Eruantien wrote:I'm confused by this. Character classes were not left out and are in fact in the Players Handbook.
FormCritic wrote:Some core classes were left out of the 4th Edition Players Handbook.The decision to soak customers with additional books was a bad one for a company dealing with a shrinking market. The younger players they were aiming at (4th Edition is essentially World of Warcraft on the tabletop with the D&D gaming engine) were unlikely to continue buying expensive books for a game they should have gotten complete in their first purchase.The disasterous decision to dis-continue DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines deeply offended the heart and soul customers who might otherwise have grudgingly embraced 4th Edition. Specifically, they alienated the magazine subscribers who were most likely to be dungeon masters. Dungeon masters influence groups of 3 to 10 other players...magnifying their value as customers.WOTC also alienated other third-party publishers with stringent new rules designed to kill off the D20 game and force them to publish only for 4th Edition. Many of these publishers were fan favorites. The only publisher to go balls-out for 4th Edition was Goodman Games. Their switch to childish anime' artwork over classic game artists was apparently meant to match the World of Warcraft approach of the WOTC 4th Edition products. Something tells me it didn't work. (Goodman is a great guy, but his online comments have down-played the value of the core market I'm talking about. Hopefully, their sales have been better than I suspect, since there is still much to like about Goodman Games. In fact, I hope my suspicions are competely wrong.)So, WOTC left Paizo Publications with the master list of the most hard-core gamers to whom they have sold Pathfinder...which had a huge but complete player's handbook building strongly on the success of 3.5 Edition. Much worse...most of these former magazine subscribers were left with store credit that Paizo rolled over into membership in their Pathfinder module series. Pathfinder sales have subsequently threatened the very life of 4th Edition. Even allowing for some hyperbole from Paizo Publications sales announcements, the Pathfinder game has sold very well to the loyal, core audience that Paizo was foolishly allowed to retain.The final result has been a 4th Edition game that might have started with solid ideas...but was then apparently passed on to a committee of people who were all afraid to rock the boat by telling management their ideas were wrong. Maybe it was the marketing people who called the shots...?Subsequent announcements of firings at WOTC are not a surprise. It was a decision akin to "New Coke." (These are the people who thought "Gleemax" might be a good idea.) WOTC has announced a new focus on "lifestle" gamers...a target audience which should have been obvious to them had they been paying attention at all from the first talk about 4th Edition.I guess that was more than you asked for, Eruantian. But there it is.
Tharizdun wrote:Was this a copy and paste job or do you have too much time on your hands today FormCritic???
Blackmoor wrote:Wow I think you really hit it here, both my groups evolved to Pathfinder and we really like it.
Egg of Coot wrote:If she gets $99 for that set, I'll make sure to get all of mine on listed on eBay the next day . . .The Egg
FormCritic wrote:My own group will probably switch to Pathfinder as soon as enough players have the main rulebook. Since the game is so closely related to D20 3.5, the transition will be ultra-smooth.Having recently cut back on my RPG purchases (since I am a collector, "cut back" means "not totally insane") I have not set about getting hardcopies of the Pathfinder stuff...but some of my players already have the book.Significantly, the first of my players to acquire the new Pathfinder rulebook were the ones who....(wait for it...are you listening WOTC?)...the ones who had unexpired subscriptions to DRAGON magazine.All WOTC had to do to roll all of the DRAGON core gamer market into 4th Edition was allow Paizo to keep their magazines in print.There simply are not enough astonished and sarcastic words to describe the decision that turned Paizo from a partner into a rival and created Pathfinder.My suggestion for Hasbro and WOTC: Acquire Paizo Publications ASAP and start listening to their creative and business personnel.
Badmike wrote:The decision to discontinue the mags was only the first of many bone-headed moves WOTC made two years ago. Allowing another company market share by just virtually conceding part of the market is lunacy. The paper mags helped in so many ways, not the least was having the titles out once a month with color covers promoting the game, to bringing in advertising dollars, to perhaps pulling in leading game designers who would write an adventure for 4E to see their name on the mag's cover.Mike B.
FormCritic wrote:And the paper magazines cost nothing to WOTC. They could allow Paizo to take on all the hassles of publications and distribution without any effort on their own part...while still enjoying the benefits.The WOTC decision to go all electronic was cool and sophisticated. It was also a disastrous failure to understand their core customers.
