The Myth of the Bo9S's Popularity

[Hammerhead]

I think WotC would know how well their books are doing.

Bo9S does seem to have a polarizing effect on people (they either love it or hate it, at least in my experience) which is what you need for a great product.

 

[Campbell]

I'd be hesitant to put too much stock in Amazon's Sales Rank. Historical sales influence the current rank. It is impressive that the Rules Compendium shot right to the top of D&D books though.

Song and Silence
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,463 in Books

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, basically, the proof comes down to "people I know or watched in my local store didn't buy the book, ergo it's not popular."

WotC has no particular motivation to lie. If it didn't sell well, they'd just say, "we really think the mechanics work well in our in-house playtests," and that would be that.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As Whizbang's post suggests, one of the most important lessons in a Statistics class is that personal experience is not evidence.

That said, I'm not the biggest fan of Bo9S, and I'm the only gamer in my group (@10 guys) who owns a copy. I purchased it more out of wanting to complete the ruleset than any real love.

 

[Horacio]

As Whizbang's post suggests, one of the most important lessons in a Statistics class is that personal experience is not evidence.

I thought that the most important lesson was that if you have a chicken and I have no chicken we both have half a chicken...

That said, I fully agree, personal experience shouldn't never be used as evidence or as base for a statistical theory. And Amazon data is almost unreliable, specially a year after release.

That said, I'm not the biggest fan of Bo9S, and I'm the only gamer in my group (@10 guys) who owns a copy. I purchased it more out of wanting to complete the ruleset than any real love.

And in my group we bought 4 of them

I guess that WotC know their sales data. If they think that it sold well, I guess it DID sell well.

 

[Waylander]

Isn't there also a clear difference between how well a book sold and what people thought of it?

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

If it wasn't for 4e coming I'd strongly be considering buying it, given what I've heard on here about it.

 

[Rechan]

WotC has no particular motivation to lie. If it didn't sell well, they'd just say, "we really think the mechanics work well in our in-house playtests," and that would be that.

Even more importantly, they're not going to put all their eggs in the 4e basket if it didn't.

The following did not happen:

4e Designer 1: Hey guys, you know that book that tanked?
4e Designer 2 and 3: Yeah.
1: Let's base our entire class system around that.
2 & 3: BRILLIANT!

Bottom line, 4e has to sell books. And I don't think they're going to do that by filling it with a ruleset that won't sell. I'm willing to bet money that they have been looking at market research and had bean counters crawling all up in their business.

 

[EditorBFG]

PHB 3.5 - #7,208
Complete Mage - #21,919
Complete Arcane - #22,369
Complete Adventurer - #22,369
Libris Mortis - #36,563
PHB II - 39,910
Complete Warrior - #43,101
ToB: Bo9S - #90,074!!!
Heroes of Horror - #99,074

Out of the books you list, ToB would have trouble competing-- whether it was brilliant or terrible-- simply because of what it is. It offers a whole new system and a new paradigm for looking at martial types. The other books offer magic items and feats (and in most cases prestige classes) that any out-of-the-PHB character can use as soon as you buy the book or any DM can use to spice up bad guys. If you wanted to compare ToB with like books, you'd want to cite sales figures for say, Expanded Psionics Handbook, or Tome of Magic, or maybe something like Ghostwalk, which bring much bigger changes to a D&D game, the way ToB does.

Also, Amazon figures don't reflect bookstore or hobby shop sales, so while I know these online numbers are all that you or I might be able to easily get our hands on, they don't really refute WotC's figures. If there is one thing I am absolutely certain WotC is on top of, it is tracking which of their products sell well and which don't.

 

[glass]

While I agree that while Amazon's numbers aren't the best source of data -snip-

EDIT: Then be careful in basing conclusions on it!


glass.