My players, staunch advocates of not ever switching from 3.5, are heading off to the FLGS for a 4th edition demo on Saturday. Without me. I have to work.
If they come back and start raving about 4th edition.....sigh....but I doubt it, they're pretty cheap bastards (except my beautiful wife, of course, who might read this post...she just hates change and she's endured the 2nd edition switchover to 3.5 4 years ago)
Double post, oops, smurf! :D
|
My thing against the Tabletop is the electronis Minis, if you want more then what they orginally offer you will have to buy them at an extra fee. As long as they keep that really cheap I am ok with that, but if they start charging like $1 for an electronic Mini I am going to get very upset.
Has there been any update about that?
Not subscribing. I've got more free 4E adventures than I'll use in the next couple of years already from the free period, and the digital tools are laughably bad--I don't plan to pay them while they're fixing them up.
Eh. The articles thus far haven't been near compelling enough for me to want to pay for them. The only real effect this will have is wiping a website from my browsing habits. (Can you tell I'm really only discussing the e-magazines?)
In a year or so, I might give it a month's go just to see what's there and possibly change my mind. Of course, in a year or so I might be playing 4e too.
I have to agree, I was really hoping the digital/virtual tools would be available by now. They are actually more appealing to me than the mags. I really like Kobold and at least so far, it supports both Paizo's Pathfinder and 3.5Xed. Maybe in a year or two I might try playing 4ed, but for now my group(s)all want to continue playing 3.5 and are willing to try Pathfinder. As for 4ed, well we will just have to see what the future brings. The magazine articles are hit and miss with me now, especially since I'm the only one from my group interested in 4th ed at all. Therefore, besides fluff and can't readily use any of the crunch. At least not until the online lobby and virtual tools are fully ready. Then I will (hopefully) be able to try a 4ed game with a new group online. Of course the key to all of this (rather redundent post) is WHEN and IF the digital/virtual tools become ready to launch and play with..... I think I can wait till then, otherwise, here is hoping that Paizo will attempt a similar feat after they launch the final version of Pathfinder.
Not subscribing.
The quality has been ok, I'm not really a digital format person. I really loved the magazines (print-style,have every issue from #60 on).
The switch to 4E pretty much lost me for now. We'll see what the future brings I guess...
|
Hmm, for 4th I am a player only. So the Monster and Encounter generators do not interest me.
I even can do without the PC generator.
the Dungeon adventures and the other stuff was, IMO, subpar so far. I am not paying money for that stuff.
Even worse, my DM might use some of the Dungeon material in his homebrew campaign. And it is damn hard not to look at adventures.
So I will not subscribe to the whole package.
But I would subscribe if I could get a Dragon + Companion package at a reasonable price. For me that would be about 3-4 USD per month.
|
I won't be subscribing until they start getting deadlines done correctly. Currently they're looking at charging close to the value of an online game. With online games however you get to play 24/7 with all your mates etc.
In the current format, you get one article (or subarticle) every three days. I'm tired of going to the website only to find it hasn't realeased an article or update to any of their sections. It took them nearly half a month to release an adventure for Dungeon mag. Now it's close to the end of a month and there's only one available out of the three promised. And now they want to charge for the privelage. <sigh>
Maybe they'll eventually get some of their interactive stuff up and running in which case I'll think about it (since its the only way I'm likely to get to play 4th ed..my players aren't interested). However, from my understanding of it, when these new features go live, the cost is going to increase. Just not worth it.
Edit: Wow, that sounded a little bit rantish. Sorry, a simple "I'm not subscribing" would probably have been sufficient.
NO paper, no buy.
NO paper, no buy.
there's always KQ Kruely.
NO paper, no buy.That bugs me too. At the very least they should put together a printed annual anthology or something.
You have two more wishes, my mortal friend. Choose wisely, lest you live forever in regret!
I won't be subscribing until they start getting deadlines done correctly. Currently they're looking at charging close to the value of an online game. With online games however you get to play 24/7 with all your mates etc.
