Where are we on the previews?

[Cadfan]

I think these things would improve is someone could be killed if they missed the "deadline."

I just wish companies would be honest with themselves about their own capabilities. I get the feeling that they're not lying to US, necessarily, they're lying to themselves.

 

[BlackMoria]

I just wish companies would be honest with themselves about their own capabilities. I get the feeling that they're not lying to US, necessarily, they're lying to themselves.

When I was in the military, the standard mantra for time appreciations (a exercise in which one takes H-Hour or the time the task needs to be done and works backwards to present time to see how to structure one's efforts and tasks) was once you get your time appreciation done, triple the time and that is how long it will really take to get done.

In short, WOTC thinks the timeline is reasonable to release the info they want in - the reality is, they need to triple the time estimate to actually meet that deadline.

Same thing can be said of why the SRD (or whatever it is called now) is not out to those publishers who ponied up the 5000 clams.

Which is why I have got reservations on a smooth, errata free roll out of 4th edition for June.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

The optimist in me (which spends most of its time tied up and gagged) thinks the reason thees previews and the new GSL and other things WotC was said would happen are delayed is because they are putting the priority on the release of the books. Those are taking more effort than they expected, so they are letting the other things slide in order to keep the book release dates on schedule.

The pessimist in me of course believe this is all just an indication that WotC plans their project timelines like too many other organizations - through the art of wishful thinking.

 

[Fifth Element]

Same thing can be said of why the SRD (or whatever it is called now) is not out to those publishers who ponied up the 5000 clams.

No one's ponied up the 5,000 clams yet. They get to see the GSL first, and then decide whether to pay for the developer's kit. And WotC hasn't released the GSL yet.

All anyone's done yet is sign NDAs.

 

[TerraDave]

And look at the anoucement today (note that there are some threads on this, but it is directly relevant to this one):

For the next several weeks, you’ll be seeing fewer 4th Edition Design and Development columns than normal. This is because the writers, all of whom are members of the R&D staff, are busy finalizing the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. As a result, we’re scaling back the number of online articles. Once the three core rulebooks are off to the printer, we’ll get the R&D staffers back on their regular schedule and return to our Monday–Wednesday–Friday release schedule. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and understanding!

They then list a bunch of forthcoming stuff fr Dragon 364, which is months away...

 

[mhensley]

So they're going to scale back from almost nothing to nothing. :\

Oh well, at least we can look forward to reports from D&D XP.

 

[moritheil]

I just didn't imagine it. It really is a litany of broken promises...

Haha. Well, game companies often change their minds or don't make deadlines.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Haha. Well, game companies often change their minds

What's that supposed to mean? If you're referring to the evilness of DDI, you should be aware that nowhere have Wizards said that Errata won't be free. The eratta contained in DDI will be incorporated in the electronic versions of the books. Different, IMO.