So...
~ Are plans for these books cancelled?
~ Is the WotC Product Catalogue erroneously missing these titles?
~ Has WotC decided to not list products in their catalogue too far out in advance (which seems odd because the Class Compendium was scheduled for 2 months from now and other products in the catalogue are scheduled for release in June)? or
~ Am I blind and they're really in the Product Catalogue and I just missed it?
Thanks!
Could go both ways really.
Weaponmaster is confirmed from the book, which is supposedly set for a February release. Product Catalog is not the best source of info for releases.
Product Catalog is not the best source of info for releases.
Why does the foolish truth of this statement make me roll my eyes and think "typical WotC"?
Product Catalog is not the best source of info for releases.
Why does the foolish truth of this statement make me roll my eyes and think "typical WotC"?
Because WotC seems to be a fractured empire where one hand doesn't know what the other is doing and where they constantly contradict themselves much like the late Roman empire or the United States empire...
Frankly, I like the product catalog, and I use it when I want to look up WotC's official stance on products. But I've kinda learned not to complain about it, because I lost my expectations about it a long time ago. But if they suddenly tidied it up, and made it up-to-date and with everything in it that's supposed to be in it, out a few months ahead, I would clap my hands slowly and say, "good show."
But I'm not holding my breath for that to happen anytime soon.
I wouldn't say that WotC's a fractured empire, and breaking down or something. I think that's a bit hyperbole (and the comparison to the US is hyperbole about the US's state as well). But I would say that WotC has some areas they can improve in as a company with a strong digital part to their experience.
I work for a retail store, and see daily the mass amount of recalls issued by the hasbro amoebiod, and quiet frankly, its pathetic. Gaining WotC was their best shot at creating something limitless as long as they kept each new generation of customer.
Defects in gaming supplies, for certain things, creates some "wonderfully" expensive memorabilia. Look at baseball cards and the like. Its just what they do. To them, this is how the potato does business, and they are owned by the potato. Until he gets his plastic arse out of their affairs, WotC will always change their mind, and "push back dates"...
Don't like it, help the global nerd community and create a company to purchase WotC and restore it to its former self. Like when we had true Dungeon, and Dragon Magazines...
Product Catalog is not the best source of info for releases.
Hmmm... I thought for sure those books were listed in the Product Catalogue before, so it seems odd that they would remove them later... But I could be misremembering things. Or maybe they removed them because they didn't want to be tied to a certain release date.
But I agree with mysticbelmont..., there doesn't appear to be much worth buying next year. Oh well, more money staying in my pocket. ;)
Product Catalog is not the best source of info for releases.
Hmmm... I thought for sure those books were listed in the Product Catalogue before, so it seems odd that they would remove them later... But I could be misremembering things. Or maybe they removed them because they didn't want to be tied to a certain release date.
They were originally listed on WotC's online product catalog.
From google caches circa December 14, 2010.
"Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium"
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=...
"Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell"
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=...
My guess is that they saw a poor reception for repackaging classes from the original PHB and decided to come up with a different format for what we really want -- feats and other rules for letting a single character more readily mix and match Essentials material with other 4E material.
This is very interesting. Something has changed about the Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell -- enough that somebody thought it worthwhile to delete all references to that product from the online product catalog. Did they cancel it? Delay it? Change it to a different product once again? No idea.
The amazon.com listings for "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell" and "Mordekainen's Magnificent Emporium" are still up.
www.amazon.com/Class-Compendium-Dungeons...
www.amazon.com/Mordenkainens-Magnificent...
Though how much longer they will remain listed, remains to be seen.
This is very interesting. Something has changed about the Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell -- enough that somebody thought it worthwhile to delete all references to that product from the online product catalog. Did they cancel it? Delay it? Change it to a different product once again? No idea.
The amazon.com listings for "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell" and "Mordekainen's Magnificent Emporium" are still up.
www.amazon.com/Class-Compendium-Dungeons...
www.amazon.com/Mordenkainens-Magnificent...
Though how much longer they will remain listed, remains to be seen.
ok, not to be 'that guy' but if they are pulling next years products (maybe pulling dev team off for other project...) and is this a pssible clue in that the end is near?
could we be looking at the begining of a new edtion?
