Why WOTC shouldn't have gotten rid of the Dungeon and Dragon magazine

[Lord Fyre]

I didn't vote.

I don't think the DI is wooing people but I was a fan of the old print magazines. I'm still getting used to the online format. So far it's not working for me personally. I also agee with others who've stated that with 4e on the horizon, it's not a priority for WoTC.

Actually, that is part of why getting rid of Dragon was a bad move. With their desire (need) to build up enthusiansm in the new edition of D&D, Dragon magazine would have been a very powerful means of hyping the new material!

And not having the resources (and will) to really push their Digital format, ending Dragon at this critical time was an even worse decision for the coming edition.


I am also, even more disapointed that Dungeon was ended. Game Companies rightly point out that modules do not sell well enough to justify the publication cost, yet many adults (like myself) don't have the time to write every adventure from scratch.

Dungeon was a good compromise. Because it was a single item, it does not bear the publication/marketing/etc. costs of a module, but none the less provided a large number of good quality pre-written adventures.

Further, just as Dragon was the best tool to market the new edition, Dungeon was and equally useful instrument to generate interrest in the settings that WoTC has announced that they will be creating (I believe "one new setting a year" was the word on the street).


I expect that the Gleemax/DI digital magazines will be high quality, I just think that they might not be the best tools right at this time.

(B.T.W., no I do not work for, nor have I ever worked for Pazio)

 

[Ahnehnois]

I remember when you used to be able to get all kinds of Dragon-like content for free on the WotC website, [nostalgic sigh]. Far Corners of the World was good stuff.

However, what I was happy to get for free I wouldn't pay a subscription for.

 

[Storm Raven]

DI has really fallen flat.

I think it is somewhat telling that in the poll in this thread, among people who really should be the target audience for the DI (i.e. people who are online, are comfortable dealing with digital material and so on) the "I liked them as print magazines a lot more" option is currently beating the "I'm waiting to see" and "I love the DI" options combined by about three or four to one.

This is not a good sign for the DI.

 

[Agamon]

I'm in the None of the Above camp. Paizo's new focus on Pathfinder and GameMastery is a whole lot better than even their fairly good Dragon and great Dungeon creations. I'm now kinda glad Dragon and Dungeon are out of Paizo's hands, those hands made some superior products.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Here's the problem about trying to sustain an online publication. When you produce a print publication, a customer who is reading your material might not have other print publications sitting within arm's reach. If they are dissatisfied, they might not be able to immediately abandon the publication in front of them in favor of a competitor's product.

When you produce an online publication that a customer is likely to reference in electronic form on a regular basis, a customer who is reading your material is regularly just a few clicks of a mouse away from the competition. If the customer is dissatisfied, it takes him little or no effort to immediately Google every other product in existence that uses the same format as yours.

Essentially, you are inviting your customer to compare your product and your pricing, in real time, to every single one of your competitors. And you don't even have the clout of a relatively wide-circulation print publication behind you anymore. Your competitors now have the exact same circulation that you do: namely, every interested person with internet access.

 

[Blackwind]

I have not been impressed with the online content so far. I wish WotC hadn't canceled the magazines. I think Paizo was doing a great job. If I were in charge, this is what I would do: create a new print magazine called Dungeons and Dragons (Magazine), and get it out on the news stands. WotC needs to promote the game much more aggressively, in general, if they want to sell more core books--and a print magazine with that kind of instant name recognition could be a part of that.

 

[ssampier]

Dragon Magazine in paper format was a great read... But that's all it was. ...

As much as it pains me, I'm in the same boat. My gaming group can have very fickle tastes. Most of the time, they've lost interest half-way through and want to play the Xbox.

Dungeon was a bit different. I steal the kernel of an adventure idea and run with it, or steal the stats from completely different adventures as pass them off as something else.

Look at shelf full of Dragons and think about the daunting task of pulling the issues down and trying to find the one that had the specific article I wanted... God forbid I wanted to use multiple things from different magazines... Which would mean more searching and more stuff to carry to games...

Decide it's not worth it, and use something else.

I think that's where an electronic format really shines. It's possible to make this happen. With copyright concerns, I doubt this is going to be reality.

 

[megamania]

Not all of us have quality computers or laptops that can be brought to work. I like something to hold in my hands to read during breaks at work or to read before going to bed. I want the magazines back. Even if you produce only one and call it Dungeons & Dragons with 50% dungeons and 50% what is new out there.

 

[jdrakeh]

I voted that I don't really care about either. I bought Dungeon mostly for Paizo's adventure paths which are now being published independently, and I haven't purchased Dragon since they dialed back the coverage of non-D&D products (so way back when TSR was still publishing it).

Really, as it currently stands, I get everything that I was buying Dungeon for from Pathfinder products -- and now I also get better production values and better presentation. I think that Paizo getting out from under the thumb of the Wizards has been a very good deal for gamers and Paizo alike.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Ending print versions of D&D was a very dumb move. Dumb, dumb, dumb. It might have seemed like a good idea in the short term, but it was a dumb decision in the long term and I predict the magazines will eventually be resurrected with a whole heaping portion of eating crow.

To be brutally honest, whoever is in charge of D&D these days seems to be blundering along. The eager anticipation for 4E is just not there like it was for 3E and there's a lot of negativity (and often, justly so) surrounding the new edition. Killing D&D only adds to the uncertainty and skepticism, which is then further fueled by the "4e will be great, trust us" attitude going on.

I love D&D, I really do. And that's what's making it so hard to watch it go spiraling down the toilet. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Wait and see...