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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3563 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 14:52:11
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Poll Question:
Just curious, I have not yet and am still considering it.
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A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Edited by - The Red Walker on 24 Oct 2008 14:52:37
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GRYPHON
Senior Scribe
USA
527 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 15:22:15
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| No...never will... |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 15:33:29
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| I've learnt never to "say never" when D&D is involved. So the "Maybe in the future" option works best for me at the moment. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
Edited by - The Sage on 24 Oct 2008 16:25:02 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 15:54:28
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| "Maybe" for me as well. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Patrakis
Learned Scribe
Canada
256 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 17:40:49
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Strange that GRYPHON said "no ... never will" and there is no votes for that category :)
Me, i said simply no...
The whole 4e thing made me go back to my old FR books and it's funny how i felt some of them to be new again. Some i never read again since publication. I think i'm gonna go back to that good old feeling of reading a 1e, 2e lore FR book :)
Somethin i'll never experience again with new FR books.
Pat |
Dancing is like standing still, but faster.
My site: http://www.patoumonde.com |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3240 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2008 : 17:46:18
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| Subscriptions are always tough for me. And since I already have the Pathfinder subscription up (where I get an ACTUAL book plus PDF each month), I don't see the point of the DDi. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Ladejarl
Seeker
Norway
55 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 01:17:49
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Somtime in the future, maybe. |
"There should be much less violence, and more nudity and kinkiness in the world." |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3737 Posts |
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Uzzy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
618 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2008 : 22:36:51
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| If they start publishing stuff for the Realms, then maybe I will. |
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Daviot
Senior Scribe
USA
372 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 01:46:29
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| Part of the hesitance on my part is that out of all the initial services offered, only the "digital" editions of the magazines are so far available. They seem to be horribly behind on their software offerings. |
One usually has far more to fear from the soft-spoken wizard with a blade and well-worn boots than from the boisterous one in the ivory tower.
My Tabletop Writing CV. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 05:47:21
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Its a Catch-22 situation for them - the company is unwilling to shell out exuberant sums of money for a potentally non-profittable endeavor, but by NOT hemorraging large amounts of cash up-front, no one is interested and the DDi is doomed to failure.
Its called a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Like everything else they've done in the past year and a half, they went about it half-assed, which is also why 4e came in with a fizzle instead of a bang.
When 3.0 came out, I remember seeing a story about it on the 6 0'Clock News (I'm talking a major NY station), and I was impressed. I don't think ANY news service even bothered to cover 4e.
They really needed to throw tons of cash around on advertising and flashy, gimmicky web-stuff, and instead all they did was hand us excuses and delays.
I won't bother subscribing to DDi, because they need to prove to their bosses its worth spending money on, and the only way to do that is by having people start paying for it before they're even offereing anything. People don't like to pay for empty promises, and they (WotC) are unwilling to make the intial sacrifice, so it will never fly.
Paying in advance for something is a very poor business model, and no one likes to do it. Usually, it just leads to disappointment.
On the other hand, I would LOVE for some high-quality stuff to start appearing on the DDi, and would be willing to pay for some really great Realmslore. If they can somehow eventually manage it, I may change my tune.
On the third hand, I don't really care about 4e, so even the Realms articles won't have much for me.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 31 Oct 2008 01:47:59 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 15:39:30
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I signed up for the month to month, in part because I'm a player in a 4th edition game, and wanted access to the Compendium (which is ironic, because I want access to that so that I don't have to buy books the the Adventurer's Vault, which is all items or or less). I was also hoping to read some more Realms articles, once they are forthcoming.
That having been said, while I liked the Gladiator articles a bit, I have to say that, I think they really should have had more ready to go on the first day of subscription. They are still piddling out articles at the same rate as before. I guess my thought is that perhaps a few extra articles, ready to go on day one, would have been a nice reward for subscribers.
