WotC Site Post 4E Release

[Ghaerdon Fain]

Whats up with the site? Nothing seems to be new. No updates. No full issue Dragon or Dungeon. Whether I like or dislike the system, one would think they would be trying to build on their release. All we get is nothing. Am I missing something?

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Am I missing something?

So, posting like 4 great articles wasn't good enough for the first week of online Dragon and Dungeon? Full issues have always been stated as ha penning at the end of the month.

 

[Ghaerdon Fain]

... ya, but what have they done for us lately?

I don't think I'm being funny either, it's now Wednesday, they updated their site on Friday... again I say, what are they doing? I can't be the only one who is wondering why DDI isn't being delivered. All I'm saying is it seems odd that there have been ONLY 4 releases and that was last week.

 

[Scribble]

... ya, but what have they done for us lately?

I don't think I'm being funny either, it's now Wednesday, they updated their site on Friday... again I say, what are they doing? I can't be the only one who is wondering why DDI isn't being delivered. All I'm saying is it seems odd that there have been ONLY 4 releases and that was last week.

They released a bunch iof stuff on Friday.

Release days are:

Monday
Wednesday
Friday

Monday was a new Ampersand column... Can't say I was super haoppy with it, though, as I don't see why we need 2 editorials? But shrug. That's just personal prefference.

We should be gettign more today. Friday I think (If I remember correcty) is the day dungeon stuff gets updated. (Or at leasta new adventure posts)


As for DDi they already said (in the ampersand columns) that it's delayed. They want it to be working well before they release it.

Until then, it's still in beta, and we get it for free.

I'm itching for the rules compendium to be up and running...

 

[Twowolves]

As for DDi they already said (in the ampersand columns) that it's delayed. They want it to be working well before they release it.

Just like eTools, right?

Until then, it's still in beta, and we get it for free.

And when do we get this free beta, exactly? Next month? Two months? 6 months? A year? And since it's a beta, it'll be buggy as hell. You'd think they didn't know for over a year that 4th was being released on June 6th (D-Day, irony of ironies).

Yay! not.

 

[Scribble]

Just like eTools, right?

Shrug?

Perhaps they learned from their mistakes?

And when do we get this free beta, exactly? Next month? Two months? 6 months? A year? And since it's a beta, it'll be buggy as hell. You'd think they didn't know for over a year that 4th was being released on June 6th (D-Day, irony of ironies).

Yay! not.

You're exactly right. You should definitely get your money back.

wait...

What's the point in predicting doom? If we don't get it, oh well, we never had it to begin with, so what loss is it?

From what they say about it, it seems like it will be cool. I'm excited. If it doesn't pan out? Bummer, but why worry about it? I have D&D to play man!

 

[Boarstorm]

Patience. The lost virtue.

 

[Zaukrie]

The issue with being patient is that so far they've missed every opportunity to deliver on time and on quality in D&D related web content.

They admitted in the GRZ video that they've done a terrible job of communicating with the community, and in managing our expectations.

Now that they have launched, given their terrible history in delivering e-content, you'd think they would be extra careful to deliver content on the schedule they gave us, or to communicate a new schedule. From a PR/marketing perspective, they really, really, really are bad at this.

 

[Twowolves]

Shrug?

Perhaps they learned from their mistakes?

Yeah, they sure did. That's why the promised digital and integral part of 4th ed was ready at launch.... oh wait, no it wasn't. Or did you mean they learned their lesson about trying to do software development in house? No, they still didn't outsource this one either. Hmm.. I guess they didn't learn a thing from their mistakes.

You're exactly right. You should definitely get your money back.

wait...

What's the point in predicting doom? If we don't get it, oh well, we never had it to begin with, so what loss is it?

From what they say about it, it seems like it will be cool. I'm excited. If it doesn't pan out? Bummer, but why worry about it? I have D&D to play man!

The point is this was promised content that they KNEW wouldn't be ready at launch, but they didn't bother to go out of their way to let people know wasn't ready, and wouldn't be for months. Letting us be their beta-testers isn't a substitute for missed deadlines and lack of content and communication. But, as I was saying, they haven't even done THAT yet, either. Lots of people bought 4th ed specifically so they could play with distant buddies around the country (world?), only to find out AFTER they dropped cash on the rulebooks that they could not, in fact, do what was promised. They only found this out after the fact, and could find out what was going on not by going to the D&Di site (nothing mentioned there about unavailable content) or the D&D main page (not there either), but buried in a post on the message boards.


You can be flippant and put on a happy face, that's great for you. But lots of folks are unhappy at what appears on it's face as an intentional misleading of their customers in order not to impact release-weekend sales (at worse) or rampant incompetance (at best). They have every right to be upset about it.

 

[Ander00]

The only thing that surprises me a bit is that some of the obvious links on the homepage (FAQ, message boards) still lead to 3.5 stuff, when their 4E counterparts exist. At least the character sheet link now leads to a 4E one.


cheers