Starfinder Core Rulebook Special Edition Hardcover

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

Draeth Darkstar wrote:

I can't even begin to state my displeasure that this book doesn't come with a PDF. Feels rather like stiffing your most loyal customers to me.

Don't really see how a limited edition is stiffing "loyal" customers.

They've stated multiple times in multiple places that this book would not net you a free PDF.

Those of us who paid the premium price for an aesthetic upgrade out of brand loyalty are currently unable to read or play the game and will apparently have to pay a further premium for the PDF, while everyone who pre-ordered the standard edition now have their free PDFs in hand. What part of this are you not understanding?

They may or may not have said, "multiple times in multiple places" that this book wouldn't come with a PDF included by now, but they certainly had not when I ordered mine the day it was listed on the store.

Well, not everyone.

Also, it's right there in bold:

Note: This product is not available as part of a Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscription.

Draeth Darkstar wrote:

Those of us who paid the premium price for an aesthetic upgrade out of brand loyalty are currently unable to read or play the game and will apparently have to pay a further premium for the PDF, while everyone who pre-ordered the standard edition now have their free PDFs in hand.

Preordering the standard edition didn't give you access to the PDF. (I'm not disputing your opinion, I'm just clarifying).

Paizo use free PDFs to incentivise subscriptions - that's their main attraction, for many subscribers. That means they can't offer them in other situations without reducing the value of a subscription.

Again - not challenging your right to a different view, just clarifying the difference between a subscription and preorder from Paizo, since there's a lot of new people around and it is causing some confusion.

Perhaps I should further clarify - anyone who pre-ordered and also subscribed for the Core line has a free PDF now, a week before the street date. People like myself who pre-ordered the limited edition and also subscribed do not.

Also, it's right there in bold:

Quote:

Note: This product is not available as part of a Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscription.

And again - that notice was not posted when the product was listed. You can verify this by reading up the thread at the point where one of the Paizo employees clarified and stated the product description would be edited after the fact.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Draeth Darkstar wrote:

Those of us who paid the premium price for an aesthetic upgrade out of brand loyalty are currently unable to read or play the game and will apparently have to pay a further premium for the PDF, while everyone who pre-ordered the standard edition now have their free PDFs in hand.

Preordering the standard edition didn't give you access to the PDF. (I'm not disputing your opinion, I'm just clarifying).

Paizo use free PDFs to incentivise subscriptions - that's their main attraction, for many subscribers. That means they can't offer them in other situations without reducing the value of a subscription.

Again - not challenging your right to a different view, just clarifying the difference between a subscription and preorder from Paizo, since there's a lot of new people around and it is causing some confusion.

Perhaps I should further clarify - anyone who pre-ordered and also subscribed for the Core line has a free PDF now, a week before the street date. People like myself who pre-ordered the limited edition and also subscribed do not.

I get it (though not all subscriptions have been shipped yet, so not everyone who has subscribed to the regular version has the PDF).

I'm not challenging your opinion, just clarifying for new Paizo customers since it's an often misunderstood area - free PDFs pretty much never come with any preordered books, unless you're a subscriber at the time it ships.

(I'm presuming you are starting your subscription with the Alien Archive).

I'm not challenging your opinion, just clarifying for new Paizo customers since it's an often misunderstood area - free PDFs pretty much never come with any preordered books, unless you're a subscriber.

( I'm presuming you started your subscription with the Alien Archive).

I understand, and I'm sorry if I'm coming off unclear or at all hostile. I'm irritated because of the exemption of this book from the subscriber perk, not with anything that anyone in this thread has said.

And yes, I had to have my original Core book pre-order cancelled because this one was announced so much later, so my subscription is now starting with the Alien Archive.

Nah, I understand. I don't share the view, but PDFs mean nothing to me. Nothing hostile about a difference in opinion. :)

This is just such an unusual occurrence. I suspect the issue for Paizo was that they don't have any easy way of setting up a subscription with two different versions the subscriber can opt between. It'd probably be a lot of code for a feature they're unlikely to use again.

Nah, I understand. I don't share the view, but PDFs mean nothing to me. Nothing hostile about a difference in opinion. :)

This is just such an unusual occurrence. I suspect the issue for Paizo was that they don't have any easy way of setting up a subscription with two different versions the subscriber can opt between. It'd probably be a lot of code for a feature they're unlikely to use again.

Probably not worth it to automate, but I can't imagine it should have been that difficult for them to grant the PDF to people who are subscribers and also pre-ordered this book - it's a limited edition so there can't be that many people who bought it in the first place.

Perhaps, I don't know, of course. However, I suspect they'd have to go through everyone who bought it, cross check if they were also subscribed to the SFRPG and then add a PDF manually. Maybe two-three minutes of work per customer?

Although it's a limited edition, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a thousand copies. That'll correspond to a significant amount of work during their busiest month of the year.