I'm still gauging if I'm going to keep this up or not. For now its cheaper than jumping on every release for me because I'm willing to dig through the compendium for my Eladrin Paladin's equipment and feats and all, but at some point we'll reach the point of diminishing returns, and if things aren't a bit more interesting at that point, I'll likely be jumping ship. |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 16:12:35
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| I am waiting for a bit to see how things play out. I was really liking the electronic versions of the 2 magazines, but like others, I feel there should be more, and more often. So, I voted maybe in the future |
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Ayunken-vanzan
Senior Scribe
Germany
657 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 16:38:28
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| No. No paper + only electronic = no need. |
"What mattered our lives now? When our world had been torn from us? Folk wept, or drank, or stood staring out over the land, wondering what new horror each dawn would bring."
Elender Stormfall of Suzail
"Anyone can kill deities, cause plagues, or destroy organizations. It takes real skill to make them live on."
Varl
FR/D&D-Links 2ed Downloads |
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Amarel Derakanor
Seeker
97 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2008 : 18:33:25
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| Out of spite, I voted no, not ever. |
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2008 : 01:17:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayunken-vanzan
No. No paper + only electronic = no need.
D'accord.
Nothing says "Useful Magazine" like something which requires twenty-five pounds of electronics to read!
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2008 : 01:50:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
quote:
Originally posted by Ayunken-vanzan
No. No paper + only electronic = no need.
D'accord.
Nothing says "Useful Magazine" like something which requires twenty-five pounds of electronics to read!
Mine is a little over 5 lbs. Add an external hard drive (to carry all of my RPG stuff), dice, and some additional odds and ends, my laptop w/ bag is still under 10 lbs.
I am still trying to find a suitable ebook reader that I can tote around in my pocket. All of the ones I have checked out, don't appear to support PDF's well. |
Edited by - scererar on 27 Oct 2008 01:53:08 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2008 : 06:33:57
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Never underestimate the aftershocks of *real* human tragedies. This was the man in charge of the whole DDi. One can only imagine that both his superiors and the folks answering to him would be severely affected by not only the events itself, but that also the weeks and months which led to this tragic events must have been filled with chaos...
Of course, suits will come forward, with teeth whiter than white, and try to tell you that "business is as usual," but that's BS, especially for an organization as small as WotC. This must have been truly devastating. Aside from the cops taking statements from fellow workers, I bet HR was also taking a beating trying to deal with post-traumatic stress leaves and what not (I can only assume, as I have family working in the bank industry, and everyone at the bank gets three days off after a hold-up... and that's only the bare minimum, as each employee is THEN entitled to counseling, more time-off, and bunch of other benefits when this kind of thing happens).
Bottom-line: don't think for a second that this didn't slow down the company. 'Cause I bet it did, in a major, major way (and if not, it would be time for some of these folks to reconsider their role in the universe, and how far they have fallen off the humanity grid...) |
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BARDOBARBAROS
Senior Scribe
Greece
581 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2008 : 09:26:25
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| No, and never will... |
BARDOBARBAROS DOES NOT KILL.
HE DECAPITATES!!!
"The city changes, but the fools within it remain always the same" (Edwin Odesseiron- Baldur's gate 2) |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2008 : 14:40:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Purple Dragon Knight
Never underestimate the aftershocks of *real* human tragedies. This was the man in charge of the whole DDi. One can only imagine that both his superiors and the folks answering to him would be severely affected by not only the events itself, but that also the weeks and months which led to this tragic events must have been filled with chaos...
Of course, suits will come forward, with teeth whiter than white, and try to tell you that "business is as usual," but that's BS, especially for an organization as small as WotC. This must have been truly devastating. Aside from the cops taking statements from fellow workers, I bet HR was also taking a beating trying to deal with post-traumatic stress leaves and what not (I can only assume, as I have family working in the bank industry, and everyone at the bank gets three days off after a hold-up... and that's only the bare minimum, as each employee is THEN entitled to counseling, more time-off, and bunch of other benefits when this kind of thing happens).
Bottom-line: don't think for a second that this didn't slow down the company. 'Cause I bet it did, in a major, major way (and if not, it would be time for some of these folks to reconsider their role in the universe, and how far they have fallen off the humanity grid...)
I'm not denying that it will slow down the company. I'm denying that it will prove to have all that dramatic an impact. It shouldn't take all that long to promote someone to the empty slot and have them figure out what's going on. They didn't lose the whole team -- just one person.
Not only that, but I think that if there was going to be a delay because of this, then WotC would have already played that card.
