Well, with MME cancelled that's the book I was most looking forward to gone.
I'm sad to lose the mini's line too - I loved buying the boosters, even though I know why most people didn't and why the line had to die. I still don't feel like I have enough of the things and I'll be damned if I ever use anything as flat (literally and figuratively) as tokens.
But, moving to hardback is good news for me. I wasn't keen on the paperback books.
I just don't know what I'm going to do about rares now. Having to make them all myself is going to be irritating.
EDIT: Actually, the heroes builder handbook being gone is awful too. I wanted themes for everyone, dammit! Although I'm not sad to lose all the bullshit 'profession' stuff it planned to include.
The worst bit is my gut tells me that this is all going to filter into Dragon and Dungeon in some way. Which is not the way I really want to receive the material. Especially items - I look through books for items. I think I've looked at pdfs/character builder/compendium for items a grand total of 1 time. It just isn't the way I want to use that stuff.
To be honest all I want in ddi articles are adventures. Nice, long, meaty adventures and adventure paths. Which WotC doesn't seem much inclined to do. Even Bark at the Moon seemed short to me.
Finally, I wanted to let you know that we’re making a change to the way we handle D&D Insider content. Subscriber data informs us that the vast majority of you consume our articles individually, when they are posted, as opposed to downloading the monthly compilations. So, starting this month, we’re just providing the articles. There won’t be any more monthly downloadable compilations. This is not a reduction in content, just a clarification of presentation and putting the emphasis where the majority of you are using it. Corrections and updates to articles which used to appear only in the compilations will now be made to the individual articles a few weeks after the original posting.
What kills me about this is that the individual article .pdfs are just split off from the whole; you may download a 10 page .pdf that's numbered from 41-50. Since they won't be combining articles anymore they'll have to number them all starting from page 1, which means they aren't really magazines anymore.
It also means they don't need to fill X pages a month with content, which probably means we'll see... less content!
It's also been 12 days so far this month, 8 business days, without a single Dragon article with any substance to it. It's all been fluff, previews and editorials. I don't know about the Dungeon stuff; I don't usually read it.
Edit: And losing those three books is silly goose.
The book with themes for generic 4E is Player's Option: Champions of the Heroic Tier. Any information I can find as to what the Hero Builder's Handbook would have contained is very vague.
No more 4E minis?
At least the miniature catalogue is pretty extensive as is. I'll be using Troll & Toad to pick up oldies I like.
I wish WotC would release some iteration of the Monster Builder that allowed you to convert older monsters to the MM3 math, but considering their digital track record of late we can expect the next MB update... never.
I want to make it clear that when I say we're doing something, I try to use the word "intend" or "we're planning on" specifically to reiterate the fact that these are our plans and things happen all the time to disrupt plans. I am not promising that we will definitely have content every week day from here unto infinity. I am saying that our plan/goal is to do that.
Even if I neglect to put in those words, I hope people understand that we can't control everything, we can't foresee everything, and we aren't making promises that no disruptions will come along. I'm simply talking about our plans. We should count on the fact that disruptions will happen, and when they do, I'll do everything I can to make sure you guys hear about it before hand, and if I'm not able to do that, I'll still do everything I can to make sure you have what information I can share after the fact.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Speaking of content, the new Channel Divinity Vecna is up. It's got some solid fluff and while the crunch is mechanically off - due to the lack of necrotic support in 4E - there are some decent things in there. I like the power that lets you use your CD to force a creature to make a basic attack when dropped to zero HP. Quite a few good uses for that.
Edit: I am glad you noticed that. I felt rather poetic when I woke up this morning.
Canning the books and putting the stuff on Insider only is probably the only way they can keep people subscribing to insider. The tools sure aren't doing that.
Speaking of content, the new Channel Divinity Vecna is up. It's got some solid fluff and while the crunch is mechanically off - due to the lack of necrotic support in 4E - there are some decent things in there. I like the power that lets you use your CD to force a creature to make a basic attack when dropped to zero HP. Quite a few good uses for that.
Edit: I am glad you noticed that. I felt rather poetic when I woke up this morning.
Command Undead seems... hilariously weak. You must be a Class that already has a CD power that targets Undead in order to take the Feat to gain Command Undead, which is itself a CD power. Who would ever use Command over (Abjure, Smite, Turn or Rebuke) Undead? Why the hell would you pay a Feat for that?
