What do you want to ask WotC?

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Will the materials on the upcoming web based program be available for download? If so, will there by any licensing strings attached? Will we need a subscription to access any adventure pdf's etc?

 

[LeaderDesslok]

*snip*
We need to focus on working with Wizards, not against them, to ensure they give us a product we can enjoy, however begrudgingly.

"We must join with Sauron"

Anyone else seeing similarities?

So now the company that brought you D&D 3E/3.5 and the OGL and more or less revitalized the industry in 2000 are the Ultmate Evil (tm)?

I'm not suggesting you bow before their wisdom and let them do whatever they want, I'm saying that you have to accept that what'd done is done and try working with WotC to shape the product the way you want it to be instead of holding your breath until you turn blue. Maybe some day in the future--maybe a year from now, maybe more--it'll turn out that this was either a spectacular success or a spectacular failure; if a failure, they might just relaunch the two mags.

Besides, your Leader Desslok is from Gamilon. If I were in charge of Wizards I'd have just planet-bombed Paizo into the stone age and ruled over my conquest with an iron fist.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'm not sure if it was asked yet, but its an immplied question:

What percentage of next years D20 products puiblished by Wizards of the Coast will be distributed and sold ONLY in a digital format? Will the consumer benifit from the change to a digital format in terms of cost reduction?

 

[grrtigger]

PS: I am not opposed to online material in principle that supports a hobby, there is plenty good material "out there" But I consider digital information of secondary value to hard copy. Nothing beats holding the literature in your hands.

Bingo. It's just not as much fun staying up till the wee hours of the morning, in bed, reading your ... laptop. The sound of the page turning is as much a part of the experience as anything else

I'm also very curious about how the online content is going to be formatted. There've been many other great questions about accessing the content (can I download content, am i buying the content or access to it, what if i don't have a credit card) that I'd love to hear the answers to.

Also, losing the magazines might be a bit less painful if you could assemble custom collections, a la carte, that could then be custom-printed and mailed to you - has anything like this been discussed?

Lastly: we've heard lots of great promises about other Wizards' e-Products that ended much differently than we were told (Master Tools, anyone?) - what assurances do you have that, this time, we will be getting the real deal?

Thanks

 

[jaerdaph]

1. Will content be provided a la carte or by subscription. Or both?

2. Will content be provided for Wizards games other than D&D, such as d20 Modern, d20 Future and so forth.

3. Could the digital initiative see the return of polyhedron style mini-games.

As a consumer of WotC products other than D&D over the last four years, these would be the questions I have as well. I'd certainly be interested in seeing a la carte options and d20 Modern support. Whether I would actually purchase online modern content is another matter. If it's just going to be the same type of d20 Modern support that was provided for free over the last few years (Bullet Points, Notes from the Bunker, free adventures, web extras for product), I'd have to think about it.

I'd also like to thank the folks at WotC for taking the time to answer our questions. I really was quite embarrassed by some of the unacceptable behavior around here over the last few days that prevented employees of WotC from coming around here to answer these questions directly. I'm glad to see that things have calmed down somewhat and cooler heads prevailing.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Some great Q's here. I apologize if these have been asked before.

-- How will the DI affect current "gratis" material? Will WotC take away what we get for free and start charging, or will some features remain free as "teasers" for what is available for subscriptions?

-- How much (general ballpark)? Will there be a sliding scale for those who want particular items but not others? For instance, if someone wants access to some of the rules material, but doesn't need a digital tabletop, will there be the ability for them to buy one without the other at a reduced price? If I want access to a single article, can I just buy that without a subscription?

-- Technology. The recent D&D Online and e-Tools experience was...less then stellar. I want to be assured that whatever this is, it will be technology +1. I don't need many specifics, just reassurance. Will this be a different model from previous electronic D&D initiatives?

-- OGL Support. How much of this new stuff will be open content? Will there be features focusing on great 3rd party open content? Will you give back to the community?

-- Offline Support. How much of this will I be able to access when I'm sitting in someone's basement with my laptop and they don't have a wireless hotspot around?

-- What won't I be able to use in 10 years? This is related to both going electronic format, and with regards to DRM (switching computers, downloading material, etc.). One of the great things about D&D is that I can go back and read something from 1e or 2e or OD&D and still apply it in my game today. Will I be able to do that with this material? Will it be preserved for the forseeable future somehow?

 

[Morrus]

OK, folks, thanks for all your questions. I've copied and pasted them all into a big list, and I'm now trying to sort them into "themes" (a lot of them are the same or overlap). What I'll try to do is come up with a fairly broad range of questions which covers the majority of the issues raised in this thread. I apologise in advance if your particular question doesn't make it through, but I'll do what I can.

I won't be taking any more questions now (or my head will explode!), and I think we've covered most of the broad areas that people are concerned about.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Thanks a lot for doing this, Morrus.

They should be payin' you for customer research.

 

[Thurbane]

Yes, thanks Morrus, great work.

 

[grrtigger]

Yes, thanks! Hopefully this will help give a clear sense of the information people feel has been missing during all of this.