D&D 5E Will you pay $50.00 for the "standard" PHB?

[Mistwell]

Well, speaking of NAFTA and China, I can get something from China far more quickly and at less cost to ship than from the U.S. Not to get political, but NAFTA just seems to be one big screw job to us northerners.

That's because you're getting it by air from China. If you get it by water, which is how these books are shipped to WOTC's warehouses after printing, it takes 3 weeks plus several days clearing customs.

NAFTA is great for Canada when the product is actually manufactured in the U.S. or Mexico. If Mexico were safer to manufacture in right now, it would be a huge boon. Labor is actually less expensive in Mexico right now than it is in China, and the shipping costs are much lower, and there is no customs charge. But alas, shipment hijacking is a common-enough occurrence that little is manufactured in Mexico right now.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Undecided. Depends on the reviews.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Actually, $50 was a few years ago. Now it's $90, for games such as BattleLore 2e, Nations, and Caverna. $50 is on the less expensive side for board games these days.

Three new games to look up.

 

[Jester David]

On that side note, it still baffles me that WOTC charges Canadians more money for these things. That made sense fifteen years ago with the Canadian dollar was weaker than the U.S. dollar, but since NAFTA (meaning no customs or tariff charges) and also the decreased value of the U.S. Dollar to the point where the Canadian dollar is worth as much or more than the U.S. dollar on average, it just doesn't make sense to keep charging Canadians more than the U.S. price. It should all be one price for Canada and the U.S..

[Edit - I just thought of something. It's the customs/tariff charges. Because these products are likely printed in China, the certificate of origin would say China, and therefore it does not qualify for NAFTA exemption. The Tariff is probably 18% or so).

WotC's books are printed in North America. Many are even printed in Canada.
Paizo's are printed in China, but have one price.
-edit-

From the 4e PHB. The later books are also printed in the USA.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

If the book had all the races and classes; along with alternate races and subclasses that cover all the classic stuff (i.e. all PH classes in one book) - so no need for a PH II or PHIII for what is largely considered standard Races and Classes (things that were left out in 2nd ed or 4th in the core PH for example) - yes.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Why are you trying to turn this into an argument about the edition?

This is about paying for a quality product. A brand name slapped onto a crappy product does not make me want to buy it. I don't pay for the brand name only.

The point is, while I believe it's a quality product, and a lot of people posting here seem to agree with me, maybe you've already decided that for you (and others who also post here) it's just a brand name slapped onto a crappy product. In the moment you tell me it's not about the money, you're also telling me that it's about the edition. Not wanting to admit that is bad, because people will keep coming here and saying that $50 for a PHB is a money grab when this is not the real problem and in fact all they want to say is that this is not the game they look forward to play.

For a fair comparison, you won't see me saying that $50 for the Pathfinder core rules is too much. In fact I still believe it's one of the best deals available, but only for those who want to play it, a group where I'm not included. If you don't think it's about the money, don't use "$50 is too expensive" as an argument, because it makes people misunderstand how you really feel about the game.

 

[Incenjucar]

Oh good lord, this is so not true. If this were true there would be no video game industry. Look at how relatively few poor-selling titles it takes to bring down a big publisher like THQ. When games don't sell at retail, there are serious consequences.

Gamers are not savvy consumers, Incenjucar: new game comes out, masses purchase it in droves, game publisher profits. The Humble Bundle is a clever combination of good PR and wringing the last drops of profit out of old product.

I am super-critical of the video game industry's abusive price-pointing practices, and even I still preorder games I am anxious to have.

Regardless of these irrelevancies, as has been stated numerous times in these threads by people who know, $50 is what a 300-page hardback costs in 2014. It has nothing to do with the content; a $50 price tag is bog-standard MSRP!

And for the record, MSRP on the Iron Kingdoms Core Rules is $60, direct from Privateer.

I never claimed that there wasn't an audience. However, price points do limit the audience, especially your impulse buy. The cost of an entry book can determine whether or not someone ever tries your game to begin with - if I was a kid and someone told me to choose between one book that comes with lots of work for an unknown number of hours of play versus about 60 games of varying length (very easy to do with a Humble Bundle) that runs on something I already have because I live in the 1st world, and isn't subject to anyone else's desire to play with me... Indeed, when I was a kid, I had never even heard of Used games, much less seen them.

I can say that my curiosity has been turned away by MSRP many times - though perhaps WotC isn't interested in catering to a price-conscious audience.

You are absolutely right about the Iron Kingdoms Core Rules, that was an error on my part and I apologize if I misled anyone with my mistake. That said, it is HUGE.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

to everyone going on about how much X and Y cost... here is some thoughts on my situation...


If me and my girl go to the movies (we just saw Robocop) we need her grandmother to watch her kids at no cost, or we can't go. We go on Tuesday night when it is only 7.50 each (It used to be 6.75 and that increase has cut our move going to less then once a month) if we eat out it will be off a dollar menu... and as such it will cost less then $20...

The last Video game I bought was a xmas gift to my nephew... it cost $75 on pre order, I got the game, 4 figures and the portal to put the figures on... before that was almost 7 years ago... I can't spend $50 on a game anymore...

I've backed a few kickstarter games between $25 and $75 in the last 3 years, and have learned not to buy anything sight unseen.


If I were a player of D&D and not a Dm, a $50 investment would be rough, but I could save over a couple of months... but instead I need to buy 3 books...

 

[Incenjucar]

I will say that it is certainly possible to pack $50 of value into a book, but it's hard to imagine that WotC has had enough time to produce enough content to fill that many book with that much content given how recently they were finalizing the rules. It also makes the notion of a 5.5 extremely daunting - I can't imagine the uproar such expensive books would bring out if they did a revision.

 

[doghead]

No. I don't think that I have ever bought a PHB. Or DMG. Or MM.

I started playing D&D when I was a kid with no money. By the time I had money to buy books, I had drifted away from D&D. I got back into gaming here on ENWorld when I was overseas. I played with what was available online. When I did start buying gaming products again, it was all .pdfs.

If Next really nails what I am looking for, I might consider buying the books. But I haven't really being paying any attention, so I couldn't say at this point. I'd most likely buy .pdfs, if that's an option. If I really like the game, I would consider buying the books.

thotd