This is very interesting. Something has changed about the Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell -- enough that somebody thought it worthwhile to delete all references to that product from the online product catalog. Did they cancel it? Delay it? Change it to a different product once again? No idea.
The amazon.com listings for "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell" and "Mordekainen's Magnificent Emporium" are still up.
www.amazon.com/Class-Compendium-Dungeons...
www.amazon.com/Mordenkainens-Magnificent...
Though how much longer they will remain listed, remains to be seen.
ok, not to be 'that guy' but if they are pulling next years products (maybe pulling dev team off for other project...) and is this a pssible clue in that the end is near?
could we be looking at the begining of a new edtion?
Yeah thats the exact conclusion you should jump to. Sorry GM but that statement is full of all kinds of stupid.
The amazon.com listings for "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell" and "Mordekainen's Magnificent Emporium" are still up.
www.amazon.com/Class-Compendium-Dungeons...
www.amazon.com/Mordenkainens-Magnificent...
Though how much longer they will remain listed, remains to be seen.
Amazon isn't always the most up to date with product information. For instance, they still have the placeholder cover artwork in place for multiple books that I've written, rather than what's actually on the cover.
OR IT COULD BE A MISTAKE THAT THEY CAN'T FIX BECAUSE THE OFFICES ARE CLOSED FOR TWO WEEKS?
The amazon.com listings for "Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell" and "Mordekainen's Magnificent Emporium" are still up.
www.amazon.com/Class-Compendium-Dungeons...
www.amazon.com/Mordenkainens-Magnificent...
Though how much longer they will remain listed, remains to be seen.
Amazon isn't always the most up to date with product information. For instance, they still have the placeholder cover artwork in place for multiple books that I've written, rather than what's actually on the cover.
What have you written?
There are multiple valid explanations for why those books are missing from the Product Catalogue. I just got suspicious since I discovered their omission at the same time that I discovered that the "races" series (Human Handbook) had been quietly taken out back and shot. With Essentials and the new online CB and all the other changes, I'm not really sure what to expect anymore out of WotC... I was just wondering if anyone had heard anything about their cancellation or any other news about these products.
I was looking forward to a human handbook.
Did the dragonborn and tiefling books not do well?
What have you written?
index.rpg.net/display-search.phtml?key=c...
Off the top of my head that's more or less up to date for stuff that has been sent to print already, though it omits stuff I had in the Pathfinder Legacy of Fire AP 'End of Eternity', and I worked on the Pathfinder Faction Guide as well. A few projects still in the pipeline aren't yet on there either.
I was looking forward to a human handbook.
Did the dragonborn and tiefling books not do well?
Everyone I know who bought them liked them.
That being said; WotC claims they failed because retailers didn't like their lack of displayability. Narrow, magazine sized books, instead of hard bound.
What they should have done was merge 3 ~ 4 of the races into one hard bound a year.
Instead they kill the project?
If at first you don't succed, stop! Their is no point in trying to find a solution to a problem.
That's ok, I've seen Wal-mart take products off the shelves because they were too successful... Something about it costs to much to pay the workers to restock the shelves several times a day or something...
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
What they should have done was merge 3 ~ 4 of the races into one hard bound a year.
They tried that in 3ed. Races of the Wild, Races of Stone, Races of Destiny, Races of Eberron, Races of the Dragon. Each book hinged on one superstar race (Elf, Dwarf, Human, Warforged, Kobold) and filled it out with new/less-loved races. Check up some reviews on RPG.net and you can see there was a lot of complaining, mostly to the tune of "I only want Elves, why do I have buy Halflings?".
I think this series would be a healthy addition to DDI, where it started.
OR IT COULD BE A MISTAKE THAT THEY CAN'T FIX BECAUSE THE OFFICES ARE CLOSED FOR TWO WEEKS?
You are making way too much sense. Where is the paranoia? Haven't you learned anything from these forums?
Completely off-topic, but in recent months the paranoia has turned out to have been correct in most cases. The paranoia about killing the off-line CB was correct. The paranoia about killing old 4e style in favour of Essentials style was correct.
If I sit by an old person's bedside and predict her death for 30 years, I'll eventually be right.
These changes to the product catalogue may indeed be correct, and there is some major austerity program WotC is going ahead with. I don't think it's the likeliest possibility, but it is not impossible.