So I think their failure to provide content is nothing more than them thinking they could do it quicker than they proved able, and deciding to try to make money anyway. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 02:05:30
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What I think is that they made a VERY stupid tactical error - they put all their eggs in one basket, and that one basket was an unstable person. I think when they went through his things at the office, they were quite shocked about how little actually got done last year.
Or need I remind you that the one preview we got of the Gaming Table turned out to be stolen code from another company? 
I think this hurt them MUCH more then they are letting on, and thats because they are enbarrassed that no-one double-checked what was really going on that whole year he was stalking his ex.
Wooly - you are used to working with people who would continue to carry the ball for a dept. even if it's head were cut-off. Lord knows in Gov't things usually run BETTER when the boss doesn't show up, but we are talking avout WotC circa 2008 here, and they aren't exactly known for hiring the creme of the crop. I've worked in both types of environments - one that couldn't run with the boss around, and ones that couldn't run without him, and I think whoever was under that guy (I'm sure they didn't put much budget into it, so who knows if he was the WHOLE dept.) probably got tired of covering for him and figured 'if he can do it, so can I', and didn't bother working on anything while they were getting paid.
All sorts of strange stuff happens regarding companies and software, so who who knows? Blizzard split their company into Blizzard and Blizzard North, and BN was supposed to work on Diablo III in secret - after three years of development everyone just up and quit, and they supposedly had nothing to show for the three years they were paid.
The head guys started up their own company (Hyboreal games), and just a few months later released a game that looked suspiciously like Diablo III. Its sad, but when it comes to computer coding, if the boss isn't constanly looking over everyone's shoulder sometimes bad things happen. You trust these people to act in a professional manner, and when they don't, millions can be lost (as is the case with Blizzard, because their lucrative Diablo franchise is put on permanent hold now).
I'm just saying, I've seen crap like this happen before.... |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 31 Oct 2008 02:08:14 |
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lowtech
Learned Scribe
USA
315 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 06:07:51
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| No, never will. |
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Pandora
Learned Scribe
Germany
305 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 14:37:23
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| NEVAH ... and the nays have it with a vast majority. |
If you cant say what youre meaning,
you can never mean what youre saying.
- Centauri Minister of Intelligence, Babylon 5 |
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Garen Thal
Master of Realmslore
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 14:42:28
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quote:
Originally posted by capnvan
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
All sorts of strange stuff happens regarding companies and software, so who who knows? Blizzard split their company into Blizzard and Blizzard North, and BN was supposed to work on Diablo III in secret - after three years of development everyone just up and quit, and they supposedly had nothing to show for the three years they were paid.
But the difference there is that Blizzard isn't selling Diablo 3. 6 months ago WOTC was promoting the importance of Character Visualizer, et al. for 4E. The "Coming Soon" notification was exactly the same one we see today.
How do you charge someone for a product that's only half of what it's supposed to be?
To be fair, WotC isn't charging for the tools portion of DDI yet. The current rates are for the digital content (Dragon and Dungeon) ONLY; the tools will be a separate subscription, and a subscriber can choose to get both, just one, or (obviously) neither.
That isn't to say people are going to want the product, or that WotC hasn't seriously dropped the ball on the DDI rollout--which was supposed to be ready to go on Day One of 4E, or at Gen Con by the very least--but they haven't started charging people with just half the product out; they're charging people for what they're getting, based on what they think they can charge. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 17:18:23
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Yes, to be fair (though I don't know every single detail about this), the price *is* lower than what it was originally projected to be.
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"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 31 Oct 2008 17:18:57 |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 18:33:01
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DDI calendar for November is up. It does not appear to have anything scheduled FR specific at all in the 2 magazines. I was going to sign up this morning,but now I will continue to wait and see if WOTC includes FR material in the future. it appears October was also lacking anything FR related.
I may have missed something in titles. Anyone else see something different?
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20081101a |
Edited by - scererar on 31 Oct 2008 18:43:27 |
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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
1098 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 20:26:30
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| I noticed the same thing. I hope I'm not the only person writing DDI articles for the Forgotten Realms. You won't see mine until January or February. |
Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer
Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2008 : 21:16:25
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Eytan and I are collaborating on at least one FR DDI article.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
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Did you subscribe to DDI ?
