Decline Sword Coast Legends Pre-Release Thread

[TheGreatOne]

I'll bet 2000 Zimbabwean dollars that's it going to be a sequel to Dark heart of Uukrul with permadeath and interactive sex scenes

 

[nikolokolus]

I'm betting now this will be an action game. Not turn-based.

Which would just underscore how little faith Hasbro/WoTC has in their product. Instead of embracing their turn-based tabletop mechanics, post-TSR D&D has always seemed to want to run away from it's core audience; to keep trying to make D&D action-y and something it's not in their attempts to appeal to a larger audience. Which I guess I can't really fault a company wanting broad appeal and greater sales, but it makes for some pretty disappointing products.

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah it's a complete fucking shame WoTC/HASBRO just look down at turn-based gaming. It's like WTF?

Guess that tells you a lot about them then...

 

[nikolokolus]

I'm sure if Hasbro had their way they would have preferred to kill off the tabletop aspect of D&D and just turn the brand into a stupid action-figure line.

 

[JarlFrank]

Which is beyond retarded because D&D is one of the biggest pen and paper franchises around. I mean, holy shit, everyone who plays P&P has had a D&D game at least once in their lives, even those who prefer other systems, because it's just... THE system.

If I owned the IP I'd exploit the shit out of it by having tons of TB RPGs made that will easily pull the D&D fan crowd.

 

[LESS T_T]

Turn-based digital D&D is only for "smart" audience.

Spoiler

 

[Jaesun]

So they only turn based D&D games they make are for shitty phones?

 

[evdk]

I'm sure if Hasbro had their way they would have preferred to kill off the tabletop aspect of D&D and just turn the brand into a stupid action-figure line.

More like MtG: Waterdeep

Which is beyond retarded because D&D is one of the biggest pen and paper franchises around. I mean, holy shit, everyone who plays P&P has had a D&D game at least once in their lives, even those who prefer other systems, because it's just... THE system.

I think you underestimate how much have 4E, general Mearls incompetence and successful Paizo PR damaged the brand.

 

[Branm]

Yet there are tons of people that wish Hasbro would buy Games Workshop and fix the rule set. I suppose that is mostly due to how well Hasbro has done with Magic though

 

[nikolokolus]

GW's rulesets aside, I'd be happy if somebody fixed their horseshit pricing model.

 

[Branm]

GW's rulesets aside, I'd be happy if somebody fixed their horseshit pricing model.

Meh just order from recasters for a fraction of the price, id say their stuff is 99% of the quality for 25% of the cost. i honestly dont notice a difference after its painted.

But yeah I would never pay full retail for their stuff....and prices keep rising while the price of oil has fallen....capitalism at its finest

 

[evdk]

GW's rulesets aside, I'd be happy if somebody fixed their horseshit pricing model.

If you think GW's model is fucktarded and turn to Hasbro as your saviour, there is something seriously wrong with you. 40k is never gonna pull the crazy numbers that would convince Hasbro's corporate overlords to seriously invest in the brand and thus would end up like D&D, some random subsidiary for the C team MtG talent to linger in, on its way to being mothballed.

 

[Crouching Caius]

We stepped into the wild with Warframe and earned our success. Now we get to help others take those same steps.

Great, next F2P Skinnerbox incoming. Start the hamsterwheel - there are rare resources to be earned (you DO want to have a longsword +1, right?)

 

[Telengard]

The day Hasbro split MtG off from D&D is the day they announced what they really care about from the acquisition. While I don't think they're looking to close the D&D division, since it makes money, I also doubt they would care at all if it went away.

*

D&D may still be the most played RPG game, but it's in a bad place with its players in 6 different camps, most of which camps don't buy any current books, and thus are dead-enders to the suits. So, I doubt Hasbro is going to risk the expense of a computer game until and unless they get a sizable core audience into purchase of 5th and one of its worlds and can thus synergize the hell out of the computer game and the pnp books.

Since it's probably too early into the development of 5e for that to happen, the only computer games likely to come out are people buying the IP. And I'm not even sure Hasbro is ready for that. After the corporate fiasco that was 3e Open License, they've been ultra-sensitive about their IP. Signing with a newly founded company is more risk than they've shown themselves willing to take. So, I'm guessing it's going to be...Twilight the RPG. Where you can be a hardcore vampire doing hardcore vampire things, like listening to death metal and going to blood clubs.

More seriously, I'm guessing the "hardcore" means you can have negatives in your stats, instead of only just having different ranges of positives, but the game will otherwise be bog standard action-epic.

 

[nikolokolus]

GW's rulesets aside, I'd be happy if somebody fixed their horseshit pricing model.

If you think GW's model is fucktarded and turn to Hasbro as your saviour, there is something seriously wrong with you. 40k is never gonna pull the crazy numbers that would convince Hasbro's corporate overlords to seriously invest in the brand and thus would end up like D&D, some random subsidiary for the C team MtG talent to linger in, on its way to being mothballed.

You misunderstood (or I wasn't clear I guess). I certainly wouldn't count on Hasbro to "fix" GW, I just don't have a problem with their rulesets so much as I do how they run their business.

