone any insight on the ROI for DDI? I'm curious that if there's enough people "waiting" before subscribing to DDI, then Hasbro may decide to just shut it down. That would really suck for people like me who subscribe and use it. I mean, if the turning point in lost sales are really a bunch of people not paying due to some perceived slights in marketing or bug fixes or what-have-you, a big company like Hasbro may not make the connection (despite a slew of internet posts) and decide instead that there's just not enough interest. So, imagine if Hasbro decided to shut down the DDI and never restart it? Would all the people who currently don't subscribe clamor for it or say good riddance?

 

[Dannager]

That's very cynical! They can end such a rumour with a definitive statement - it's completely in their power to do so.

It is bad business to actively address rumors of upcoming products/announcements/what-have-you. If you start addressing them, you either say "We're not working on X," or "We're working on X."

If you say "We're working on X," then you've killed whatever plans you had for a marketing reveal, and you immediately start work on damage control (that you didn't have any real time to prepare for).

If you say "We're not working on X," and it later turns out you were working on X, you'll be seen as a liar. Even if you weren't working on X at the time but announce X at a later date, you will still inevitably be accused of lying.

But the real problem? If you say "We're not working on X," you now have a reputation for squashing untrue rumors. If rumors pop up in the future and you fail to address them, it will be taken as implicit acknowledgement that the rumors are true. After all, if they were false you would have said so!

The only smart, responsible policy for a company like WotC is to not comment on rumors, especially when those rumors have anything resembling an air of feasibility to them. And even then, don't say "No comment," because even that can be taken as implicit acknowledgement of their truth. You just don't say anything. Don't dignify rumors with any kind of response, and maintain a responsible stance of being above the fray of the rumormill.

 

[Dannager]

If the product wasn't flawed they'd have more subscribers. If they released the new online tools, with more functionality than the offline tools, they wouldn't have lost subscribers.

Build it and they will come. Give them bugs and math that was fixed over a year ago and people have valid complaints.

And we're saying that none of that matters, because it's like buying five birthday cakes for $10 and complaining that one of them doesn't have frosting. Even if you throw that entire cake in the trash, you still have four birthday cakes that you only paid $10 for. Oh, and no one else even sells birthday cakes.

 

[Delgar]

No I'd rather pay 2 bucks for the cake I really want to eat, not 10 bucks for four cakes I'm allergic to and one that someone has eaten and spit on. Just saying.

And we're saying that none of that matters, because it's like buying five birthday cakes for $10 and complaining that one of them doesn't have frosting. Even if you throw that entire cake in the trash, you still have four birthday cakes that you only paid $10 for. Oh, and no one else even sells birthday cakes.

 

[Dannager]

No I'd rather pay 2 bucks for the cake I really want to eat,

No one is stopping you. Let us know where you find this $2 cake. I'm sure it must be very popular.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

That's very cynical! They can end such a rumour with a definitive statement - it's completely in their power to do so.

ok, so in your mind how can they?

If they come out next monday with a ro3 and say "Is monty working of 5e" and then answer "No 5e is not at this time being worked on" it will do little to quash the rumor, but will mean that they then have to address every rumor of a new edtion...for ever. Not effective

If they say "Yes he is" what does that do to the sales of Heroes of feywild and elemental heroes?

 

[Morrus]

While I'm at it, let me also add, please don't make assumptions about what I'm doing

Unfortunately, one cannot ask people to "don't make assumptions" about what they're doing and also not tell people what they're doing, and realistically expect them to do so. It's human nature; you cannae have it both ways. You keep it secret, then folks will make guesses.

You can't tell people not to think about something. That just makes them think even more.

 

[Delgar]

I was okay with paying the 10 bucks for the other stuff a year ago, when the stuff i wanted was functional, but they decided to change the recipie and make it taste like crap. Make it taste better and I'll come back.

No one is stopping you. Let us know where you find this $2 cake. I'm sure it must be very popular.

 

[Scribble]

Unfortunately, one cannot ask people to "don't make assumptions" about what they're doing and also not tell people what they're doing, and realistically expect them to do so. It's human nature; you cannae have it both ways. You keep it secret, then folks will make guesses.

You can't tell people not to think about something. That just makes them think even more.

Yeah that kind of goes towards my point- no matter what they say, when people have made up their minds to believe what they want to believe they will believe it.

They could come on and say we're not working on 5e.

Suddenly you'd have umpteen billion posts about how they're FINISHED with 5e and it will be out soon

Or how they actually meant today, but not tomorrow

Or that the person posting is the one not working on 5e

Or that it's just not going to be called 5e

Or that they've made a secret second company that works on future editions so they can always actually say they aren't working on it

Or that because it's so much fun they don't consider it "work"

Or that the designers are tasked with building it, but not as an offical WoTC project so WoTC can buy it in the end and say they never actively "worked" on it

Or that 5e was actually the prototype for basic but it disappeared because secret agents from WoTC 2012 traveled back in time and stole it from the trunk of Gary Gygax's Buick (and if evidence that he never had a Buick is pointed out it will only be because the WOTC agents disrupted the true timeline to the anger of Jean Claud Van Dam)

Or that it's not 5e because it's secretly 3e returning to print while WoTC gets Paizo a beer and calls it daddy

Or that 5e is a autonomous computer system writing itself on the DDI (shortly before blotting out the sun and using us all as batteries)

yada yada.

Unfortunately it seems that no a days no matter how much evidence you present to people they'll always assume what they "KNOW" is the "REAL" truth.


I blame the x-files.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Unfortunately, one cannot ask people to "don't make assumptions" about what they're doing and also not tell people what they're doing, and realistically expect them to do so. It's human nature; you cannae have it both ways. You keep it secret, then folks will make guesses.

You can't tell people not to think about something. That just makes them think even more.

Were you not the one that stated that you had it from an "inside source" that there was going to be an announcement at Gencon about 5e?

Just so we know which side of the fence you are riding.