In the current format, you get one article (or subarticle) every three days. I'm tired of going to the website only to find it hasn't realeased an article or update to any of their sections. It took them nearly half a month to release an adventure for Dungeon mag. Now it's close to the end of a month and there's only one available out of the three promised. And now they want to charge for the privelage. <sigh>
Maybe they'll eventually get some of their interactive stuff up and running in which case I'll think about it (since its the only way I'm likely to get to play 4th ed..my players aren't interested). However, from my understanding of it, when these new features go live, the cost is going to increase. Just not worth it.
Edit: Wow, that sounded a little bit rantish. Sorry, a simple "I'm not subscribing" would probably have been sufficient.
You're paying for the magazine, which is published on a monthly basis. You'd have to wait until the end of the month to read it if it were in print form, so the ability to read the articles as soon as they are finished is nothing but a nice bonus. If it makes you feel better, you can always just ignore the website until the end of the month and then read it all in one sitting.
|
|
You're paying for the magazine, which is published on a monthly basis. You'd have to wait until the end of the month to read it if it were in print form, so the ability to read the articles as soon as they are finished is nothing but a nice bonus. If it makes you feel better, you can always just ignore the website until the end of the month and then read it all in one sitting.
That's true Scott. With the paper mags I used to buy them from my local newsagency. I could browse through them and if I liked what I saw I would purchase it. I am both a DM and a palyer. So I would usually buy the Dungeon mag, but rarely did I buy the dragon mag as I didn't find most of the articles useful. Occasionally a gem would pop up and I'd get the mag.
In this format I have no selective power whatsoever. Admittedly the price of the subscription is half the cost of the print mags, but then I have to print them myself as I hate reading computer based text. And that is an annoyance to me.
I guess it is these reasons and the very performance so far in keeping to a schedule (at least my perception of it anyway) that has really stopped me.
I like the 4th edition rules and would play in a game with them if possible, but I'm not interested in most of the extra stuff they're producing so far in the online mags. Howefver, as I said above. If they eventually get the interactive table up and running and it works out well, I'd be keen to try as it may be my only shot at playing this game.
|
|
NO paper, no buy.That bugs me too. At the very least they should put together a printed annual anthology or something.You have two more wishes, my mortal friend. Choose wisely, lest you live forever in regret!
Sweet.
For my next two wishes I would like a piece of sting and a rock to wind the string around.
You're paying for the magazine, which is published on a monthly basis. You'd have to wait until the end of the month to read it if it were in print form, so the ability to read the articles as soon as they are finished is nothing but a nice bonus. If it makes you feel better, you can always just ignore the website until the end of the month and then read it all in one sitting.That's true Scott. With the paper mags I used to buy them from my local newsagency. I could browse through them and if I liked what I saw I would purchase it. I am both a DM and a palyer. So I would usually buy the Dungeon mag, but rarely did I buy the dragon mag as I didn't find most of the articles useful. Occasionally a gem would pop up and I'd get the mag.
In this format I have no selective power whatsoever. Admittedly the price of the subscription is half the cost of the print mags, but then I have to print them myself as I hate reading computer based text. And that is an annoyance to me.
I guess it is these reasons and the very performance so far in keeping to a schedule (at least my perception of it anyway) that has really stopped me.
I like the 4th edition rules and would play in a game with them if possible, but I'm not interested in most of the extra stuff they're producing so far in the online mags. Howefver, as I said above. If they eventually get the interactive table up and running and it works out well, I'd be keen to try as it may be my only shot at playing this game.
If you want to be able to get a sense for the quality of an issue before you buy it, I suggest going on the WotC forums and reading the reactions to the articles when they are released. There should be plenty of discussion about them, and it might give you a sense of whether or not you want to have access to those articles.
My players, staunch advocates of not ever switching from 3.5, are heading off to the FLGS for a 4th edition demo on Saturday. Without me. I have to work.
If they come back and start raving about 4th edition.....sigh....but I doubt it, they're pretty cheap bastards (except my beautiful wife, of course, who might read this post...she just hates change and she's endured the 2nd edition switchover to 3.5 4 years ago)
They came back and said it was "okay." They liked the simplicity of it and the reduced bookkeeping but said took just as long to play out combat as in 3.5. None of them want to switch, saying that according to their perception, 4th edition doesn't have enough advantages over 3.5 to spend all that money switching over.
I'm glad they played with a totally different DM, so as to gauge their true assessment without it being colored by any of my prejudices or preconceptions about 4th.