There's also a disconnect between the article's fluff and it's crunch. The "Class" section of "Creating a Follower of Vecna" states;
Not all player characters who choose Vecna as their god are members of a divine class.
Yet all of the crunch options require a Divine class. And you're right; the Necrotic-keyword supporting feats are really weak right now due to the lack of Necrotic powers, but I expect that will change some after Heroes of Shadow comes out... in three more months.
Speaking of content, the new Channel Divinity Vecna is up. It's got some solid fluff and while the crunch is mechanically off - due to the lack of necrotic support in 4E - there are some decent things in there. I like the power that lets you use your CD to force a creature to make a basic attack when dropped to zero HP. Quite a few good uses for that.
Edit: I am glad you noticed that. I felt rather poetic when I woke up this morning.
Command Undead seems... hilariously weak. You must be a Class that already has a CD power that targets Undead in order to take the Feat to gain Command Undead, which is itself a CD power. Who would ever use Command over (Abjure, Smite, Turn or Rebuke) Undead? Why the hell would you pay a Feat for that?
You can grant a basic attack to an ally with command undead, in some cases easily out damaging the likes of abdure undead and it doesn't care if there are undead in the encounter. Abdure undead (as an example) only works on undead creatures, so in a campaign where you're not fighting undead all the time it's practically a pointless power in a lot of encounters. Command Undead works on creatures - not just undead - so you can use it on your allies if they are reduced to zero HP or take advantage of monsters with strong melee attacks when they are reduced to zero HP. For example in the other campaign I am running there has been, in the entire campaign thus far, one encounter with undead. It's also an immediate interrupt attack as well, which has all kinds of other useful applications and provides another out of turn attack (never a bad thing).
Edit: Oh Command Undead. That's just terrible and any Vecna worshiper should take the clear superior power to grant an attack.
I would really, really like it if they just went back to the original release plan.
PHB X
DMG X
MM X
X Power I & II
AV X
Setting Book(s) X
PoL Expansion Book X
Annual Experiment Book X
Just stagger them at roughly 1 every 2 months, with dragon and dungeon articles to fill in the gaps, with the occasional backtrack book to make up for failing to do this in the past.
I would really, really like it if they just went back to the original release plan.
PHB X
DMG X
MM X
X Power I & II
AV X
Setting Book(s) X
PoL Expansion Book X
Annual Experiment Book X
Just stagger them at roughly 1 every 2 months, with dragon and dungeon articles to fill in the gaps, with the occasional backtrack book to make up for failing to do this in the past.
I honestly don't understand why they deviated from this format nor do I currently have anything remotely close to a grasp on what the hell is currently happening.
I think the Hasbro Wizards are collectively having some kind of midlife crisis or nervous breakdown.
This is not new. It's not been quite so public or severe before, but they've been going on since the buyout.
Yeah, this is like the point where they bought the Ferrari and blast Duran Duran with the top down and their neighbors are starting to worry.
Horseshoe on
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Yeah their communication the whole way was just terrible. Half the time it was people on forums who had to explain what the hell it [Essentials] was about. Even then the elephant in the room was "What are they doing afterwards?" Well now we know and it's clearly fucking everything up progressively. Shitty fortune cards? Canceling a bunch of books? A release schedule that looks as if it has more holes than swiss cheese? Dungeon and Dragon continuing their slide into complete irrelevance?
I just can't fathom this and I get the real sense we're looking down the barrel of a 5th edition being announced as early as next year.
Ross MillsMr.California, USARegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
I'm looking forward to the Fortune cards, ignoring the official rules, having a DM deck, and doling a random one out each time a PC makes a GOMS (GO ON MY SON!!) moment.
Yeah their communication the whole way was just terrible. Half the time it was people on forums who had to explain what the hell it [Essentials] was about. Even then the elephant in the room was "What are they doing afterwards?" Well now we know and it's clearly fucking everything up progressively. Shitty fortune cards? Canceling a bunch of books? A release schedule that looks as if it has more holes than swiss cheese? Dungeon and Dragon continuing their slide into complete irrelevance?
I just can't fathom this and I get the real sense we're looking down the barrel of a 5th edition being announced as early as next year.
I would honestly welcome 5th edition if it meant a reboot on what the fuck is currently happening.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
That's actually not a bad idea Ross, but none the less I don't feel like using them myself. I don't think there are a lot of people though who are planning to use them (the odd person certainly).