I would honestly be horrified if they had to manually cross-reference every customer, much less grant the downloads one at a time, but I work in web development for a living and I've seen databases that poorly designed, so maybe. There's no point in speculating on this side of the digital curtain, as it were, but there certainly had to be a better solution than this.

See, I do everything with pen and paper. My imagination is severely limited when it comes to computing.

It was as short term, limited quantity item. It would of also, as many have pointed out, set a precedent that has not been the case in the past. The only things that get Free PDFs is subscribing to the line. I subscribed to the core before the Limited Edition came out and while I could have canceled I made the choice to buy the limited edition anyway because I do need the free PDF and having more than one core book is always handy. This one will hopefully wrack up some signatures at GenCon and sit on my shelf as a nice collectors item while the other will get used and abused for practical play. If you wanted something to use everyday the original core was the right choice in my opinion.

Steve Geddes wrote:

This is just such an unusual occurrence. I suspect the issue for Paizo was that they don't have any easy way of setting up a subscription with two different versions the subscriber can opt between. It'd probably be a lot of code for a feature they're unlikely to use again.

Probably not worth it to automate, but I can't imagine it should have been that difficult for them to grant the PDF to people who are subscribers and also pre-ordered this book - it's a limited edition so there can't be that many people who bought it in the first place.

We do have a way to provide subscriber benefits (such as PDFs) on certain non-subscription product preorders—for example, the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path hardcover was not part of the Adventure Path subscription, but AP subscribers who preordered it received free PDFs when their print copies shipped.

However, subscriber benefits are never applied until we ship a volume of that subscription to that subscriber. This prevents people from starting a subscription, receiving subscriber benefits, then canceling the subscription before actually paying for a single subscription item.

So providing the subscriber benefit on this product for Starfinder RPG subscribers wouldn't actually do anything: If your subscription is starting with the standard edition, you're already getting the PDF for free; if your subscription is starting with the Alien Archive, you haven't qualified for subscription benefits yet.

I edited this originally very grumpy post because Paizo staff went out of their way to fix my issues, which were entirely my fault. Paizo, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. You guys are great and I'm sorry I was grouchy. Once again you've proven to be a better company than I deserve.

So the copies of the limited edition of Starfinder that I am seeing in the photograph of the Paizo booth are GenCon pickups? Just wondering about this and maybe some kind of possibility, however vanishing, that I can my hands on a copy of this version of the book.

There are a limited amount of copies of this edition for sale at the booth. They are not Gen Con "pickups" for the purposes of how we refer to "pickups" and subscriptions/preorders. We make no guarantees about how quickly they will go.

I wish I had picked this up. I saw some of the starfinder core books and they looked pretty poor quality.

I wish I had picked this up. I saw some of the starfinder core books and they looked pretty poor quality.

It appears there were some binding problems but they were intermittent. I got two copies of the standard version and one of the limited edition ones. The only one showing any problems is the limited edition one (although I know others have had issues with the standard ones too).

I received my limited edition in the mail a few days ago and it was so beautiful I almost cried. I love it and no one else that I know has the limited edition. I am wondering though how I should treat the leather cover. does anyone recommend any type of conditioner?

Is there going to be an unlimited edition of this format?

Is there going to be an unlimited edition of this format?

Do you mean this? The "standard" version? That one is identical inside, it just has a different cover.

Or do you mean an unlimited, but still with a faux leather cover?

Paizo traditionally don't reprint special edition books like this, however there does appear to have been a widespread (even if not universal) issue with the binding - not sure if that's going to impact on "usual practise".

I did mean an unlimited edition of the faux leather cover.

A fix for the binding issue probably wouldn't be an unlimited edition (special cover).

I guess I'll be buying the standard edition.

I received my limited edition in the mail a few days ago and it was so beautiful I almost cried. I love it and no one else that I know has the limited edition. I am wondering though how I should treat the leather cover. does anyone recommend any type of conditioner?

The cover is faux (aka fake) leather, not real leather. Make sure that if you do use anything, that it is compatible with it.

I've had a number of faux leather rulebooks (from Paizo and elsewhere) and have not needed to use any conditioner on any of them -- the covers still look as great as they did when they showed up.

I did notice seperation. How do we go about repairing the binding to the spine?

I did notice seperation. How do we go about repairing the binding to the spine?

Contact Customer Service and they'll take care of you (they'll likely want you to email them pictures).

Just to be clear, the signatures are not supposed to be glued to the spine—that is, when you have the book open, you should see a little arch as in this photo. (You can read this page about this type of binding.)

Thanks, Vic. Is the standard edition also casebound? (I can't check for myself as my copies have been dispersed amongst our gaming group).

Yup. :-)

ALL of their hardcover books are casebound.

To use Vic's picture as an illustration of the problem some of us are seeing, do you see the bit of fabric that is staying with the pages? That is loose from the pages in many of the damaged books. It seems to be what stabilizes the pages.

