Just got my hands on my copy of Rage of Elements Special Edition and it leaves me wondering: What's going on with the printing in the special edition book line? They started out looking great, then the style changed after the "core" books, which is fine if the core and non-core books are different, then Treasure Vault is blue...ok, I guess, it's an item book, not a "class" book, after all.
Now this. Plain red, no border embellishment on the cover like previous class books, no leather-like pattern in the cover like previous books. Obvious drop in material quality for the cover. The reason I became a special edition subscriber in the first place and own every special edition book - the fact the special edition books looked amazing on your shelf and felt great in your hand - is rapidly disappearing.
What's going on, Paizo?
Props to the Lost Omens line for keeping standards up, at least.
Just received my copy today and I agree, the cover design has taken a HUGE step back. If this is the effort now going into an $80+ book, I'm seriously considering cancelling my subscription.
I've subscribed for all these years to support Paizo and get a better product than the store bought version. So not only do we get no discount for subscribing, paying full price, but the products we now receive look inferior to the standard version (and to add hurt to injury, arrive dogeared as this one did - please use stronger cardboard corners).