WotC drops more 3E support :(

[Mark]

FLGS and Online stores are not WoTC.

I'll bet when the FLGS and online stores bought their most recent shipments of 3.5, whenever that happened to be, they were expecting that WotC would be supporting that edition for a bit longer. It's rather abrupt. I would have expected a sell through period of at least three to six months after the new edition.

 

[Destil]

This is a vast improvement of the overall quality of answer than we've come to expect from CS when it comes to 3X answers over the past 8 years.

 

[Khairn]

Surprise me with an actual example of a rpg company that actively supports an older version of one of their games.

SURPRISE !

ICE supports multiple editions of Rolemaster and does a great job of it. As a company they are committed to all their customers, including the ones that only play earlier editions. They convince their fans to switch to a new edition by making improvements to the game. Not by dropping any support for earlier versions.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'll bet when the FLGS and online stores bought their most recent shipments of 3.5, whenever that happened to be, they were expecting that WotC would be supporting that edition for a bit longer. It's rather abrupt. I would have expected a sell through period of at least three to six months after the new edition.

Abrupt? They announced 4e just about one year ago in August 2000. They also drastically reduced their 3e output six months before 4e's release, with as many "edition neutral" products as possible.

 

[Dire Bare]

SURPRISE !

ICE supports multiple editions of Rolemaster and does a great job of it. As a company they are committed to all their customers, including the ones that only play earlier editions. They convince their fans to switch to a new edition by making improvements to the game. Not by dropping any support for earlier versions.

I'll have to give you that one. I didn't know Rolemaster still existed, much less that it has gone thru several editions people still play.

I stand by my (somewhat weakened) argument, however. It's certainly not "standard" practice in the rpg industry to support older editions. And IMHO it's a waste of time. (Now watch people post dozens of examples proving otherwise . . .)

 

[Mark]

Abrupt?

Yes. Abrupt. As in they have made an announcement that they will cease supporting their customers of 3.5 (a product in the supply chain that I believe is still being sold, if not to distributors then at least by distributors to stores and by stores to customers) in approximately two weeks.

 

[Psion]

Considering some of the answers I have read from customer service I don't think that this is that big a deal. You are more likely to get the correct answer to your questionby asking in the EN World Rules Forum.

He has a point.

 

[Mercurius]

This seems like an understandable move on Wizard's part. They are moving on, their focus is 4ed--it is now the "official" version of D&D, after all. And moreso, with the OGL, 3.x has become the "edition of the people"--so I don't see why anyone would need to contact Wizards about it when there are so many other resources.

 

[Legildur]

There are plenty of people who cannot usually upgrade to the latest version of Windows, typically due to hardware constraints.

There is no such limitation on D&D books.

Aren't both a matter of cost, just in different magnitudes?

 

[Dire Bare]

Yes. Abrupt. As in they have made an announcement that they will cease supporting their customers of 3.5 (a product in the supply chain that I believe is still being sold, if not to distributors then at least by distributors to stores and by stores to customers) in approximately two weeks.

Any retailer who would be surprised, announcement or not, that WotC would stop answering essentially Sage Advice question on 3.5, is a retailer who isn't very good at what they do. Sorry, I just fail to see the problem. And I suppose we also must disagree on the meaning of "abrubt" in this context.