I sent an email 4 days ago to paizo customer service email address but heard nothing back. I just sent a new email with two pictures. The cloth piece of binding is loose from the pages. I would show you a picture here but I don't know how to put one on this forum. I'm awaiting to see how they are going to take care of their loyal customers like me who dished out the extra cash for the limited edition which should be of the utmost quality of their products. We will see.

They're super swamped with emails right now.

You can always call them, or start a thread in customer service, they're generally quite helpful and super friendly. :-)

I sent an email 4 days ago to paizo customer service email address but heard nothing back. I just sent a new email with two pictures. The cloth piece of binding is loose from the pages. I would show you a picture here but I don't know how to put one on this forum. I'm awaiting to see how they are going to take care of their loyal customers like me who dished out the extra cash for the limited edition which should be of the utmost quality of their products. We will see.

Hi Agent-D20,

Sorry about the delay! We have been receiving an extremely high volume of inquiries and have been short staffed for various reasons over the last month or so, so we're trying to catch up on the backlog as quickly as we can.

It looks like one of my coworkers responded to your first email earlier today.

They're super swamped with emails right now.

You can always call them, or start a thread in customer service, they're generally quite helpful and super friendly. :-)

Sadly, we're super swamped with everything right now. Unless it is time sensitive, it's really better if people can limit the number of ways and times they contact us.

Multiple requests for the same thing over different methods ends up slowing things down for everyone.

We're trying to get to everyone as quickly as we can and appreciate everyone's patience. Thanks!

Sorry! My bad!

Just curious. Do you not get the PDF version of the Starfinder Core Rulebook with the purchase of the Limited Edition? I can't find it in my downloads at the moment.

You do not, sadly.

You only got the PDF if you subscribed with the normal version.

Questions:

1. Is the Limited Edition still receiving another printing due to the binding issue?

2. If so, will copies be made available for purchase again?

I'm asking because I was too cheap to drop the extra money to switch my preorder over, and I've regretted it ever since...

Our printer is providing us with stock for replacement copies. If we are able to confidently determine that we'll have more stock than we need, we may be able to offer up some more. That could mean "lots," "a few," or "none," and I can't currently predict when we'll be able to make the determination.

Just checking how the printings are going? Will you still be able to purchase this copy?

The replacement copies haven't arrived yet, and it will take us a while before we can confidently determine the number of copies we need for actual replacements. Or, as Magic 8-Ball would say, "Ask again later."

As per Vic Wertz's previous comment, it now appears to be later so is there any progress on knowing if these are coming up for being available again or did I miss it?

You haven't missed it—we want to give it another couple months to make sure that everybody who needs a replacement gets a replacement.

You haven't missed it—we want to give it another couple months to make sure that everybody who needs a replacement gets a replacement.

Should those of us who need replacements be hearing from you guys soon, or should we poke customer service about it?

I'm not in any particular rush and I know everyone's overwhelmingly busy. It's been kind of radio silent outside of your occasional posts on the product page, though, and I want to make sure I don't slip through the cracks.

For future reference, customer service did not follow up with me automatically and send me a replacement; I commented on my customer service thread and asked for an update, however, and I have just been shipped a replacement, apparently.

If you, future reader, have a request in with the CS team and haven't heard back you probably want to check in with them again to make sure you're not forgotten.

You haven't missed it—we want to give it another couple months to make sure that everybody who needs a replacement gets a replacement.

Naturally, the initial sale was during a boom at work, so I had no time to pay attention to gaming. Is it possible to sign up to be notified when they go back on sale? Heck, I'd be glad to preorder to ensure I get one.

We plan on sending out an email to accounts that purchased the Special Edition letting them know they should check their bindings as some of these likely have been put on the shelf without being opened since purchase. I'm waiting for updates and approvals on the initial text, we'll need to send it out, and give people some time to check their books and email us if they need replacements. We're probably looking at several months before any extras might potentially be available.

I sadly missed the special Edition.
Is there any option to get one after that long time?

Maybe one last laying around and nearly forgotten. I would also take a non mint one.

I submitted the email for the special edition "hey check your book's spines" twice but I don't believe it has actually been sent out.

I just got a replacement book for the defective first printing (Thank you Paizo!), and I noticed that in the credits it says "Second Printing September 2017". Are there any changes besides that addition compared to the first printing?

We plan on sending out an email to accounts that purchased the Special Edition letting them know they should check their bindings as some of these likely have been put on the shelf without being opened since purchase. I'm waiting for updates and approvals on the initial text, we'll need to send it out, and give people some time to check their books and email us if they need replacements. We're probably looking at several months before any extras might potentially be available.

Hi Sara

I wondered if there was any movement on this? Any chance we’ll see some limited edition versions rereleased any time soon?

I just got a replacement book for the defective first printing (Thank you Paizo!), and I noticed that in the credits it says "Second Printing September 2017". Are there any changes besides that addition compared to the first printing?

See this post and the reply from Vic Wertz two posts down