WotC Angst?

[wingsandsword]

As for the Rogue/Rouge thing, well in prior editions it was called "Thief", but then you had people thinking they always had to steal, even from their own party members regardless of alignment, because their class was called "Thief", and didn't understand what problem people had with that.

So there's going to be Dumb around no matter what you name the class.

As for WotC Angst, well, I've felt "fired" as a customer ever since they:

1. Discontinued d20 Modern (which I really liked as a versatile modern-day & futuristic RPG)
2. Moved to 4th Edition and radically and incompatibly away from the 3.x iteration of d20
3. Didn't continue the Star Wars license and thus discontinued the SW RPG and Minis
4. Discontinued Dragon Magazine after 30+ years (a pay-to-access web site is NOT a magazine)

Essentially over the last few years they eliminated all the products I actually was interested in and purchased.

In exchange we get yet more D&D minis (I had all I would ever need years ago) and 4e (which totally disinterests me).

If I got a letter from WotC saying that as I am now over 30 years old I am no longer in their target demographic and am not desired as a customer I'd have about the same feeling.

 

[Celebrim]

Two or three years ago I was really angsty about it because I thought that somehow if they 'killed D&D' that they could take it away from me. I now realize that they can't ever take it away from me. I have the books I bought. I have optical character recognition programs. I have word processors. I have paper. I have pencils. I have dice. I have players.

I'm regained the realization that WotC or TSR or whoever it is who tries to make money on D&D is just one DM, running one table to their taste, and trying to make a living doing it.

WotC can do whatever it wants on its tables. They have no authority over mine and they can't stop me from playing the game I want.

Now, I'm mostly bemused by the whole thing. I'm feeling more self-satisfied than I should now that 4e is collapsing into a pile of frustration and disappointment. I'm feeling bemused by all the players I meet in town who say that they prefer the system but in practice they've switched to 3e or Pathfinder because they 'enjoy so-n-so's game better' than the 4e campaign they were in.

I started to write a lengthy point by point 'I told you so', but I find I don't care enough anymore to bother.

 

[Gryph]

I voted Woot. I really disliked the moves WoTC made when they acquired TSR. With the release of 4E I am now firmly a fan of their current iteration of the D&D brand.

I would have squeed all over them if the digital offerings were better. I do find the magazines largely disappointing.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

As for the Rogue/Rouge thing, well in prior editions it was called "Thief", but then you had people thinking they always had to steal, even from their own party members regardless of alignment, because their class was called "Thief", and didn't understand what problem people had with that.

Also, 'theif' has the same problem that 'rouge' has. Er, I mean, 'theef.' 'Theaf?' 'Thefe?' 'Thieph?'

Frak it, I'm gonna go play a German rpg!

 

[Nikosandros]

What did they do to crystal keep?

I'm guessing that it's about the PDF indexes that Crystal Keel used to have and that now the site has removed "at the request of Wizards of the Coast". They were incredibly useful, but also in blatant violation of copyright... I'm not really surprised that they had to take them down.

 

[jdrakeh]

Hmm? I don't play the current edition of D&D and, indeed, have little interest in it or the previous edition any longer. I am still a little upset about WotC's decision to quit offering PDFs of older edition material, though. If it weren't for that, I probably would have rated a Squee result.

 

[wingsandsword]

Hmm? I don't play the current edition of D&D and, indeed, have little interest in it or the previous edition any longer. I am still a little upset about WotC's decision to quit offering PDFs of older edition material, though. If it weren't for that, I probably would have rated a Squee result.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

That would be bullet point #5 on reasons I am significantly unhappy with WotC now.

 

[JeffB]

Just play OD&D or S&W: WB and no more worries about Thieves/Thiefs or Rogues/Rouges

It's pretty gosh-danged fun how the game plays without them (even starting with the LBBs as I did, we always had thief characters ala GH, so it's a new experience to me)

 

[DragonLancer]

I don't have issues with WotC. I have issues with Hasbro who, lets face it, decide what WotC does and how they do it. It would be non-gamers in that company who decide that D&D must make more money and that Star Wars D20/D&D doesn't make enough money.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I don't have issues with WotC. I have issues with Hasbro who, lets face it, decide what WotC does and how they do it. It would be non-gamers in that company who decide that D&D must make more money and that Star Wars D20/D&D doesn't make enough money.

Is there any evidence that a) Hasbro micromanages WotC and b) they specifically pay attention to the roleplaying side? A lot of people seem to assume it, but I seem to recall that people who are close to the situation have said that Hasbro leaves WotC alone so long as it makes a profit, and D&D and other roleplaying lines are really not that big a deal even so far as WotC is considered--important, yes, but not nearly as much as Magic.