The whole thing just seems to be slippery and unsavory all the way around.
Obviously WotC needs to make money. WotC needs people to buy the product. So they can't give it all away for free, or allow other companies to use their logo or intellectual property.
But all of the pre-release press seems very clumsy (ALL of it: sneak peaks, designer blogs, flavor text, etc). If a press release causes as much anger as excitement (or more anger than excitement), your press release didn't work.
There are surely those who are just looking for any opportunity to be negative. And they will read anything negative into any statement, no matter how neutral.
But WotC has justly earned at least some of the simmering negativity. In addition to being incredibly tone-deaf, they've made some pretty bad products in the last 2-3 years. And some of WotC's business seem to be bad for the game (like cancelling Dragon, FRICKIN DRAGON!!!!! and replacing it with gleemax).
So we'll wait and see. For my part, I can't say I'm really concerned that much anymore. I give it even odds that the game will be something I'll ever play (or want to play). If 4e sucks, I won't play. If it's passable and we can adapt it to our 11 year old campaign, I'll get it.
Fri, 04/18/2008 - 9:08pm
The whole thing just seems to be slippery and unsavory all the way around.
Obviously WotC needs to make money. WotC needs people to buy the product. So they can't give it all away for free, or allow other companies to use their logo or intellectual property.
But all of the pre-release press seems very clumsy (ALL of it: sneak peaks, designer blogs, flavor text, etc). If a press release causes as much anger as excitement (or more anger than excitement), your press release didn't work.
There are surely those who are just looking for any opportunity to be negative. And they will read anything negative into any statement, no matter how neutral.
But WotC has justly earned at least some of the simmering negativity. In addition to being incredibly tone-deaf, they've made some pretty bad products in the last 2-3 years. And some of WotC's business seem to be bad for the game (like cancelling Dragon, FRICKIN DRAGON!!!!! and replacing it with gleemax).
So we'll wait and see. For my part, I can't say I'm really concerned that much anymore. I give it even odds that the game will be something I'll ever play (or want to play). If 4e sucks, I won't play. If it's passable and we can adapt it to our 11 year old campaign, I'll get it.
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