WotC's growing pattern of broken promises

[jeffh]

That'd be promisory stoppel, you know, the same kind of issue with them going back on their word about a license being allowed in perpetuity... Except milder...

I think you mean estoppel, and the problem with that is, who exactly would the complainant be? Not most of their current audience or even most collectors, who have seen prices go up due to reprints in many cases due to increased demand. In the very common case of once-in-demand cards that are obsolete now, no amount of reprinting is going to budge the price of a Beta version, because it'll still be the Beta version and that's already the only thing it has going for it.

Very few people who want the Reserve List gone want WotC to reprint Black Lotus in a tournament-legal form or anything like that, that could plausibly hurt the value of someone's collection. That's a common strawman but I think everyone understands that's not going to happen no matter what.

 

[Scribe]

Can I interest you in only playing WotC era D&D from now on?

I'm amazed people are outraged that WotC is a greedy company who wants to monetize D&D to the penny but completely cool with WotC refusing to reprint legacy cards from the first decade of Magic's history because some people invested a car's worth into cards and would be sad if their dual lands aren't worth a ps5 a piece.

It's a collectible.

I have no power 9, no Duals. If I needed them, I'd have to pay up.

Instead, I played (before Wizards ruined the game) Modern.

The RL was a promise. Worth exactly nothing with the present leadership but it was a promise.

 

[MoonSong]

I think you mean estoppel, and the problem with that is, who exactly would the complainant be? Not most of their current audience or even most collectors, who have seen prices go up due to reprints in many cases due to increased demand. In the very case of once-in-demand cards that are obsolete now, no amount of reprinting is going to budge the price of a Beta version because it'll still be the Beta version and that's already the only thing they have going for them.

Very few people who want the Reserve List gone want WotC to reprint Black Lotus in a tournament-legal form or anything like that, that could plausibly hurt the value of someone's collection. That's a common strawman but I think everyone understands that's not going to happen no matter what.

I meant that their public reason to keep the reserve list is a way milder form of the argument to keep the original OGL as is.

 

[jeffh]

I meant that their public reason to keep the reserve list is a way milder form of the argument to keep the original OGL as is.

There's a lot of arguments for that (EDIT to clarify: for keeping OGL 1.0a). Promissory estoppel probably doesn't crack the top 5, even from a strictly legal perspective, let alone ethically. But I think I do see what you're getting at for all that.

Also, I'd be extremely surprised (and appreciate a link!) if WotC has said that publicly. Last I checked that was, at best, common fan speculation. But it is possible I'm out of date on this point.

 

[Remathilis]

It's a collectible.

I have no power 9, no Duals. If I needed them, I'd have to pay up.

Instead, I played (before Wizards ruined the game) Modern.

The RL was a promise. Worth exactly nothing with the present leadership but it was a promise.

It was a bad promise. It has hurt the game. And I say that as someone who DOES own a complete collection of Revised, including all the duals.

I just find it ironic to say "D&D belongs to the people" and then say "WotC should make Magic as expensive as possible". But you do you.

 

[Scribe]

It was a bad promise. It has hurt the game. And I say that as someone who DOES own a complete collection of Revised, including all the duals.

I just find it ironic to say "D&D belongs to the people" and then say "WotC should make Magic as expensive as possible". But you do you.

Magic can be cheap as hell. They have reprinted a ton of stuff into the ground, 6 feet under, and crushed the value of many manh cards.

 

[Haplo781]

I don't think it is from a gameplay perspective, would the game not be meaningfully improved if you could buy all the decks for $300.00 instead of one deck for that price?

But I responding specifically to the claim that allowing proxies would destroy formats, a thing that is demonstrably not true by comparison to a game that does allow them. Netrunner has a Legacy, Standard and Limited format that all get tournament play.

Netrunner 2e has existed for 6 years. Magic is 5x as old.

MtG's first set was closer to the Apollo 11 moon landing than today.

You cannot compare the two like this.

 

[Jer]

Does anyone have any speculation on why WotC's gone so unhinged?

Hasbro's stock is way overvalued despite dropping in the last year and an actual correction to what it's value should be would basically cause shareholders to replace everyone at the company. So they're scrambling to do whatever they can to keep people believing their valuation is correct and going up instead of way out of line for what they are and what they do.

Just speculation, but executives making bad decisions to keep their stock valuation inflated can often answer a whole lot of questions around "why is this publicly traded company making such stupid short term decisions?"

 

[eyeheartawk]

Just speculation, but executives making bad decisions to keep their stock valuation inflated can often answer a whole lot of questions around "why is this publicly traded company making such stupid short term decisions?"

Especially if you keep in mind that most executives at that level receive their compensation in mostly stock. This then in turn incentivizes them to pump up that stock in the short term (as most people at this level are only at a company at that position for a few years). It's why you see businesses make decisions that are only good in the short term and actually harmful in the medium and long term all the time. The only way to fix it is to pay them a salary without stock compensation and obligate them to a fiduciary duty to manage the long-term health of the company.

That, or you know, we eat 'em.

 

[Haplo781]

Hasbro's stock is way overvalued despite dropping in the last year and an actual correction to what it's value should be would basically cause shareholders to replace everyone at the company. So they're scrambling to do whatever they can to keep people believing their valuation is correct and going up instead of way out of line for what they are and what they do.

Just speculation, but executives making bad decisions to keep their stock valuation inflated can often answer a whole lot of questions around "why is this publicly traded company making such stupid short term decisions?"

They could realistically lose to Alta Fox and get WotC taken away. That's 70% of their gross revenue.