WotC Spring 2009 Catalog

[Kunimatyu]

Very cool!

Assuming I get to be a player instead of just the DM for 4e, I'm totally picking up warlord and warlock cards.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Fair enough. I have neither the artistic talent nor the time to make my own -- at least not having them look like anything more than scrawls on an index card. Since I've come to a point where I appreciate presentation value in my gaming tools, I'd pay $10 for a deck.

I'll caveat that by saying that I wouldn't do it for a one-shot or buy all the cards at once. But, definitely for a long-running character/campaign. My current 3.5 game has been running for 4+ years and I don't think $10-20 for spell cards would have been considered unreasonable for either the wizard or the druid.

I'm just glad I'm DMing at this point. It's too obvious that this was part of the marketing scheme from the get go. Cards are too perfect a solution to tracking encounter/daily powers. When we made our first batch and players started 'tapping' them, I nearly puked. It was quite obvious that all the 'video gamey' complaints were way off base. 4e is not a computer game, it is Magic.

They created a game that would naturally lend itself to card use, then a few months later, after allowing demand to build, convieniantly come out with decks of 'official' power cards. Don't get me wrong, it's marketing genious. It will likely make them boatloads of cash. But, if they had announced these cards prior to release... oh man it would not have been recieved well. By waiting, they can now be seen as fulfilling a 'need'. No one even consideres that it is a manufactured need.

 

[Echohawk]

It's too obvious that this was part of the marketing scheme from the get go.

I'm not entirely convinced that this is the case. If WotC had planned up front to have the power cards be a major part of the marketing strategy, I think the PH sets would be releasing later this year, instead of January 2009.

Judging from the simultaneous release of the PH and Martial Power decks in January, compared to the April release of the PH2 decks the month after the release of the PH2, my suspicion is that these cards are a relatively late addition to the planned product line. Supporting this is the fact that the cards do not yet appear in the product section of the WotC web site, nor on Amazon. (I'm also guessing that there is no picture of the cards in the Spring 2009 catalog, and I'd be interested if thalmin could confirm or deny that guess.)

So my theory is that while the idea of power cards was probably floating around all along, they weren't part of the initial release schedule and have now been added (or brought forward) based on demand.

 

[Cadfan]

Who cares when it was planned? They're gaming accessories. Its like whining that they wrote a game that works well with a DM screen, then tried to sell you one.

 

[Darkwolf71]

I don't know, I could probably come up with several reasons whay the first set might be delayed. You would be hard pressed to convince me that these haven't been in development for some time.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

I'm just glad I'm DMing at this point. It's too obvious that this was part of the marketing scheme from the get go. Cards are too perfect a solution to tracking encounter/daily powers. When we made our first batch and players started 'tapping' them, I nearly puked. It was quite obvious that all the 'video gamey' complaints were way off base. 4e is not a computer game, it is Magic.

They created a game that would naturally lend itself to card use, then a few months later, after allowing demand to build, convieniantly come out with decks of 'official' power cards. Don't get me wrong, it's marketing genious. It will likely make them boatloads of cash. But, if they had announced these cards prior to release... oh man it would not have been recieved well. By waiting, they can now be seen as fulfilling a 'need'. No one even consideres that it is a manufactured need.

From reading your posts in this thread, you seem to be upset that WotC wishes to make money selling DnD related products (Minis, power cards, DDI accounts, etc) to those who wish to purchase them.

Personally, I wish them all the luck. The products they do produce that I think are neat/fun/worth purchasing, I will buy. Those that do not meet my needs, I will pass on. That's the great thing about capitalism, many companies produce products that they want me to purchase and I (and my fellow consumers) select the products that we like the best to become successful.

As with any DnD, gaming product, or general item; I will determine if I like it, if I think it is worth them money to purchase it, and if I need such a product. I do not begrudge the company for making a product to sell me, I vote whether I like it or not with my dollar.

 

[Adrift]

I like that they are non-random and that they are organized in a fashion wherein I wouldn't be collecting cards for classes I have no intention of playing. Some classes just don't appeal to me. There are some fan-created, high quality cards already in existence however, so I may just use those if I decide to play a class I don't normally play. I'm sure the WotC cards will be high quality and I'll get a couple sets for my favorite classes however.

WotC seems to have neglected Magic Item cards, or did I miss something?

 

[Mercule]

It was quite obvious that all the 'video gamey' complaints were way off base. 4e is not a computer game, it is Magic.

Now, this is a legitimate concern. In fact, it's one I share. Based on the reports so far, I'm willing to give the game a shot before condemning it. But, as I really, really hate CCGs, I'll be drop-kicking it if it actually does feel like a CCG.

I've played games before that could or did use cards and didn't feel like a CCG, so the power cards alone don't condemn 4e for me.

They created a game that would naturally lend itself to card use, then a few months later, after allowing demand to build, convieniantly come out with decks of 'official' power cards. Don't get me wrong, it's marketing genious. It will likely make them boatloads of cash. But, if they had announced these cards prior to release... oh man it would not have been recieved well. By waiting, they can now be seen as fulfilling a 'need'. No one even consideres that it is a manufactured need.

Good aids can really speed up play. They can also help bolster the weaker players (social gamers, semi-interested spouses, newbies, just plain busy, etc.), too.

If WotC has an otherwise solid system (that's key) that they designed with an eye toward making play aids available, that's actually a plus for me. I certainly don't want the cards to be nearly indispensable, but I don't think these are. I'm betting that I could run a 4e wizard without power cards just as well as I could run a 3e sorcerer without spell cards -- which is to say any weakness stems from my ability rather than a systemic requirement for an accessory.

I'm actually betting that 4e cards are, at worst, as necessary as monster stat cards are for a 3e conjurer or druid -- more likely, the 3e character has more need for the cards. Since I'm starting a 6th level master conjurer tomorrow night, I'll have personal experience there soon enough.

 

[Mouseferatu]

February
Agents of Artifice [Planeswalker -- is this Planescape?]

I can answer this one.

Nope, it's not Planescape; it's not, in fact, a D&D novel. It's the first of a new line of Magic novels, focused on planeswalker characters. (It's also, for the record, a novel that more or less stands alone, and was written to be accessible to people new to Magic: the Gathering, so while it makes a lot of use of Magic's history, it doesn't require much in the way of prior knowledge.)

 

[Mouseferatu]

I cannot begin to state how fully I disagree with the people claiming that D&D plays like a CCG.

In my own group, only half of us are using home-made power cards. Some of us feel they speed things up, some of us don't. Me, I don't think it makes a huge difference, as long as you have your powers summarized on something--a sheet of paper works just fine. Frankly, I find it no more complex than keeping track of which spells I'd cast as a wizard or druid in 3E.