Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 6243426" data-attributes="member: 9053">This thread is heading in some predictable ways, but I wanted to put in a comment about why I agree with the assessment that Next is in trouble, despite not being the sort of person the thread is targeted at.I’ve spoken about my group before, but since I post here irregularly, I doubt most people would remember, so: I have a large group that ranges from upper 20 somethings to me, who’s ancient and in my 40s. We all have disposable incomes, and are current Wizard’s customers (or at least want to be). We’re customers because we have DDI subscriptions, which is nearly the only product we can buy from WotC at the moment.My group has purchased some of the PDFs, to round out our collections of earlier products, but, for the most part, we have all of them, so there’s not a rush to get them again now. I have every edition the game has ever had, from the White Box (that’s where I started) up to 4E. They’re all still in usable condition for that matter.We’ve been active participants in the playtest, giving a LOT of feedback on how we want Next to be shaped. So that’s the background. Why is Next in trouble (in my opinion)?None of us are interested it as a product at this point. The expansion modules might bring us back, but the product we’re seeing now is some sort of hybrid between 2E and 3E with a dash of the RC thrown it. That’s not a product we’re interested in, and not one we need, because we already have all those editions. I’ve seen absolutely nothing in Next that speaks of innovation, and I suppose that’s rather the point. We’re going back to the game’s roots, but when you already have all of the root products, what is the interest in buying it again?The classes and spells we’ve seen so far are so basic and, frankly uninteresting that I have no interest in playing any of them.Over time, of course, this will change. We’ll have the splats and the game add-ons that will make the game more interesting to us, or to say it accurately: we have the possibility of getting those products if the game sells well enough to generate interest in releasing those products. We only have that possibility if the game reaches the critical mass of sales that justifies making more product to Hasbro.And that’s the problem. I don’t know if people remember at this point, but there were several products that were developed for 4E but never released. Some of these products would have expanded the game in ways that people who didn’t like it were asking for, but the game wasn’t selling to the point where Hasbro saw the potential to keep making product.Back in the day where the 3E psionics handbook came out, I remember Bruce Cordell being ecstatic at selling 100,000 copies the first month, and having a Hasbro exec ask why the product was even made if it only sold that many.So that’s why I think there’s trouble, since I don’t see the numbers, and I don’t see a market past the initial product that’s being released. Now there’s always the curiosity factor, of course, and I expect they will sell a lot of books purely on that fact alone, but … why would you play Next if you like Pathfinder? It would take a dozen splat books to put you at the level of content you have now. Feel free to substitute any other edition you might be playing and happy with at the moment for Pathfinder if you like.The obvious answer to my query: you buy Next because you want to play the current edition of the world’s most popular RPG. But if that’s true, weren’t you already playing 4E? And that number isn’t enough to justify more products for that edition. So unless there’s a huge influx of players that keep buying product, we have a problem.Similarly, with the focus on the classic game, you're losing the opportunity to bring in new, younger blood. Next reminds me very much of 70s/80s fantasy, and has very little of what "the kids" are reading today. So that’s my negative post. It’s coming from the perspective of WANTING Next to succeed, but also not being interested in the product as presented. Ugh. This isn't meant to rain on anyone's excitement about the system, by the way: buy it, enjoy it, tell me about what's awesome about your game.</blockquote>

Verification