Zachary's Gen Con Report Thread

[Balbinus]

Several folks just walked past, bitching about how WotC had told them 4e wouldn't be out for 2 year at the D&D convention.

Pundit's really pissed about that too, not that I blame him, but nor am I surprised that a corporation would lie to maintain sales.

[Pierce Inverarity]

If the tabletop 4E is designed to be a lesser game than the tabletop + digital one, that would be a disaster. For everyone. I don't believe it, though.

[Sosthenes]

Yeah, but they stress the DI.
So if the DI is irrelvant, the worsst possible of all things could happen:

They *gasp* made an economically bad decision.
I fear this.

I wouldn't get too afraid. The DI is mentioned a lot because they want to spread the word, because it's new. They still will make their money from hardcopy products. Actually, in this day and age, viral marketing and social networks are rather important.

Also: They're pretty cheap. Seriously, you don't need a big staff or many servers to host what fulfills the needs for most gamers. We're not talking about Google or WoW here. I guess some of the posters here could do it out of their basement (regarding sheer horsepower).

[Settembrini]

Oh, and the DI-intensive 4th edition would cripple the emerging D&D market that Germany is.
Especially all the community shit is totally irrelevant to non-North Americans, I fear. But the huge thing is the language barrier.

Sad days lay ahead for Germany. You can translate a book, but not the DI.

[Balbinus]

If the tabletop 4E is designed to be a lesser game than the tabletop + digital one, that would be a disaster. For everyone. I don't believe it, though.

My guess would be that they will aim for pure paper and pencil 4e to deliver a better and more accessible experience while leveraging the brand online to create new sales opportunities and a better experience still for those prepared to utilise those technologies.

I see DnD4e as a delivery vehicle for other forms of income generating merchandise, in particular online content and figures.

I think in order to be an effective delivery vehicle, it will need to be a fun game, so pure tabletop gamers should be fine.

Bear in mind generational changes, they probably figure (rightly) that new gamers coming in will be more tech comfortable than the old guard, and so more inclined toward embracing additional online content.

[Sosthenes]

Oh, and the DI-intensive 4th edition would cripple the emerging D&D market that Germany is.

Meh, with Germany's history of D&D publishers I wouldn't get too excited.

Also, translating online stuff is actually easier, as you don't have to wait for the licensee to do it.

[Pierce Inverarity]

Yes, Balb, but what mustn't happen is a gamers divide opening up along the DI line. As in, "Oh you didn't DL the new Shadowdancer? It's been online for a week now, it's official, and I wanna play it NOW!"

[Zachary The First]

Keep in mind many of these online tools are subscription-based.  I just had to burst some poor guy's bubble.

Here's my shitty pics of the screen previews.  I really apologie for the F- quality, but the light and angle were horrid:

[Balbinus]

Your character is represented by an on screen image?  What the fuck happened to using your imagination?

The whole point of this hobby is that we create content, between the storygamers on the one side and WotC on the other it feels like there's a lot of people trying to take my creative input out of the game.

And get off my lawn you damn kids!

[Drew]

If the tabletop 4E is designed to be a lesser game than the tabletop + digital one, that would be a disaster. For everyone. I don't believe it, though.

Me neither. Eventually it will become that I'm sure, but what we're seeing right now is the first baby steps towards an intergrated multi-media gaming platform.

It'll be an enhancement, nothing more, and will remain so for a good long while. At the moment it seems that Wizard's policy is to establish a solid foundational user base. I imagine that only after they're supremely confident in the number of Insider users will they allow the online content to supersede print. Anything beyond that would be the kind of corporate gamble that would bring the Hasbro Dementors down on them faster than you can say "Gygax."

[Sosthenes]

Your character is represented by an on screen image?  What the fuck happened to using your imagination?

Pewter.
Pixels.

Who cares?

[Pierce Inverarity]

And what a shitty image it is. I don't want to play old bald dudes!

[Akrasia]

Thanks for the report and pictures!
:cool:

[Drew]

Yeah, good stuff Zachary.

Place bets now on someone getting drunk this evening and trying to nick the Beholder model.

[Balbinus]

Pewter.
Pixels.

Who cares?

Well, me for one, but I am not the target audience and I am economically irrelevant to WotC given I'm not an existing customer and unlikely to become one.