Tetsubo
First Post
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winna!
For me, a magazine is a physical object I can buy at a news stand. Otherwise it's just a glorified blog. That costs money. I'll pass.
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What Would Get You to Subscribe to Dungeon?
- Thread starter JoeGKushner
- Start date
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winna!
For me, a magazine is a physical object I can buy at a news stand. Otherwise it's just a glorified blog. That costs money. I'll pass.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Failing that, I would pick up the occasional copy if it was available at a PDF distributer like RPGNow, etc... then I could use paypal and just get the ones that seem interesting
Ooooh, that's a good idea.
I haven't thought of that or even heard of it before. Even though I'm not buying a sub, I wouldn't be above buying an individual issue that caught my attention, and even more so If I could buy it from RPGNow instead of going through the trouble of getting a sub for one month. I hope WoTC marketing reads this one or thinks of it themselves. I'd be willing to pay as much as $5.00 an issue, in this manner, for just one or two issues a year. If I wanted to buy anymore it'd probably make more sense to just get a sub.
megamania
Hero
1) true magazine again
2) 3.5 content
3) More Eberron content
4) a page of 2-3 paragragh long adventure hooks. Plot form of Critical Hits
5) Critical Hits
6) Map / Token Inserts
7) coupons for product that I may not otherwise purchase
8) true magazine form (so important I had to mention it twice)
9) 3.5 content (so important I had to mention it again)
Its been over a year since the folks at WoTC shot themselves in the foot.... are they going to fix it ior reload for the next foot?
2) 3.5 content
3) More Eberron content
4) a page of 2-3 paragragh long adventure hooks. Plot form of Critical Hits
5) Critical Hits
6) Map / Token Inserts
7) coupons for product that I may not otherwise purchase
8) true magazine form (so important I had to mention it twice)
9) 3.5 content (so important I had to mention it again)
Its been over a year since the folks at WoTC shot themselves in the foot.... are they going to fix it ior reload for the next foot?
Its sounding like a LOT of people are "former subscribers" merely/largely because of the lack of a hardcopy format.
This is purely anecdotal, of course, but I really have to wonder what WotC's market research showed.
This is purely anecdotal, of course, but I really have to wonder what WotC's market research showed.
Same here
megamania
Hero
Trying to be nice about it....
The rising costs of printing the magazines though I would pay another 10 dollars a year without thought to have it sent to me each month. The other thought- Pazio was making the money.... not them. And pazio had the talent and the pulse of the gaming community. Only by trying to force everyone onto the electronic mode did they feel they could stop the rising costs of paper and take back their "control" of the magazines.
Did it work?
I think we all agree that it did not go as well as planned for anyone involved. The only winner? Pazio. Kudos to them. and I don't mean that in a bad way.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
This.
I need hard copy to run an adventure, and dislike having the print cost burden shifted to me.
Baron Opal
First Post
I know that Dragon and Dungeon will never see print again. The printing and distribution costs are too high for such a niche magazine, I expect. (Although I still see a quarterly mideval magazine on the stands in Borders, however.) I can accept that they wish to push the printing costs onto the consumer to make the magazine more profitable for them.
This in of itself doesn't bother me. What I would want printed out would be a small fraction of the magazine anyway. But, I don't want to print out everything on my POS printer. I would love to go to Kinko's or a similar place to print out select articles. But I can't! It doesn't matter how many sales receipts I have, they won't print out a copy for me unless I give them some kind of formal permission on company letterhead.
So, WotC, give me a document that I can give to the clerk / manager at Kinko's. This document gives me permission to print out the data I paid for on their equipment. (Which I don't think I need, but that's another rant.) I most definately do not play D&D with a laptop at the table, so I need to print out the documents I want to use. For my own reasons, I don't want to use my printer if I don't need to. I can't absorb the printing costs via a third party because I don't have permission from WotC to do so. (*grrr*)
This in of itself doesn't bother me. What I would want printed out would be a small fraction of the magazine anyway. But, I don't want to print out everything on my POS printer. I would love to go to Kinko's or a similar place to print out select articles. But I can't! It doesn't matter how many sales receipts I have, they won't print out a copy for me unless I give them some kind of formal permission on company letterhead.
So, WotC, give me a document that I can give to the clerk / manager at Kinko's. This document gives me permission to print out the data I paid for on their equipment. (Which I don't think I need, but that's another rant.) I most definately do not play D&D with a laptop at the table, so I need to print out the documents I want to use. For my own reasons, I don't want to use my printer if I don't need to. I can't absorb the printing costs via a third party because I don't have permission from WotC to do so. (*grrr*)
Just rampant guesses and speculation....