I would honestly welcome 5th edition if it meant a reboot on what the fuck is currently happening.
Yeah, cause what the fucking people who put us in the fucked up situation is to scrap all the stuff that they couldn't fuck up and then fuck up from a nice fresh starting place where they can fuck things up thoroughly and consistently.
I'm looking forward to the Fortune cards, ignoring the official rules, having a DM deck, and doling a random one out each time a PC makes a GOMS (GO ON MY SON!!) moment.
Why wait? 'm using these right now over in Worldship.
Aegof on
I'm providing ambience.
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Ross MillsMr.California, USARegistered Userregular
That's actually not a bad idea Ross, but none the less I don't feel like using them myself. I don't think there are a lot of people though who are planning to use them (the odd person certainly).
Well, it's just that I don't expect my players to buy much, and this way I can arbitrate it to some extent, and reward awesomeness.
Oh, and the "Most people just download the articles" thing is the stupidest answer to a question that really should have been thought about a bit more.
That's actually not a bad idea Ross, but none the less I don't feel like using them myself. I don't think there are a lot of people though who are planning to use them (the odd person certainly).
Well, it's just that I don't expect my players to buy much, and this way I can arbitrate it to some extent, and reward awesomeness.
....why give Wizards 50 cents a card for something you're just going to make up anyways? Unless you're going to randomly deal them, in which case expect a lot of people to get screwed by cards that don't do anything meaningful for them.
That's actually not a bad idea Ross, but none the less I don't feel like using them myself. I don't think there are a lot of people though who are planning to use them (the odd person certainly).
Well, it's just that I don't expect my players to buy much, and this way I can arbitrate it to some extent, and reward awesomeness.
I can't disagree with the concept. That's a great idea and won't cost you much to build a decent deck for your players.
Q: Why have the Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium and Hero Builder's Handbook been removed from the calendar?
A: We are constantly striving to remain conscious of the way our fans consume our content. We felt that the material in these titles would best be presented in other ways and we have plans to make it available in the future.
Interesting. Personally, if they just publish the CC builds as just straight errata that would be a really good thing.
Canning the books and putting the stuff on Insider only is probably the only way they can keep people subscribing to insider. The tools sure aren't doing that.
Cynical, but probably fairly accurate.
Man, no MME book is sadhat.
A: We are constantly striving to remain conscious of the way our fans consume our content. We felt that the material in these titles would best be presented in other ways and we have plans to make it available in the future.
...I guess this means that their marketing data shows that people prefer to not buy books?
For someone who had a DnD Insider account for 2 years now and is really wondering why he's still paying, this news upsets me. The Adventurers Tool thingy wasn't even finished with all the things it could have. Character Builder no longer supported. And now everything is going to news articles. I think DnD might not last to see 5E. At least that's the message I'm seeing here.
which is a shame because it was actually worth it for a good while
edit: also I don't think that D&D as a brand is going to ruin, i think the current edition is just going to be stinking up the place as much as the last one when it finally falls over and dies
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
Yeah I am leaving my account to expire. I think they extended mine though after the email I wrote them, where I explained that I didn't feel I had any value out of DDI except 1-2 articles for nearly three months. Whenever it was they went to the online CB and ceased supporting the monster builder (and leaving it full of crippling bugs).
Oh and for those who care I still cannot make a single character in the new online CB. It constantly crashes. Why? It's a fucking mystery that's why.
Posts
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I'm sad to lose the mini's line too - I loved buying the boosters, even though I know why most people didn't and why the line had to die. I still don't feel like I have enough of the things and I'll be damned if I ever use anything as flat (literally and figuratively) as tokens.
But, moving to hardback is good news for me. I wasn't keen on the paperback books.
I just don't know what I'm going to do about rares now. Having to make them all myself is going to be irritating.
EDIT: Actually, the heroes builder handbook being gone is awful too. I wanted themes for everyone, dammit! Although I'm not sad to lose all the bullshit 'profession' stuff it planned to include.
Thoughts of a Part-Time Hobbyist - A Wargaming and RPG Blog
Honestly I wonder if they could cram that and the new magic items into it and call it PHB4.
To be honest all I want in ddi articles are adventures. Nice, long, meaty adventures and adventure paths. Which WotC doesn't seem much inclined to do. Even Bark at the Moon seemed short to me.
