WotC warped book covers...

[TalonComics]

Having some knowledge of Grand Prairie, Texas, is it near the strip joint or near the auto junkyards? (Yes, I know of it from my lovely co-op days at glorious LTV Aerospace.) By the way, it never gets humid in Dallas, right?

I've never been there physically as WotC doesn't allow retailers to pick up their orders there directly. Personally, I think that's stupid as I could be there in 35 minutes where as they're having to ship it to me.

~D

 

[Trip]

Hmmm

Wierd. I've seen threads like this both here and at wizards, and when I look to my collection of WotC books.....not one of them has a warped cover. From the original first printing core books, to even the new releases such as Fiend Folio...they are fine and dandy, if not scuffed up. Maybe everybody else just breaths a lot of humidity into the house Stop Breathing!!

 

[devoblue]

My SS, AaEG and FF are bent also. I don't have RoF and although Unapproachable East has been at the FLGS for two weeks I haven't picked it up to see if it suffers also.

It seems that of late wizards have been putting out a lot more titles with hard cover than they would have previously. If AaEG, RoF and UE had followed their predecessors they would have been softcover. They are no doubt finding that hardcover books sell more copies at a higher price than the softcovers.

I don't mind that more books are hardcover, I prefer the durability, but the cheap bending hardcovers are pretty poor form. I'm suspecting that some executive at wizards or elsewhere has decided that margins and profits can be improved by changing the way they do covers.

Ghostwalk is probably at the printers already so if they haven't fixed the problem yet it is probably too late.

I would like to say that I won't be picking up the 3.5E core books when they get here if they too suffer from the problem. I would like to say it, but I know that its not true and instead I will just get anoyed and stand in front of the shelf for longer before reluctantly handing over the cash anyway.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I don't mind that more books are hardcover, I prefer the durability, but the cheap bending hardcovers are pretty poor form. I'm suspecting that some executive at wizards or elsewhere has decided that margins and profits can be improved by changing the way they do covers.

Personally I feel that WOTC is putting Hardcovers on books that do not deserve them.

Psionics Handbook
Arms and Equipment Guide
Unapproachable East

None of them really justify a hardcover due to their length. Are any of them really any longer than Lords of Darkness or Magic of Faerun?

 

[Azul]

Every bloody hardcover released since (and including) Savage Species that I have seen in a FLGS has had a significantly warped cover... every single one.

Obviously, my copies of SS, A&EG, and FF are all warped since I've never seen an unwarped copy of these books ever. Having no other choice, I gritted my teeth and got the books hoping that WotC would fix the problem soon. Looks like they haven't.

This is a serious quality control problem in my opinion and if 3.5 has the same flaw, that alone might be enough to persuade me not to bother. If I'm dropping good money for a book, I expect it not to have systematic manufacturing flaws. Screw ups can happen, but this is no longer an isolated screw up... it's a pervasive flaw in the product.

 

[Trip]

Personally I feel that WOTC is putting Hardcovers on books that do not deserve them.

Agreed. Next we will see the splat books converted.

 

[Magic Rub]

My...

Savage Species = Bent cover.
Races of Faerun = Bent cover.
Arms & Equipment Guide = Bent cover.
Fiend Folio = Bent cover.

... & it sucks.


I was shocked that the Arms & Equipment Guide & Races of Faerun got a hard covers. Yet Magic of Faerun didn't?

 

[Mystic_23]

The local Hastings here (a big chain bookseller) had in some fiend folios that were tragically warped in my opinion. All of the ones they had out on the shelf were reallt bent to a curve.

Ugh! I don't ever buy RPG books from Hastings (we have a couple here in Boise too). They put their price sticker on the book, and it's nigh impossible to remove.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I almost bought the Arms and Equipment Guide despite my misgivings about it, things like a Saddle to Ride a Gelatinous Cube really throw my stupid-o-meter through the roof. But I said it has some artifacts that may be cool. So I look at both copies on the shelf at the store. Both were really warped. The font covers were very curved on both of them. Needless to say I didn't buy a copy. Savage Species didn't look nearly as bad though, but they only hand one copy so I don't know if the rest were that bad. I hate buying hardcover books that are shoddily put together. The Tome of Horrors from NG really peeved me as I had to buy some bookbinding glue and fix it myself after the copy I got when I returned the first one fell apart right away.. But it's in great shape now so I'm not too mad at them, and they offered to replace all defective copies at thier cost. If you are going to raise prices to do hardcover then at least bind the damn thing right! A lot of books shouldn't be hardcover as it is, A&EG is a prime example. But maybe this is what we get in the age of disposable books and new editions ever few years. If the books last for 25 years with great bindings like my 1e AD&D books have then where do they make thier money? My copies of Heros Unlimited are softcover and are both in great shape after 10+ years. If I could get the D&D core books in that kind of softcover package I'd pass the hardcovers up in a second.

 

[Harlock]

Ugh! I don't ever buy RPG books from Hastings (we have a couple here in Boise too). They put their price sticker on the book, and it's nigh impossible to remove.

Hmm that's odd to me as I am able to remove them with no problems whatsoever. I peel them slow and easy and they come off in one piece despite having those slashes in them that are supposed to prevent that. Magic fingers I suppose.