Perhaps the market has shifted too far away from tabletop RPGs for a big name company to be profitable with. Perhaps Boxed Sets (which were money losers for TSR) are still money losers. What I don't think is the problem is that Essentials failed in its purpose.
I'm reading a lot of threads and blogs of people receiving Red Box or DM's kit for Christmas who haven't played in a while/ever. The Essentials books are a great talking point to direct new players to. And established players are getting new feats and class options. It's not much different than us receiving Martial Power 2 or PHB3: use what you like and reject the rest.
Distinct from this, I feel all equipment, whether magical items or mundane gear, should go into separate 'Emporium Of' books, even if the equipment is specific to a class or race.
For Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, we have an interesting pattern:
1) Product was previewed in Dragon article in early November.
2) Said preview was included in compiled final issue at end of November.
3) Corresponding article in early December does not say anything about this book.
4) Just before Christmas, this book is among the products deleted from the product catalog.
I am guessing that the product is defunct, at least as something to be published under that title in February. I hope we find out soon when and how we will be getting some of the critical information promised for that book.
From looking around at other D&D related message boards, I found mentions of several products that so far have not been mentioned officially by Wizards (such as the Advanced Player's Guide and Heroes of the Feywild). Given that additional information and the product catalog changes between summer 2009 and January 2010, I think what we are looking at is a major shake-up in the 2011 product schedule. All we know now is which products were deleted -- we will have to wait until January to find out which products were added.
For Class Compendium: Heroes of Sword and Spell, we have an interesting pattern:
1) Product was previewed in Dragon article in early November.
2) Said preview was included in compiled final issue at end of November.
3) Corresponding article in early December does not say anything about this book.
4) Just before Christmas, this book is among the products deleted from the product catalog.
I am guessing that the product is defunct, at least as something to be published under that title in February. I hope we find out soon when and how we will be getting some of the critical information promised for that book.
I wonder if they decided to can Heroes of Sword and Spell because of poor player reactions. I mean, the preview did just have a regular ol' PHB Fighter dressed up to look like an Essentials character (with no actual changes or additions).
I'd be really surprised if they decided to get rid of the magic item book though.
I wonder if they decided to can Heroes of Sword and Spell because of poor player reactions.
If WotC axed every product that got bad player reactions, they would axe every product they make.
And Class Compendium is not the biggest cash grab for 4ed. That prize goes to the Player's Strategy Guide.
I wonder if they decided to can Heroes of Sword and Spell because of poor player reactions.
If WotC axed every product that got bad player reactions, they would axe every product they make.
And Class Compendium is not the biggest cash grab for 4ed. That prize goes to the Player's Strategy Guide.
You're probably right that cancelling EVERY product is a bad idea, but I think the HoS and the HoSaS have some of the worst reactions I've ever seen. And that's just the vocal ones here on the boards. Perhaps Essentials didn't do as well as everyone seems to be speculating.
Or maybe the catalog glitched. Suppose it could be that simple too.
rip essentials hybrids
Perhaps we will get those rules in an up and coming article?
I wonder if they decided to can Heroes of Sword and Spell because of poor player reactions.
If WotC axed every product that got bad player reactions, they would axe every product they make.
And Class Compendium is not the biggest cash grab for 4ed. That prize goes to the Player's Strategy Guide.
You're probably right that cancelling EVERY product is a bad idea, but I think the HoS and the HoSaS have some of the worst reactions I've ever seen.
I've seen worse for the Essentials. And the Forgotten Realms campaign books. And the 4ed Core books in 2008.
Neverwinter also appears to be off the list.
Where did you notice this?
The amazon.com listing for the "Neverwinter Campaign Setting" is still there.
www.amazon.com/Neverwinter-Campaign-Sett...
Neverwinter also appears to be off the list.
Where did you notice this?
The amazon.com listing for the "Neverwinter Campaign Setting" is still there.
www.amazon.com/Neverwinter-Campaign-Sett...
The product catalogue only extends through June.
I'm disappointed to see even more Q1-11 releases disappear however. Gazetter was something I was ready to pre-order out of the gate and Mordenkainen's Emporium seemed like the perfect opportunity for the designers to outline exactly how they wanted to treat magic items across the board.
At this rate I might just have to be satisfied with what I have.
I'd be really surprised if they decided to get rid of the magic item book though.