 

[evdk]

While I don't think they're looking to close the D&D division, since it makes money,

That's an interesting claim, one which I would like to see substantiated in some way. From what I have seen 4E kinda crashed and burned and 5E is not shaping up that great either. Certainly their release schedule is somewhat empty.

You misunderstood (or I wasn't clear I guess). I certainly wouldn't count on Hasbro to "fix" GW, I just don't have a problem with their rulesets so much as I do how they run their business.

Oh sorry, I just meant that as a general "you" and just used your post for some context. Not entirely clear on my part, I apologize.

 

[Telengard]

While I don't think they're looking to close the D&D division, since it makes money,

That's an interesting claim, one which I would like to see substantiated in some way. From what I have seen 4E kinda crashed and burned and 5E is not shaping up that great either. Certainly their release schedule is somewhat empty.

If you're really bored, now that MtG is split off, you can go through the financial reports and pull out the info yourself. If you're not that bored (and who would be), some time ago in the pnp section I linked to an article and series of posts on enworld where an (admittedly alleged) former vp was discussing the financials, amongst other things. (Mostly, Hasbro only talks about MtG, though, in its public statements, praising it every year as a big money earner - see Forbes.)

According to that, 4e crashed and burned in Codexian terms, but not in financial terms, going down in the same way 3.5e did, still earning money, but being less successful than the previous edition. Which is not good, in corporate terms. In sales history, 4e claimed the top of the sales charts for a while, but not anywhere near as long as it needed to, eventually losing place to Pathfinder, and finally sinking to 3rd behind an earlier edition of itself. Which is really not good.

However, in terms of domination of the market, D&D is still supreme. All those early edition sales are still sales. Plus, all WotC had to do with 5e is unite all current 2e and 4e players into one version, and it would instantly have claimed the top RPG position again, even if it completely ignored the BECMI, 3e, and Pathfinder fans with all later releases.

Still, 4e failed to do what Hasbro tasked WotC with, which was to become a big money earner. And if they faced the promised punishment for failing that, then they will have come into 5e with a much reduced staff. Which would explain the extended release period, since a smaller staff means having to concentrate resources.

 

[evdk]

This also does not help.

Upper IT leadership is lost and threatened by new ideas and talent. They make sure those people are diminished until they leave or find a way to get rid of them. It is very clicky within the organization and don't tell HR anything as they are part of the problem! I noticed that many of their job postings are under Hasbro to mislead you into thinking its a great place to work, but Wizards is NO Hasbro and you will find out soon enough

 

[nikolokolus]

I'm pretty sure WoTC just laid off a couple of editors in the D&D division a week or so ago. Not sure if that means anything, but it did seem curious.

 

[A horse of course]

Huh, Dan Tudge was on a PAX 2013 panel named "D&D Digital, Past, Present, Future" with Trent Oster from Beamdog.



Audio is a bit awful, btw.

I guess the audio is from the Enhanced Edition

 

[Jozoz]

I'm betting now this will be an action game. Not turn-based.

"Turn-based" has become a synonym for boring these days in most people's opinions. Hell I couldn't even convince my roommates to at least try out D:OS, when they saw the words "turn-based" in the Steam genre thing.

The exception to the rule are games like Civilization I suppose, but that's not really the same thing.

 

[Jaesun]

Sorry to hear your roommates are retards.

 

[Siveon]

So they only turn based D&D games they make are for shitty phones?

Tried it, you're not missing out. It's just bottom-of-the-barrel free to play timewasting trash.

It's depressing to think that one of the more recent turn-based D&D games was freakin' Dungeon and Dragons Tactics for the PSP. Which was made eight years ago.

 

[Rostere]

I don't understand why, when you have access to a franchise (D&D) which is greatly appreciated by PnP players, grognards and bearded middle-age nerds (and their intersection), that you should churn out F2P shit and not serious games. It's an open goal for guaranteed sales and they choose to just make shit - it's inexplicable. I doubt shit like Demon Stone sells better than the BG games did (or the Gold Box games, in their time). Whoever is in charge of the D&D franchise must think they are actually managing "Pokémon".

 

[nikolokolus]

I don't understand why, when you have access to a franchise (D&D) which is greatly appreciated by PnP players, grognards and bearded middle-age nerds (and their intersection), that you should churn out F2P shit and not serious games. It's an open goal for guaranteed sales and they choose to just make shit - it's inexplicable. I doubt shit like Demon Stone sells better than the BG games did (or the Gold Box games, in their time). Whoever is in charge of the D&D franchise must think they are actually managing "Pokémon".

It sort of makes me think of an interview I listened to with Bill Webb and Matt Finch awhile back (from Frog God Games, who publish Swords & Wizardry and used to be Necromancer Games). They've been able to make it as a small publisher because they realized their target demographic was a bunch of middle aged nerds with lots of disposable income and a deep sense of nostalgia for TSR era D&D. So what do they do? They focus on making signature stitched, bulletproof, hardbound RPG products that sell for $40-100 a piece and they turn a profit. If they were chasing "young money" they'd probably would have declared bankruptcy years ago.

For whatever reason, it feels like Hasbro still thinks they've acquired a toy license.