Vigilance said:
Whoa, you mean the designers think they're IMPROVING on 3.5 with a new edition?!?!?!
OMFG SCANDAL!!!!!!!!!
No, I think he means that WotC has adopted the approach of "To sell 4e, we have to slam 3/3.5."
This is the most annoying aspect of all the 4e announcements and I couldn't put my finger on it until late last week. 4e may be a great game upon its release - there are some things I'm intrigued by but probably an equal number of info I'm not liking.
But the thing that's universally annoyed me is the "the current edition is broken" digs. It's assumed that a new edition will improve upon things. Selling the improvements primarily by attacking your current product is a mistake.
I am a sales engineer for a technology company. As such, selling new versions, releases, and upgrades is SOP. Either you continue to innovate your products or you fall behind the tech curve. However, when a new version or release is announced, you sell what's going to be improved or different -
without slamming your current product . Doing so can either negatively impact your current sales, open you up to competition, or piss off your customers who purchased the current version.
Now, an RPG is not a tech sale, obviously, so let's say it's a truth that sales of a current edition tank as soon as a new edition is announced. WotC is the 800-lb. gorilla of the RPG industry so they evidently feel that competitive threats are small.
Unfortunately, in believing (rightly or wrongly) in the first two points, they've consciously or unconsciouly accomplished the 3rd outcome - pissing off some of their customers. From personal experience, sometimes you can't avoid ticking a customer off - bad news is bad news. However, almost every WotC employee I've seen quoted is selling the negatives of 3e more than they are selling the positives of 4e.
This is ultimately what is bothering me, as a customer. Converting from 3.5 to 4e? - not worth the effort. 3.5? - how clunky and time-consuming it is, it's a wonder we had any fun while playing it all these years.
And why do I think WotC is taking this approach? I can't rule out the arrogance factor when they're the king of the RPG industry. There are parallels in the tech sector (Microsoft, Cisco, etc.). I'd like to think that Mr. Mearls at least, having written so many d20/OGL products, doesn't subscribe to that. So my suspicion is WotC has decided on who the target audience for D&D is, and many of us old-timers aren't in the demographic. They still want our money, though, hence the campaign to convince us that the current version is too cumbersome, clunky, etc. to be worth continuing.
WotC is running a business. The goal is, rightly, to turn a profit. I don't bear them ill will for trying and I do think 3.5 can be improved upon. But I think promoting 4e through negatively selling against 3.5 is a mistake. It can be a valid tactic against a competitor, but it's short sighted when you use it against yourself.
Azgulor
), but this video set a tone in the marketing that colors my perception of the rest...sad but true. Probably would have been lots better if that video hadn't been one of the first to pop up here....first impressions and all that. In this case, the marketing strategy didn't make a favorable first impression on me, and thus the rest has to pay the bill for that.
