Was WoTC Always this Lazy?

[Plissken]

So, quite a few people are angry with WoTC for being late with the D&D monthly compilation PDF's, being late with D&Di tools, and probably quite a few publishers are a bit annoyed at the GSL being late as well.

Did this happen when 3.0 came out? I wasn't around when WoTC first released 3.0 (I remember when I went to go purchase the 2nd AD&D books, I couldn't find them). Did WoTC at that time have troubles as well?

I don't mean this post to be flamebait. Just bewildered by WoTC's business practices and performance.

 

[Morrus]

Well, when 3.0 came out, all they had to do was... well, release 3.0. Which they did. And which they've matched with 4E.

All the D&D Insider stuff is new this time round. So there's no history to compare it to.

WotC didn't publish 2nd Edition.

 

[Plissken]

I know, it was TSR. I meant, I didn't know 3.0 was released so when I decided to purchase the rulebooks, I was looking for the 2nd AD&D books but instead found the 3rd edition books.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I think WotC is actually doing something unprecedented by releasing a book series and a interactive web-site at the same time (relatively speaking) I don't believe anyone else has ever tried it; at least not where they intended to actually support the on-going web site with materials that either supersedes or complements the printed material.

This is probably more than just production pains, these are birthing pains, just wait until the growing pains hit...

 

[delericho]

Did this happen when 3.0 came out?

When 3e was released, there was no SRD. There was a 'Gentleman's Agreement' that allowed S&S and Green Ronin to release the very first d20 products on the same day as the PHB (meaning that the first 3e book of monsters was the "Creature Collection" - a book which turned out to be badly flawed).

In fact, the SRD finally arrived months (years?) after the 3e books. Lots of other companies had published under the gentleman's agreement by then.

With the 3.5e launch, the new SRD was released on the same date. I believe the same was also true of d20 Modern.

Similarly, the 3e PHB contained a CD with a working character generator on it. It was buggy as hell, with a slow and ugly interface, but it did mostly work. With the second printing, they'd upgraded to version 1.4, which worked rather better.

They promised eTools (or was it Master Tools) for shortly after the launch, but it became a debacle of missed deadlines, feature creep, project manager churn, and eventual cancellation.

Oh, and they managed to keep the magazines (Dungeon was bi-monthly at that point) going on a monthly basis while doing the upgrade, and re-launched them for the new 3e content.

All in all, the 3e launch went rather better than the 4e one did (as far as peripheral matters were concerned). However, I suspect that was because the 3e launch was unusually successful/lucky, rather than that the 4e launch was unusually unsuccessful (or that WotC were 'lazy').

 

[Darkness]

Did WoTC at that time have troubles as well?

Maybe they should have printed more books. It took me months to get the 3e core books here in Austria. (MM wasn't too bad - I actually got it before the DMG.)

Of course, they would have, had they known in advance how great demand would be.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

It isn't about lazy, it is about promising way more than they can deliver with the resources available. It may be about corporate pressure that held them back from saying "no, we can't do that in that timeframe."

Personally I thought WotC was way too ambitious in their announcements last year. Can anybody think of a electronic project of the scope D&D Insider is supposed to be that actually launched on the date projected when that date was set 10 months earlier? I know I can't. And WotC isn't exactly known for its expertise on the electronic side of things.

If WotC was a very seasoned software developer, I might have been more inclined to have believed it.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I think e-Tools/Master Tools is a prime example of them stuffing up something similar to what they've come up with for the D&D Insider. I don't have a lot of faith in WotC when it comes to getting electronic products out on time. Their track record speaks for it self in this regard.

I'm hopeful the D&D Insider will be a better effort but it hasn't got off to a great start so far.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Umbran]

Can anybody think of a electronic project of the scope D&D Insider is supposed to be that actually launched on the date projected when that date was set 10 months earlier? I know I can't.

I have to agree. In general, the computer industry has an abysmal rate of hitting dates. WotC's only failure, relative to the rest of the industry, is in their announcements.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are either using a waterfall process (which is notorious for making you think you'll hit a date that you actually won't), or are just in general poorly managing their software team.

 

[megamania]

They are not lazy...they are greedy. nuff said.