When 4e released, Playtesters were asked not to say anything. Eventually, they were allowed to tell their positive experiences with the game, and some people were outraged that they couldn’t share the negative impressions.

But even this had its reasons. The games the playtesters played were not final 4e. As such, many of the negative points would not apply to the final game.

So I hope people don’t take that as their general policy, or anything.

Fan-driven marketing works. You’ve proved it.

greywulfs last blog post..Weekend teaser: Bob Everysystem

I don’t know if Ed charged Wizards anything (I don’t think he did), but if an established marketing company had offered Hasbro to coordinate 12 websites (plus a few gaming forums and other social networking services) to hype a product before it came up, they would have charged a bundle.

This is an untapped market for RPG advertisement. Individually, we all got a free book, for which we’re very grateful! Its sum total is impressive. I remain stunned at how effective this had been for such a low cost to Wizards. (All our traffic spiked in the last 24 hours and continues to do so)

In one of the recent Edition wars post, someone said that Dungeons & Dragons was more than a game, it was also a form of Social Networking. I believe this.

This little campaign, unless I’m mistaken, is a glimpse at something bigger.

The only thing negative I’ll say about it all is how cheap RPG bloggers are willing to work for. Then again, none of us spent a whole week writing these preview articles (although some of the reviews had quite a lot of work put into them).

While it is possible that some companies aren’t like this, most companies that are willing to attempt using nonaffiliated bloggers to talk about their products are very careful to make it clear that what they want in exchange for their product is an honest review.

This is from my own limited experience as well as talking to a number of web comic artists who have received fairly nice things with the stipulation that they try them out and then talk about their experiences (Sumo springs to mind.) As well as a good friend of mine who writes a baby hacking blog and receives sample products constantly with the requirement that if she writes about them she does so honestly.

Essentially, as mentioned above, most forms of bad press is better than no press, and bad press is considerably better than getting caught encouraging false good press (and if you don’t think a company like wotc would get caught…)

(Plus usually you target people who you believe are likely to like your product. If you aren’t confident of your stuff’s quality, then maybe review copies aren’t the way to go.

Michael Phillipss last blog post..Post Valenti Post

Personally, I don’t dance any lines. If I get given something to review, I’ll review it honestly. If that pisses them off, then fuck’em. I don’t need to deal with that kind of bullshit.

WotC seems to be very good for that, too. Which is good, and means we’ll get along well in the future.

But all of us who volunteered for this PHB2 thing were pretty amped about it, anyways, so the reviews are going to be largely positive. That’s just how things turn out when you give excited fans a chance to review a product they like.

@Chatty DM
Thanks for the awesome post, I wasn’t really that interested in the warden until I read this!

and how is Nico doing?

MacGuffins last blog post..The terrible truth

@Hermit Dave:At no point did I think you were questioning my integrity. I totally got your question as you wanted it to be understood. I’m totally cool with all that. As you say, getting free stuff and then giving out an honest review is not an easy line to walk.

So it’s all good manl

In the coming days, as more posts on the PHB2 come out, I think we’ll see a wider array of thoughts on the book.

For instance, I saw that Wolfgang Baur loved the classes but hated the flavour text.

But I guess it’s already too late for that

HermitDaves last blog post..fatigued disposables

HermitDaves last blog post..fatigued disposables

I was trying to say that as well, but couldn’t word it right so left it out. Thanks for finishing my sentences!

@ChattyDM -

I’ve also been thinking hard about my next 4e character, as we’re doing a big thing for game day. My top choices are Wild Sorcerer, Avenger and Bard.

But that’s no surprise, as I always gravitate to the new and exciting stuff. I jumped on 4e with no hesitation, after all.

I’d love to play a low-level Warden, too. But, personally, it loses a lot of its charm at higher levels, as the higher-level “Form” powers just don’t inspire me. They’re good powers, but they just don’t make me go “So awesome!”

In fact, I think my favourite “Form” power so far is a level 1. The Form of the Fearsome Ram.

Thanks Graham, as usual you saved my bacon. (Put it on my tab)

Yeah, I gave the Warden a positive review because I genuinely liked it. Were I to play a D&D 4e PC (something I really do not do often), I would likely chose the Avenger, the Warden or the Cleric. So you see, 2 PHB2 classes make it into my top 3… not bad.

However, to be honest, the powers still read like it was a telephone directory… But I think it’s something we’ll have to learn to live with.

And I think that the picture is supposed to be for the warden, not the goliath.

MacGuffins last blog post..The terrible truth

@Flying Dutchman -

We aren’t privy to internal WotC decisions. We just got review copies of the book. That said, I do know it was said that the only reason that Gnomes weren’t in the PHB1 was that they weren’t ready yet. The MM1 had a later deadline. And the PHB2 version is further revised and improved from there.

The other thing that I believe the PHB2 was being designed as the PHB1 was being released, or very shortly thereafter. As such, many of the decisions about what to include were probably already made at that point.

As a point of reference, Mike Mearls just finished his work on the PHB3, which isn’t due out until… fall sometime?

So don’t get too cynical about that stuff. The production schedules don’t allow for it.

.

@Wimwick -

The Warden does not replace the ranger, by any means. Just as the 3e Ranger and Druid didn’t replace each other, despite similar flavouring, and the Warlock and Wizard don’t negate each other, the Warden does something completely different from the Ranger.

Yeah, he can lean into striker somewhat. Just like the Fighter leans into striker. But that doesn’t make the Rogue obsolete, because striker is his primary job, and he’s far better at it than the Fighter is. Same thing here.

.

@HermitDave -

We actually are not accountable to WotC at all, aside from providing reviews and not copy/pasting excerpts straight from the books.

The organiser of this event was Ed Healy, of Atomic Array and other fine sites. He was given the opportunity through WotC, but we dealt through him. When Chatty mentions being “assigned” the Warden, he is referring to the decision that the March 13th posts would focus on the classes, one class per blog. I chose Druid. Chatty was “assigned” Warden because he didn’t request anything before they were all taken. Keep an eye on the blogs linked above over the next few days, though, as more posts about other things will be going up.

As far as any “agenda” goes, if there is one we weren’t told about it. The only agenda we saw was that WotC is now seeing the viability of using bloggers to generate hype.

So, yeah, we’re part of the WotC hype machine, but only by choice. If we hated the book, or were very disappointed in it, there is nothing to stop us from saying so.

From what I know of the D&D folks, though, I think that a dishonestly positive review would be faster to ensure us a place on the “no more books” list than a critical one. Dishonestly positive reviews are discovered soon enough, and don’t look good for either the blog or the publisher.

There’s no conspiracy here, man.

Chatty, do you mind if I ask you about the accountability in these reviews? What caught my attention was your comment “I was assigned…” Obviously you have a contact that has a number of review copies and wants his friends/acquaintances to take on certain sections of the review. But what is the agenda of these reviews? Is there one? Are the people chosen for the sections of the reviews expected to provide positive reviews or never get another copy again? I am kind of playing a devil’s advocate with these questions but I cannot help but wonder how this business of D&D is driving itself.

HermitDaves last blog post..fatigued disposables