WotC RPG Dept. Re-Orgs

[Shroomy]

Just read this here. So it looks like Mike Mearls assumed Bill Slavicek's old job (though as a Senior Manager instead of a Director) and Rich Baker in turn filled Mike's old position.

Also, there's a tidbit in there about a new sorcerer build appearing in Elemental Power.

 

[Saracenus]

And now the other shoe has dropped.

This makes me a very happy panda. I figured that it was either Mearls or Perkins that would get the top spot. That Rich Baker is now in Mearls old spot is also good news.

I would have been gutted if someone from outside where brought in to take over R&D...

WOOOOOOT!

 

[Tharian]

Hasn't Chris Perkins been there much longer than Mike Mearls, though?

 

[The Little Raven]

Hasn't Chris Perkins been there much longer than Mike Mearls, though?

Rich Baker has been there longer than Bill Slavicsek was. I'm quite surprised he wasn't the successor.

 

[Neverfate]

What bothers me in all of this? That Robert J, Schwalb is writing 75% of the Elemental sourcebook. Talk about a downer. I hope the work Baker did was to make Schwalb's work actually fit in D&D 4E instead of us getting another awful Heroes of Shadow.

 

[Incenjucar]

Whose been where longest is hardly the only thing that matters. An individual's personal preferences and professional talents are rather important to deciding what position they fill. Administration and design are very different things.

 

[Daern]

[MENTION=93685]Neverfate[/MENTION]
What did you dislike about Heroes of Shadow?
I do agree that RJS seems to right the lions share of DnD stuff these days.
I am happy to see Mearls as top dog. I like the way he thinks out loud. I never did care for Slavisek's writings. Alternity is not the best resume jewel in my eyes.

 

[Argyle King]

I can't speak for Neverfate, but the some of the epic destinies were mechanically terrible. The fluff was great; the crunch not so much. That's weird for me to complain about since I'm normally a very story oriented player, but I hate when I want to choose an option in D&D because it sounds cool only to find that my character seems to have trouble keeping up with others at the table.

I've only had a few passes at the book, but that's been my initial impression.

 

[Marshall]

I can't speak for Neverfate, but the some of the epic destinies were mechanically terrible. The fluff was great; the crunch not so much. That's weird for me to complain about since I'm normally a very story oriented player, but I hate when I want to choose an option in D&D because it sounds cool only to find that my character seems to have trouble keeping up with others at the table.

I've only had a few passes at the book, but that's been my initial impression.

And its been further born out by play and testing. The book is a mish-mash of bad design, awful mechanics and mediocre fluff. From the unplayably poor mechanics of the Shade(racial penalties and worthless racial power) and Binder(horrible fixed encounter powers and a curse boon mechanic that is improbable at best) to the failure of design that is a Railroad Vampire(If any class called for a full suite of AEDU....) to the waste of time and space that is reprinting the Executioner for the 4th? time, HoS is the worst product released for 4e and thats saying something after the HBG debacle

 

[Klaus]

I can't speak for Neverfate, but the some of the epic destinies were mechanically terrible. The fluff was great; the crunch not so much. That's weird for me to complain about since I'm normally a very story oriented player, but I hate when I want to choose an option in D&D because it sounds cool only to find that my character seems to have trouble keeping up with others at the table.

I've only had a few passes at the book, but that's been my initial impression.

If your problem is with the Epic Destinies, Rob had pretty much nothing to do with them. I wrote the Keeper of the Everflow, Marshal of Letherna and Twilight Tribune. I'd be happy to have your feedback.

 

[Scribble]

When Mike Mearls says stuff people tend to listen, and he seems to have a somewhat calming "we're all in this together" sort of feel. That makes for a great leader. Congrats to him...

I think he probably knew this was coming for a while though based on his various columns starting with that "we messed up" interview he did a while back.

 

[Ferghis]

If your problem is with the Epic Destinies, Rob had pretty much nothing to do with them. I wrote the Keeper of the Everflow, Marshal of Letherna and Twilight Tribune. I'd be happy to have your feedback.

Thanks for (a) owning up to your work, (b) being generally present on these boards, and (c) soliciting negative feedback about in this instance. But I can't give you xp for a while. Can someone please cover me?

 

[Saracenus]

Hasn't Chris Perkins been there much longer than Mike Mearls, though?

Time in doesn't get you promoted (usually). I figured it would be Mearls because of his overall vision for D&D. Perkins seems to write and speak from a nuts and bolts here is how you DM/Play where Mearls is talking about the nature of the game itself and how that effects your play and vice versa.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Chris Perkins but I think D&D is in very good hands with Mearls.

My Two Coppers

 

[Nullzone]

Between his Dungeon Master Experience articles and speaking to him in person, I feel I can confidently say that Perkins is better in his "nuts and bolts" editor/producer role anyway. The perspective he takes on the game and the ways he gets fired up about it make him ideal for that spot, instead of having to always worry about the high concept aspect of it all like Slavicsek/Mearls do.

 

[Dedekind]

I didn't realize that the main R&D guys were working on the Encounters season (having not played Encounters). That might explain some of the productivity drop...

 

[Neverfate]

To clear up what I meant about Schwalb's work. I was speaking in mechanical terms before fluff. Regarding Klaus' input into the book, He's already given a detailed discussion on what he's worked on and what WotC wanted him to do in a previous thread (it's on ENworld somewhere). It's really from a mechanical standpoint that I'm not a fan of Schwalb's work. I've seen a few too many Dragon articles from him that added bloat instead of ultility. That's largely what much of Heroes of Shadow was and I'd hate to see that happen to an Elemental sourcebook (seeing as how every book is a one-shot nowadays, these may be the only Elemental heroes we ever get).

 

[Raunalyn]

Mearls as lead? Be prepared for some EPIC ruinage.

Mike Mearls ruins everything, don'tcha know? I read it on the internetz, so it must be true!

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

When Mike Mearls says stuff people tend to listen, and he seems to have a somewhat calming "we're all in this together" sort of feel. That makes for a great leader. Congrats to him...

I think he probably knew this was coming for a while though based on his various columns starting with that "we messed up" interview he did a while back.

Since we're talking "feelings", I would feel better with Perkins at the helm over Mearls. And I have nothing concrete to back that up, but I just get a better vibe from him.

 

[Scribble]

Since we're talking "feelings", I would feel better with Perkins at the helm over Mearls. And I have nothing concrete to back that up, but I just get a better vibe from him.

Don't get me wrong... I think Perkins is the type that can take something and say "Yo check out all this awesome I just made..." It's just I feel like Mike Mearls tends to display a sense of "I understand what makes it awesome and have a clear vision of how to work with it, and where to go with it."

IE Both can make awesome... Perkins just seems like the type that likes to blast awesome all over the place, and needs someone like Mearls to focus it in a particular direction.

 

[Argyle King]

If your problem is with the Epic Destinies, Rob had pretty much nothing to do with them. I wrote the Keeper of the Everflow, Marshal of Letherna and Twilight Tribune. I'd be happy to have your feedback.

Like I said, I've only briefly seen the book. That was my initial impression.

I thought a lot of the ideas were cool. I would just be very hard pressed to choose them over - well, over pretty much anything else. In some cases, I wish I could pick them, but (like some of the other options I think are fluffwise cool in 4E) I need to keep pace with the other PCs in my party.

My next game day is Saturday. I'll give a more thorough look and take notes. I don't personally own the book, so I don't have it available for me to see it right now.