MMOs make easy money monthly for subscriber content.
DDI allows gamers to play in an MMO format, where you have the visuals and aid of technology to run the game for quicker play.
Ergo people prefer electronic?
Therefore having electronic cuts costs while greatly increases the profits. Also allowing for greater distribution and theoretically less loss of product.
(Assuming you can download something over and over after a failed attempt while a mail carrier may mutilate or lose your magazine thus rendering the product never ready delivered.)
This is at least a few thoughts related to early looks at the electronic market.
So the lower cost (to company and consumer) and higher profits, with larger availability seems to be the most reasonable points behind it.
Sadly companies and consumers do not always think alike.
While I never subscribed I did own a few copies just because they were interesting ones, so cannot speak for hardcore subscribers, but myself do prefer something I can read anywhere. If I want to look at a screen, I will watch TV, not read a book on it.
But that is just one view of the possible why and whats.
dm4hire
Explorer
I like 4e, but can't seem to stop complaining about it. There is so much about it that just rubs a person wrong. The online stuff is just another part of it.
I agree about the editors; WotC's editing for both the books and the online content have been horrible. Just look at the amount of errata that came out the day of release and since then. If they playtested it as much as they say they did then why did so many of the powers need fixed?
There are a lot of elements of the magazines they haven't even touched on that made them worth picking up; some have been mentioned by people already. A few not mentioned is a dedicated comics section. The animated stuff is cute but it's only one piece compared to the two or three pages they ran in the magazines. How about a fiction piece? By a real writer not employed by WotC. Some of the guest writers in the past were huge and sold magazines just for that alone.
Everything about 4e and the new online format is WotC and their Sithlord master Hasbro trying to control everything and reeping all the profits, but not doing a good job. As mentioned their whole approach has been horrible. Starting with "We're going to do an open beta; no wait, we have our beta testers didn't you get the email?" Everything was free online in a galaxy far, far away under an old edition. Then they announce 4e and that they will charge, but not right away. OGL and d20 get canned in favor of a new shiny called GSL which will make everyone happy. Next they announce they are going to start an online community with blogs and the works. No GSL yet. They delay DDI and cancel the online community. GSL is released, the rebels attack, and the Deathstar gets blown up, I mean, the GSL will be rewritten. They introduce beta test character classes. After that we have partial DDI and they decide to charge, but that will be increased; you'll get your remaining time at the reduced rate, but you will have to pay the new price once you renew. Which comes with "we might or might not offer just the magazine subscriptions. Did we mention that to play the beta class characters you'll have to buy a subscription now? Help shape the game...and pay us to do it." Combine that with the apparent attitude that the complaints aren't important and you start getting the feel of a company that just has no sense of direction. The organization hasn't been the best for WotC lately and that makes me a little stand offish.
Remember, the force will be with you always....
I agree about the editors; WotC's editing for both the books and the online content have been horrible. Just look at the amount of errata that came out the day of release and since then. If they playtested it as much as they say they did then why did so many of the powers need fixed?
There are a lot of elements of the magazines they haven't even touched on that made them worth picking up; some have been mentioned by people already. A few not mentioned is a dedicated comics section. The animated stuff is cute but it's only one piece compared to the two or three pages they ran in the magazines. How about a fiction piece? By a real writer not employed by WotC. Some of the guest writers in the past were huge and sold magazines just for that alone.
Everything about 4e and the new online format is WotC and their Sithlord master Hasbro trying to control everything and reeping all the profits, but not doing a good job. As mentioned their whole approach has been horrible. Starting with "We're going to do an open beta; no wait, we have our beta testers didn't you get the email?" Everything was free online in a galaxy far, far away under an old edition. Then they announce 4e and that they will charge, but not right away. OGL and d20 get canned in favor of a new shiny called GSL which will make everyone happy. Next they announce they are going to start an online community with blogs and the works. No GSL yet. They delay DDI and cancel the online community. GSL is released, the rebels attack, and the Deathstar gets blown up, I mean, the GSL will be rewritten. They introduce beta test character classes. After that we have partial DDI and they decide to charge, but that will be increased; you'll get your remaining time at the reduced rate, but you will have to pay the new price once you renew. Which comes with "we might or might not offer just the magazine subscriptions. Did we mention that to play the beta class characters you'll have to buy a subscription now? Help shape the game...and pay us to do it." Combine that with the apparent attitude that the complaints aren't important and you start getting the feel of a company that just has no sense of direction. The organization hasn't been the best for WotC lately and that makes me a little stand offish.
Remember, the force will be with you always....
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