Thoughts of a Part-Time Hobbyist - A Wargaming and RPG Blog
What kills me about this is that the individual article .pdfs are just split off from the whole; you may download a 10 page .pdf that's numbered from 41-50. Since they won't be combining articles anymore they'll have to number them all starting from page 1, which means they aren't really magazines anymore.
It also means they don't need to fill X pages a month with content, which probably means we'll see... less content!
It's also been 12 days so far this month, 8 business days, without a single Dragon article with any substance to it. It's all been fluff, previews and editorials. I don't know about the Dungeon stuff; I don't usually read it.
Edit: And losing those three books is silly goose.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Thoughts of a Part-Time Hobbyist - A Wargaming and RPG Blog
No more 4E minis?
At least the miniature catalogue is pretty extensive as is. I'll be using Troll & Toad to pick up oldies I like.
I wish WotC would release some iteration of the Monster Builder that allowed you to convert older monsters to the MM3 math, but considering their digital track record of late we can expect the next MB update... never.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Edit: I am glad you noticed that. I felt rather poetic when I woke up this morning.
Command Undead seems... hilariously weak. You must be a Class that already has a CD power that targets Undead in order to take the Feat to gain Command Undead, which is itself a CD power. Who would ever use Command over (Abjure, Smite, Turn or Rebuke) Undead? Why the hell would you pay a Feat for that?
There's also a disconnect between the article's fluff and it's crunch. The "Class" section of "Creating a Follower of Vecna" states;
Yet all of the crunch options require a Divine class. And you're right; the Necrotic-keyword supporting feats are really weak right now due to the lack of Necrotic powers, but I expect that will change some after Heroes of Shadow comes out... in three more months.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
This is becoming a thing.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
You can grant a basic attack to an ally with command undead, in some cases easily out damaging the likes of abdure undead and it doesn't care if there are undead in the encounter. Abdure undead (as an example) only works on undead creatures, so in a campaign where you're not fighting undead all the time it's practically a pointless power in a lot of encounters. Command Undead works on creatures - not just undead - so you can use it on your allies if they are reduced to zero HP or take advantage of monsters with strong melee attacks when they are reduced to zero HP. For example in the other campaign I am running there has been, in the entire campaign thus far, one encounter with undead. It's also an immediate interrupt attack as well, which has all kinds of other useful applications and provides another out of turn attack (never a bad thing).
Edit: Oh Command Undead. That's just terrible and any Vecna worshiper should take the clear superior power to grant an attack.
PHB X
DMG X
MM X
X Power I & II
AV X
Setting Book(s) X
PoL Expansion Book X
Annual Experiment Book X
Just stagger them at roughly 1 every 2 months, with dragon and dungeon articles to fill in the gaps, with the occasional backtrack book to make up for failing to do this in the past.
I honestly don't understand why they deviated from this format nor do I currently have anything remotely close to a grasp on what the hell is currently happening.
Do they even release X power books any more?
This is not new. It's not been quite so public or severe before, but they've been going on since the buyout.
I now understand that it is because Wizards themselves were those people.
Yeah, this is like the point where they bought the Ferrari and blast Duran Duran with the top down and their neighbors are starting to worry.
I just can't fathom this and I get the real sense we're looking down the barrel of a 5th edition being announced as early as next year.
I would honestly welcome 5th edition if it meant a reboot on what the fuck is currently happening.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Why wait? 'm using these right now over in Worldship.
Well, it's just that I don't expect my players to buy much, and this way I can arbitrate it to some extent, and reward awesomeness.
....why give Wizards 50 cents a card for something you're just going to make up anyways? Unless you're going to randomly deal them, in which case expect a lot of people to get screwed by cards that don't do anything meaningful for them.
I can't disagree with the concept. That's a great idea and won't cost you much to build a decent deck for your players.
Interesting. Personally, if they just publish the CC builds as just straight errata that would be a really good thing.
Cynical, but probably fairly accurate.
Man, no MME book is sadhat.
...I guess this means that their marketing data shows that people prefer to not buy books?
which is a shame because it was actually worth it for a good while
edit: also I don't think that D&D as a brand is going to ruin, i think the current edition is just going to be stinking up the place as much as the last one when it finally falls over and dies
Oh and for those who care I still cannot make a single character in the new online CB. It constantly crashes. Why? It's a fucking mystery that's why.