I wouldn't. They said the items in this book were mostly going to be rare, which going by the magic item rarity rules would mean this book is really targeted at DMs and not players. But why would a DM buy this book? The Adventurer's Vault books were popular because players bought them looking for the perfect item for each equipment slot on their character that would give them that much more of an edge over the monsters. But DMs are not going to spend the effort to comb through the books for just the right item to make a character feel like a god. If they wanted them to feel that powerful, it would be much simpler to just make all the enemies pushovers. If the DM just wants a cool sword to give the party, ANY cool sword will do, and there are already dozens of those.
I'd be really surprised if they decided to get rid of the magic item book though.
I wouldn't. They said the items in this book were mostly going to be rare, which going by the magic item rarity rules would mean this book is really targeted at DMs and not players. But why would a DM buy this book? The Adventurer's Vault books were popular because players bought them looking for the perfect item for each equipment slot on their character that would give them that much more of an edge over the monsters. But DMs are not going to spend the effort to comb through the books for just the right item to make a character feel like a god. If they wanted them to feel that powerful, it would be much simpler to just make all the enemies pushovers. If the DM just wants a cool sword to give the party, ANY cool sword will do, and there are already dozens of those.
It seems weird for them to implement a new magic item system with item rarity and then essentially abandon the system by not providing any content to support it. They either need to provide new content or they need to carefully classify and/or errata the old content to fit in with the new magic item system. I got the impression that fixing the old content to match the new system wasn't something WotC was particularly interested in doing (after all, fixing old stuff doesn't create new revenue).
I do understand what you're saying about an audience/marketing perspective. But I hope you're not right. Maybe players would want to buy the book to find cool rare items to suggest to their DMs? Or people might buy it to design their theoretical uber-character that never actually gets played in a real campaign? I don't know, some people like that sort of thing.
The new magic item system isn't really a big deal in a home campaign (the DM can make whatever adjustments he wants to make it work for his campaign and his players), but it can really wreak havoc on public campaigns like LFR. Well, I suppose I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that the book isn't actually cancelled.
Is there anything, except for heroes of shadows, coming out in 2011 that hasn't been cancelled?
I understand you are being a little sarcastic, but...
There is the set of Dungeon Tiles coming out this month (the only RPG product for the month of January... stellar). Then there is a Gamma World accessory, some cards for D&D (bet Cyber-Dave will love that one :P), a board game (trying to capitalize on the Ravenloft game), and the Deluxe DM's Screen (to replace the one they already released) for February. Then there is Heroes of Shadow for March. Then we have nothing for the month of April(have we had a dead month for this edition before?). Then there is the Shadowfell boxed set in May. Then we have another set of Dungeon Tiles and a monster boxed set in June.
So nine products for the first half of 2011. We had 19 (albeit there were a couple sets of Power cards) in 2010 for the same amount of time. There were 22 for 2009 (many of which were Power Cards though). Take that for what you will.
Not a good sign, regardless.
the Threats of the Nentier Vale will not be a boxed set according to the most recent podcast. it will be a shrink-wrapped package and it will detail factions of the vale. I am still looking forward to this.
So they are cost cutting by releasing the same dang thing without the box. But thanks for the update, I was unaware they had said this.
Is there anything, except for heroes of shadows, coming out in 2011 that hasn't been cancelled?
I understand you are being a little sarcastic, but...
There is the set of Dungeon Tiles coming out this month (the only RPG product for the month of January... stellar). Then there is a Gamma World accessory, some cards for D&D (bet Cyber-Dave will love that one :P), a board game (trying to capitalize on the Ravenloft game), and the Deluxe DM's Screen (to replace the one they already released) for February. Then there is Heroes of Shadow for March. Then we have nothing for the month of April(have we had a dead month for this edition before?). Then there is the Shadowfell boxed set in May. Then we have another set of Dungeon Tiles and a monster boxed set in June.
So nine products for the first half of 2011. We had 19 (albeit there were a couple sets of Power cards) in 2010 for the same amount of time. There were 22 for 2009 (many of which were Power Cards though). Take that for what you will.
Not a good sign, regardless.
Of these, I count as proper D&D products only Heroes of Shadow, Shadowfell, and the monster boxed set. The others are not directly related to the rpg or are just auxiliary accessories. Not a good sign indeed. I think it is also telling that there is no "January and beyond" article up. There's really not much to show.