The 3 reasons why I am done with WotC

[Lumboloid]

Over the past several months I have become more and more dissatisfied with WotC on the whole. One of the guys in my gaming group (posts here as Boerngrimm i do believe) and I have been talking a lot about this. Here are the three points that have made me decide to no longer support WotC.

1. The rising cost of Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures
I love these minis. I think they are great. They have greatly enhanced my game, but with the price having gone up I just can't justify spending the money on them. With the upcoming release Reaper's prepainted plastic minis there will be an alternative and I already have enough DDM that I can proxy just about anything.

2. The aweful proofreading of the books released by WotC
These $30+ hardcover books are filled with far too many spelling errors for me. I know that I don't use perfect spelling or grammar, but nobody pays me $30+ to read my message board rants. Also, the business of errata coming out as soon as the book is published i dumb. Check your products against each other before you send them to distributers.

3. The cancellation of Dragon and Dungeon magazines
For the money, those two magazines were the best value in gaming for me. Being in the tax bracket that I'm in and raising two children leaves me with very little extra cash to spend on gaming so my subscriptions to those magazines is where I got most of my new gaming material. Taking that away is terrible for me.

Because of these three things, I will no longer purchase any WotC products. To hell with them. The 3rd party companies work much harder so they can have my gaming dollar.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

2. The aweful proofreading of the books released by WotC

Pwned. It was even underlined in red, dude.

 

[Darkwolf445]

Also, the business of errata coming out as soon as the book is published i dumb.

Snicker, snicker

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Pwned. It was even underlined in red, dude.

It was?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

2. The aweful proofreading of the books released by WotC
These $30+ hardcover books are filled with far too many spelling errors for me. I know that I don't use perfect spelling or grammar, but nobody pays me $30+ to read my message board rants. Also, the business of errata coming out as soon as the book is published i dumb. Check your products against each other before you send them to distributers.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, at least WotC admits to having errata. There are tons of game companies that never acknowledge there are any errors whatsoever in their books, and believe me, WotC is nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to having errors. But since WotC actually acts professionally and both acknowledges and publishes errata, they get raked over the coals. Perhaps they'd be better off never admitting to making mistakes, like most game companies.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I suppose my question would be - why weren't you buying 3rd party products BEFORE if you think, perhaps rightly, they 'work harder?' FWIW, every Wizards employee I've ever corresponded with seemed like an extremely hard-working chap, so I'm not saying this IS true. If you think it is, why weren't you supporting these 3rd party publishers before?

Me, I love 3rd party publishers, mostly because they've been willing to rock the boat far more both in game design (virtually everything from Green Ronin) and setting (Goodman's Dragonmech, Privateer's Iron Kingdoms, etc.). I think if you dip into their work, you'll find it's as good or better and worth buying on its own merits - not just because you're mad at Wizards. Some, though not most, are cheaper, too.

 

[IanB]

1. The rising cost of Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures
I love these minis. I think they are great. They have greatly enhanced my game, but with the price having gone up I just can't justify spending the money on them. With the upcoming release Reaper's prepainted plastic minis there will be an alternative and I already have enough DDM that I can proxy just about anything.

I wouldn't look at the Reaper line as the salvation of your game, or your wallet. The number of SKUs is going to be limited, and the prices per miniature are not that great. You could get a wider variety of miniatures for cheaper simply by buying singles or lots of common and uncommon DDM figures online.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

It was?

Welll, evvery thang onn thiss lyne iz underlinned inn redd.

Except for inn which I forgot was a real word. Enworld has spell check.
On the posting page. My apologies to the OP.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I suppose my question would be - why weren't you buying 3rd party products BEFORE if you think, perhaps rightly, they 'work harder?' FWIW, every Wizards employee I've ever corresponded with seemed like an extremely hard-working chap, so I'm not saying this IS true. If you think it is, why weren't you supporting these 3rd party publishers before?

Me, I love 3rd party publishers, mostly because they've been willing to rock the boat far more both in game design (virtually everything from Green Ronin) and setting (Goodman's Dragonmech, Privateer's Iron Kingdoms, etc.). I think if you dip into their work, you'll find it's as good or better and worth buying on its own merits - not just because you're mad at Wizards. Some, though not most, are cheaper, too.

Yeah, I love some of the third-party publishers. Green Ronin is a great example. I love their Mythic Vistas line, which, in my opinion, outdid even GURPS sourcebooks when it came to covering a given subject and adapting it to a game system. Too bad they didn't sell well enough to justify the line being continued Goodman's Dungeon Crawl Classics line is one of the great product lines in games, with a seemingly neverending stream of adventure modules that get right to the heart of adventure gaming. Necromancer Games is another class act, with great adventures and awe-inspiring products like Judges Guild's Wilderlands. And Malhavoc, Monte Cook's company, with cool books like When the Sky Falls and Requiem for a God, as well as the ne plus ultra of game products, Ptolus.

So, yeah, third-party publishers deserved support all along. Too bad it takes something like Dragon and Dungeon disappearing to get people to check 'em out.

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, I love some of the third-party publishers. Green Ronin is a great example. I love their Mythic Vistas line, which, in my opinion, outdid even GURPS sourcebooks when it came to covering a given subject and adapting it to a game system. Too bad they didn't sell well enough to justify the line being continued Goodman's Dungeon Crawl Classics line is one of the great product lines in games, with a seemingly neverending stream of adventure modules that get right to the heart of adventure gaming. Necromancer Games is another class act, with great adventures and awe-inspiring products like Judges Guild's Wilderlands. And Malhavoc, Monte Cook's company, with cool books like When the Sky Falls and Requiem for a God, as well as the ne plus ultra of game products, Ptolus.

So, yeah, third-party publishers deserved support all along. Too bad it takes something like Dragon and Dungeon disappearing to get people to check 'em out.

I hope third parties get more interest from here on out, but I doubt it. Too many are stuck on "official content only". I would like to say their loss, but unfortunately it is the third party companies loss, and therefore mine/ours.