Bad move, WoTC. Bad move. You don't release products people purchased, for free. I wouldn't mind if 5th edition came out and you released it for free but now?
Are you going to give me $30?
Keep On the Shadowfell. Free. Why? Damn, alot of people including me spent $30 bucks on that. Now it's free.
Bad move, WoTC. Bad move. You don't release products people purchased, for free. I wouldn't mind if 5th edition came out and you released it for free but now?
Are you going to give me $30?
Now is now. Then was then. The market has changed, you can't compare now to then. You wanted KotS back then, and were willing to pay $30 for it. Great. Would you have waited a year and a half to get it for free, given that choice? No, because then you would not have had the adventure for that whole time.
Furthermore, you're complaining about something that has zero effect on your life. Think about that for a minute.
I spent 30€ and got it, too.
Bad Move? FAR from that! It's actually a pretty good move. The adventure has been out for a year, it would not have been much of a seller. With this move they provide new gamers with a free adventure that leads them from 1st to 3rd level wholesale, showing off quite a lot of good stuff.
With the tie-ins with H2 and the other adventures, they might even secure themselves a bit more sales of the other modules.
This is a supremely good move!
Are you going to demand you money back when a movie comes in television for free? Tell me, will you go on the forum of, say Universal Pictures, and demand your money back when one of their movies is viewable on television?
Look, WoTC is a company. No problem with them making sales. I just don't think they should take a physical product that was recently released (and yes, to me 1 year is recent. People who are looking to get into D&D will take a look at H1 and it will still sell.) be released for free to the public because it's something that many people spent their hard earned money on. Again, like I said, I wouldn't mind many years into the future but I'm sure that Shadowfell is still selling and will be selling well in the next few months (well, now that will change). Shadowfell WAS selling well.
The movie to TV analogy does not work. If I watch a movie at the theaters and then I see FOX show the same movie a year later on TV, I'm still paying money. See, if I don't pay the cable bills, I don't get to watch the movie again on TV. That money I'm paying to the cable company? Some of that becomes royalties to the movie company or the station to cover costs.
Shadowfell on the other hand, I can just go to my local library and download it, REALLY for free.
@ Jaxgaret
D&D has zero effect on my life and hundreds of others peoples lives. Why do we play it?
@ Jaxgaret
D&D has zero effect on my life and hundreds of others peoples lives. Why do we play it?
You don't understand either what the word "zero" or what the word "effect" means if you think playing D&D has zero effect on your life.
In fact, now, if you lose it, you get a free replacement! That's an IMPROVEMENT on the product you purchased. Not to mention the free version has updates/tweaks in it.
You're just jealous that those that waited a year don't have to pay for it. Chill. This is a hobby. It's not like this is a life or death thing. (and if it is, you've got bigger problems than spending $30 on a hobby)
Also monster manual is another 50.
Also DMG is another 50.
WOTC owes me 150 bucks, or a beta slot for 5th edition (should be ready about now).
The movie to TV analogy does not work. If I watch a movie at the theaters and then I see FOX show the same movie a year later on TV, I'm still paying money. See, if I don't pay the cable bills, I don't get to watch the movie again on TV.
Just like you can't download stuff off the net if you don't pay your ISP.
Hey you still got all those spiffy maps!
This.
You still have 3 full-color double-sided poster maps that those who only download the free copy don't get. This includes the incredibly usefully king's highway map.
Am I annoyed that they released H1 for free, on the internets?
Nope. Not one bit. I got the folder, the poster maps. And the on-line version is updated with Errata!!
You're actually complaining about something being available for free, in a different format, with updated content but without extras, a year after it was released? Congratulations on being unpleasable.
Just like you can't download stuff off the net if you don't pay your ISP.
No public libraries where you are, then?
No public libraries where you are, then?
You think the library's going to let you store it there, or print it for free?
On topic, I bought KotS when it came out and am about to run it for the first time on Saturday. So I guess I could have waited a year and saved $30. Yet I am not in the slightest bit angry. I bought it because I wanted an early peak at 4th ed rules. Which I got. Not to mention the maps everyone else pointed out. Those are great. Beats the heck out me having to hand draw terrain on my semi-erasible battlemat.
Can someone provide a link to the downloadable version? I can't find it on the site and would like the errata.
