WoTC should discount the 3.5 edition books for existing customers.

[Darrin Drader]

[crotchety grandfather voice on] You know, back in my day, before all this Internet nonsense, we just bought revised rulebooks when they came out. We didn't sit around and argue whether or not we should buy them. There wasn't anyone to talk to except for the shopkeeper, and we all know which side of the fence they're on!!! Heck, I remember buying the West End Games Star Wars rulesbooks 3 times over the course of 5 years. And I was glad to do it! [crotchety grandfather voice off].

 

[Ranger REG]

That's because West End Games Star Wars Core Rulebook cost between $30 (earlier editions) to $35 (expanded edition), and that's all you need to start play with.

Compare that to the 3-book set of Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual and there is about a $60 difference.

I mean it got to the point as to whether Dungeons & Dragons should adopt the current format of one main rulebook. I mean even if it contains more pages than regular phonebook, a $50 rulebook is much more affordable than a $90 3-book set.

 

[Marion Poliquin]

but I have not seen anything on this topic so I will start off by saying that I feel WoTC should discount(say maybe 25%-40%) the 3.5 edition core rule books for customers who can prove they have purchased the original 3.0 core rule books.

No they shouldn't. They could... ...but they won't.

 

[tarchon]

Well, I think it's the other way around. Gamers should give extra money to WotC.

 

[Drawmack]

Re: Re: Re: ....hmm...sigh !!!

Never seen one in my life, but I do believe that they own at least one large supermarket chain over here (Asda, I think - but I could be wrong).

Did click on the URL to their online store?

 

[Olive]

Not as such. But if OGL games do start to get really popular, I might start focusing on those also. I have more interest in AU than D&D 3.5.

But I won't stop covering the stuff I do now.

Cool. I don't understad the fascination with AU myself, but I'd be perfectly happy if ENWorld had lots of OGL coverage as well as DnD coverage. I wa just worried you might be bored and burned out on DnD, and want to start a AU site instead.

 

[Spiteful Dwarf]

MONEY! You either got's it or you dont's...

Why are you guys debating this so much? You either have the money to buy the new books, or you don't. Sorry to sound like a spiteful consumer, but you don't hear people complaining about having to replace something they love and use regularly... If your PHB has seen good use in the last three years like mine has, then you should be eager to get your hands on a new, pristine copy.

If you want it, then get it. If you don't, then go back to saving up your shekels to buy your breakfast burritoes or souped-up Honda Civics or college educations or any other consumed good/service. There's only a certain level of necessity in our society today. Everything else is just icing. To argue about how much icing you deserve for your dollar is like arguing about how fat you'd like to become... It makes you look greedy and stupid.

I apologize in advance if my comment offends anybody... But after working in customer service for years, I have little tolerance left for people bellyaching over a paltry $30-60.

 

[Drawmack]

That's because West End Games Star Wars Core Rulebook cost between $30 (earlier editions) to $35 (expanded edition), and that's all you need to start play with.

Compare that to the 3-book set of Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual and there is about a $60 difference.

Okay, and what year were those books release?

What is the accrued inflation since that point in time?

Exactly how many of today's dollars is 35 of that year's dollars worth?

Here is the cost difference for every year bewteen 1985 and 1995 to the year 2002 as calculated by http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

Again 35 usd in the base year is worth the stated amount in 2002

1985 - 58.19
1986 - 56.17
1987 - 55.12
1988 - 53.20
1989 - 51.11
1990 - 48.77
1991 - 46.27
1992 - 44.40
1993 - 43.11
1994 - 41.86
1995 - 40.80

Now that I've got all that data let's see if I can't find the release years for these books.

according to this site http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue185/games.html the first edition was released in 1987.

And early posted stated 3 editions over 5 years. Let's assume for the purposes of discussion that's one edition every 2.5 years.

so the last edition was in 1991.

In today's dollars these books cost roughly in USD

Edition 1: 55.12
Edition 2: 51.11 (estimated)
Edition 3: 48.77

okay so the price difference has just gone down from $60 to $34.88, 39.89 and 41.33 respectivly.

now let's take size into account. Assuming the star wars rpg book was huge and racked in at 400 pages. Each of the new DnD books racks in at 320 pages. That's a total of (320 * 3 =) 960. A difference of 540 pages for 41.33 dollars.

Let's do a per page price comparission:

Star Wars Edition 3: 400 pages divided by 4877 of todays cents = 12.1925 cents per pag

DnD 3.5e: 960 pages divided by 9000 of today's cents = 9.375 cents per page.

The new editio of DnD is cheaper then star wars was.

Next time remember that you can't really use flat monies when comparing things that happen in different years it skews your argument and makes you wrong.

 

[Coredump]

Wal-Mart

Just wondering. Was that a 'general' suggestion? I looked on the site, but didn't see any pre-order available. Did I miss it? Or is it just not there yet.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Re: MONEY! You either got's it or you dont's...

To argue about how much icing you deserve for your dollar is like arguing about how fat you'd like to become... It makes you look greedy and stupid.

I apologize in advance if my comment offends anybody... But after working in customer service for years, I have little tolerance left for people bellyaching over a paltry $30-60.

Just one word: Hero.