Spoiler warning: GREED
I left DND because of greed, and now I might do that with PF for the same reason
I love roleplaying games. I own dozens of books since DnD 2.0, up to DND5. I tried PF1 because I disliked DND4, and I tried PF2 and its remaster because I already liked pathfinder.
Since DnD5, WotC started doing some movements which I heavily disliked and which pushed me away from it.
- Trying to destroy their own PERPETUAL free to use license through dumb legal jargon
- Trying to destroy competing VTTs to make way for their failed VTT project
- Trying to destroy local book shops by making some deals only available directly from them.
And more. And some of the reasons I loved Paizo over WotC was how open they WERE:
- Archive of nethys
- Free access to rules
- They maintain their own system in FoundryVTT
Their excuse to get rid of Nethys literally makes no sense. "Too complicated legally"...what? "Simplify our work"...What? To me this sounds like the same dumb excuses WotC came up with for the OGL license fiasco.
They are thinking with their wallets. Some greedy exec went "People will not buy our books if they can access the rules in nethys!". And thats so much bul/nonsense.
- I have all the core books
- Couple collectors editions
- Some adventures
- Couple extension books.
- All the bestiaries in FoundryVTT (Despite having them physical)
- I just bought the humble bundle with dozens of their PDF books.
And I STILL appreciate and often use archives of nethys for some quick checks.
Archives of nethys is actually one of the reasons I am paying and buying for books, because I love how open PF was.
I just started a new table literally a few weeks ago, bringing 4 new players from DnD to PF2 Remaster, and I was encouraging them to buy the books they like and need. One of them has a kineticist, and he already bought the physical hard cover edition of Rage of Elements! He received it last week! Despite/because they saw the content in other places (including archives of nethys), they loved it, and they want it in a beautiful and long lasting physical format.
I am terribly disappointed with this move, and its certainly making me double think if I want to keep supporting/playing this game. I understand this is a business. But I dont like supporting greedy companies run by greedy execs that just want to try and suck out every penny they can from their fans.
I really hope posts like these reach the right people, to help them better understand us; the players.
You dont need to destroy beautiful content like archive of nethys to make money from us. You just need to create cool content, and provide it in cool design and with cool access.
Give us bundles where we can buy a physical book and an online/pdf version for the same price.
Make that version available to local book stores, because we like going to those places, make it a code included inside the sealed book.
If your books/content/tools are cool, and at a reasonable price, people WILL BUY THEM. Even if those same rules and elements are available somewhere else.
Show you care about your fan base, show you listen to it, show you are player first company. Reverse this decision, and prove people like me right for trusting you over WotC.
Or prove you are becoming the new WotC and push us away from Paizo to find and try other new/better systems. (My eyes are on daggerheart)