On topic, I bought KotS when it came out and am about to run it for the first time on Saturday. So I guess I could have waited a year and saved $30. Yet I am not in the slightest bit angry. I bought it because I wanted an early peak at 4th ed rules. Which I got. Not to mention the maps everyone else pointed out. Those are great. Beats the heck out me having to hand draw terrain on my semi-erasible battlemat.
Here ya go!
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/dndtestdrive
FWIW, you should note the differences between some of the encounters (the final one, for sure); not only has some errata been applied, but the actual combat encounter has been rewritten. It still uses the same map and villain, though. Choose whichever you like best.
Personally, I'd give the new version a shot; I ran the original version, and it was okay, but I wonder if the update doesn't make better use of some of the features of the battle.
You think the library's going to let you store it there, or print it for free?
I download stuff at the library all the time, and burn it to disc. And printing at home isn't "free" either.
And printing at home isn't "free" either.
Now you're getting it!
...Except now I don't recall why we were all talking about nothing being free.
Anyway, I've owned KotS since the week it came out, and I don't regret buying it at all, nor am I even the least bit upset that it's now available for free. If anything, I'm happy that there's updates for it! I suppose I really just don't understand the rage here.
I download stuff at the library all the time, and burn it to disc. And printing at home isn't "free" either.
I know that my local library doesn't yet have CD burners on the public terminals. Anything you want to get off the net you have to either print (first 5 pages are free, assuming black and white, 10 cents a page after that. I've never printed color there, so I dunno the cost) or it needs to fit on a 3.5 floppy. I haven't even noticed any easily accessible USB ports for a flash drive.
As to the TV/movie thing, I watch movies all the time on TV, and I don't have cable. I have an antenna and a digital converter box, that's it. Total monthly expense: $0.
As to the TV/movie thing, I watch movies all the time on TV, and I don't have cable. I have an antenna and a digital converter box, that's it. Total monthly expense: $0.
Close to $0, but not quite; you probably still have to pay for power, don't you? :P
Again, like I said, I wouldn't mind many years into the future but I'm sure that Shadowfell is still selling and will be selling well in the next few months (well, now that will change). Shadowfell WAS selling well.
It really isn't selling anymore. Up until a few weeks ago I worked at my FLGS. 4th ed books are selling like hotcakes. But the adventures, especially the old ones, weren't. A new adventure would always see a handful of sales, but after a month or so it would collect dust. Yes, this is only one store out of hundreds, but based on the overall strength of 4th ed sales it seems that if anyone would be selling the old adventures, we would have been.
Close to $0, but not quite; you probably still have to pay for power, don't you? :P
The apartment I'm in is "all bills paid" so nope. Unless you track it all the way back to rent. :P
The apartment I'm in is "all bills paid" so nope. Unless you track it all the way back to rent. :P
I would. :P But at this point, the cost is so diluted that it would be pretty close to impossible to figure out what miniscule percentage goes toward watching TV movies which you had paid to see in theatres.
But it's still there! ;)
It really isn't selling anymore. Up until a few weeks ago I worked at my FLGS. 4th ed books are selling like hotcakes. But the adventures, especially the old ones, weren't. A new adventure would always see a handful of sales, but after a month or so it would collect dust. Yes, this is only one store out of hundreds, but based on the overall strength of 4th ed sales it seems that if anyone would be selling the old adventures, we would have been.
That's a reasonable assessment, IMO. I love adventure products, but the problem with them (from WotC's perspective) is that only a fraction of a fraction of the player base will ever buy them. Everyone can (hypothetically) use their own copy of the Player's Handbook, Arcane Power, or the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, but only DMs buy DM stuff; in the case of adventures, only DMs who don't write their own adventures buy published ones. It's probably a very generous assessment to say that only one out of every ten players who purchases a Player's Handbook ever purchases a published adventure.
Incidentally, this fact was one (but only one) of the driving forces behind the creation of the OGL during the 3E era. WotC was hoping that by opening the doors to 3PPs, smaller companies would publish most of the adventures, while WotC could focus on publishing the higher-volume hardcover sourcebooks. (Bigger companies have a lot more overhead to pay for, of course.)
I would. :P But at this point, the cost is so diluted that it would be pretty close to impossible to figure out what miniscule percentage goes toward watching TV movies which you had paid to see in theatres.
But it's still there! ;)
We'll call it a draw? I admit the cost is there, you admit that it's effectively meaningless? After all I'm going to pay the same for my housing whether I watch those movies or not. :P