What I learned about Paizo and Errata

[miscdebris]

If there is a version of a product that everyone likes (nothing big needs fixing), suggest everyone by the PDF so Paizo doesn't reprint, thus preserving the original.

If there is a version of a product that no one likes (many big things need fixing), suggest people by the book so it gets reprinted.

Also, keep every version of every PDF you ever get. You never know.

[Mark Thomas 66]

You realize you just suggested telling people not to buy a Paizo book, on Paizo's website no less, because you aren't happy about changes made during reprinting.

But even worse, suggesting that people don't buy the books that everyone likes thereby orchestrating that they take the biggest financial hit on the most popular products.

[Rub-Eta]

Sigh. The one time this community comes close to a any digital game's communities, is when Paizo changes things. Then it's all about how "I know better than the designers", "This is going to kill the game", "This game is dying because you made it bad", "[Developer] doesn't know what they're doing", "Thanks Obama", "Don't fix what's not broken, and this isn't broken!", etc-etc.

I do expect better.

[Sundakan]

Mark Thomas 66 wrote:

You realize you just suggested telling people not to buy a Paizo book, on Paizo's website no less, because you aren't happy about changes made during reprinting.

But even worse, suggesting that people don't buy the books that everyone likes thereby orchestrating that they take the biggest financial hit on the most popular products.

Yes. It's kind of appropriate, really.

Nobody can trust that the texts of their books will stay even vaguely the same, maybe Paizo would get the idea if their revenue stream became similarly unpredictable.

But really, it's better to just not buy anything at all if you want to send that sort of message.

[miscdebris]

Mark Thomas 66 wrote:

You realize you just suggested telling people not to buy a Paizo book, on Paizo's website no less, because you aren't happy about changes made during reprinting.

Yes, I do realize I indirectly suggested that.

Errata needs to be detached from the reprint cycle. This is why I posted this. Microsoft releases bug fixes between OS versions, and even between Service Packs. Why can't Paizo do the same? How can we help them do this?

Mark Thomas 66 wrote:

But even worse, suggesting that people don't buy the books that everyone likes thereby orchestrating that they take the biggest financial hit on the most popular products.

I am suggesting people buy products they like in PDF form, and not book form. I was not suggesting that they don't buy the product at all.

None of this is me complaining about the changes made in UE, but how and when the changes are made.

[Malwing]

I'm guessing this all has to do with whatever is happening with Ultimate Equipment right now. This means I can't really relate because a lot of the time I'm using third party and homebrewed equipment and when I'm not I tend to plan out my characters without magic items in mind because I'm very likely to just work with what I find as opposed to spending money to seek out new equipment that I know exists. This means that changes to magical equipment is largely irrelevant to me.

But on the subject of how Paizo erratas things, to some extent I want to agree that its bad for the physical books when you can't exactly rely on them to maintain accuracy. If you have PDFs or use the internet for your rules this isn't much of a thing but since I frequently play at a game store where having books on hand is valuable I know the hurt of having to remember that rules have changed on something or another to keep things going the way that players expect them to go.

On the other hand consistency has been somewhat of a roadblock when it comes to making significant fixes to the base game where it would interrupt page count and while I do very much enjoy the game I do think that there are things that can go smoother or be balanced out and any resistance to change is kind of preventative to making those kinds of fixes, especially since the game is 7-16 years old now. If this is the kind of reaction we get to some price and effect changes how can we hope that we'll get any kind of revision or update to the base game?

[Cavall]

I don't think printing errata separate from future printings is ideal.

[Jaçinto]

Just release a yearly errata splat book or something and leave the books alone.

4th edition reprinted their core books with errata, which I found out the hard way when I went in for the test to be a sanctioned DM or whatever it is called now, and I used the first printing of books that we actually have. I got so much wrong because the reprints restatted stuff in the bestiary.

It made me realize that the way the games are going now, you have to overstock your shelves with double or triple dipping the same book. Bought the CRB? Good, now buy it again cause they changed one line. Oh look, another errata, dish out another $60-$80 (depending on the game). This gets too expensive and is a good way to make people just stop buying the books because they will just sit there and say "No, because you are just going to change it again and make me waste my money."

This stuff hurts, especially if you do organized play because all those old prints just became junk. Get your fingers out of my wallet, guys.

[MMCJawa]

miscdebris wrote:

If there is a version of a product that everyone likes (nothing big needs fixing), suggest everyone by the PDF so Paizo doesn't reprint, thus preserving the original.

If there is a version of a product that no one likes (many big things need fixing), suggest people by the book so it gets reprinted.

Also, keep every version of every PDF you ever get. You never know.

Presuming that actually worked (I am skeptical that the people complaining about errata are not just a vocal minority on a niche website), odds are the only signal that would give Paizo is that People must really hate that topic/subject, so lets never do a book like that again.

[MannyGoblin]

Just what is with the weapon cord nerf? Just another nail in the coffin of martials in the Linear/quadric war.

[Melkiador]

I'm disappointed they still haven't tried clarifying how the klar works. And surprised they are ok with spiked shields using armor spikes instead of shield spikes. But on the bright side, the spiked shield from this source now absolutely stacks with the bashing enchant. At least until the next errata.

[Lorewalker]

Two words. Mounted combat.

[James Risner]

miscdebris wrote:

Errata needs to be detached from the reprint cycle.

WotC did it this way. It becomes a "never reprint " system.

Why? Because you'd have to change it again to fit it on the page. Twice the labor costs.

[James Risner]

MannyGoblin wrote:

Just what is with the weapon cord nerf? Just another nail in the coffin of martials in the Linear/quadric war.

Not a change, it has been move for a couple years or so already.

Melkiador wrote:

I'm disappointed they still haven't tried clarifying how the klar works. And surprised they are ok with spiked shields using armor spikes instead of shield spikes. But on the bright side, the spiked shield from this source now absolutely stacks with the bashing enchant. At least until the next errata.

Unless you'd like this thread to be a 400 post monster, leave the spiked bashing stacking comment to "Ask you GM"

[Liz Courts]

Removed some posts and their responses. In addition, locking this thread--we already have threads on this topic.