Wait, the Dark Sun campaign guide is only the size of Open Grave? Weak.
Chopping page count is not good, and using the "economy blues" as an excuse is garbage. That same excuse works on my side in that I want more bang for my thinly stretched dollar not less.
As for the Dark Sun campaign book having fewer pages than the earlier FR and Eberron ones, there are far fewer areas to describe in Dark Sun compared to the other two campaigns. In exchange, we're getting a book with significantly more unique monsters than either of the prior campaign guides provided.
Each book size also comes in at a different price point, so it's not like you're getting fewer pages at the same cost.
The Dark Sun campaign book is $40, same as the others. As to it describing a smaller world...that's a lame excuse. Each of the City states, the valley of dust and fire, slave villages...plenty to fill up 288 pages for $40.
"slightly fewer" = fewer. No matter how you cut it. As to books belonging to a certain "series" so they should have less pages...really do I have to explain how that makes no sense? A book by the same publisher with the same pages = same cost. The books you mentioned came out after Open Grave, except Manual of the planes which came out a month before (as a test of the market maybe?).
Either way none of the above holds water.
Open Grave has exactly the same pages as Draconomicon 2, both of which have slightly fewer pages than Draconomicon 1, all of which are creature ecology books. So each of those books have the "traditional" page counts for their lines.
Draconomicon 1: 255 pages for $40,
Open Grave: 223 pages for $30,
Draconomicon 2: 223 pages for $40,
same pages but $10 cheaper, so I'm not sure what you are comparing.
the others to compare:
Plane Below: 160 pages for $30
Manual of the Planes: 160 pages for $30.
cheers,
Meshon
Why do people post things asking WOTC questions about their business decisions? Do they seriously expect them to answer? And why are they invariably hostile while doing so?
Why do customers accept when companies try to stick it to them without any explanation?Obviously I do expect an answer or at least I would like it to be known that someone out here would like an explanation.
I would just like to know why the page counts are dropping but the prices are staying the same and why their bottom dollar is more important than ours as customers. Where do you get hostility from? Neither of my posts were what I would consider "hostile". Asking a company a question about their business practices and for an explanation of why they should get my hard earned dollars is far from "hostile".
@meshon: you might be right, that would explain alot. As is though, it looks like a way to stretch profits to make the division look good for your corporate masters.
Send them an email?
Nope, write a letter. Hand written letters more attention I heard some where.
Why do people post things asking WOTC questions about their business decisions? Do they seriously expect them to answer? And why are they invariably hostile while doing so?
Why do customers accept when companies try to stick it to them without any explanation?Obviously I do expect an answer or at least I would like it to be known that someone out here would like an explanation.
I would just like to know why the page counts are dropping but the prices are staying the same and why their bottom dollar is more important than ours as customers. Where do you get hostility from? Neither of my posts were what I would consider "hostile". Asking a company a question about their business practices and for an explanation of why they should get my hard earned dollars is far from "hostile".
@meshon: you might be right, that would explain alot. As is though, it looks like a way to stretch profits to make the division look good for your corporate masters.
Words like "garbage" are hostile. WotC doesn't like it when you use hostile language. Neither do other members of the community. It's alright to question WotC, but please try to do it in a strident manner.
That said, WotC run various book lines as mentioned.
Manual of the Planes
The Plane Below
Underdark
The Plane Above
are all part of one line of books
Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons
Open Grave
Draconomicon: Metallic Dragons
are another. I don't know why they raised the price of back for Draconomicon 2, but it's likely that Open Grave wasn't a big a seller as the Draconomicon books are, so they lowered the price for that one to attract more buyers. Page count is not the only thing that interests buyers; how popular the material is extremely important. It's likely that $30 dollars was the balancing point for that particular book, as opposed to the Draconomicons.
Whatever you're smokin' send some my way. And the product catalog is off.
The Dark Sun campaign book is $40, same as the others. As to it describing a smaller world...that's a lame excuse. Each of the City states, the valley of dust and fire, slave villages...plenty to fill up 288 pages for $40.
I could point out that you're aboslutely wrong, and that the only way to make the vastly smaller Dark Sun territory equal that of FR or Eberron for page count text would be to add extraneous info like what got people irritated about the 3.5 area books as padding. Or I could point out the fact taht a lot of the geographical info in the PGs for FR and Eberron are nearly direct repeats of the info in the CGs, thus being completely redundant.
But why let logic ruin a baseless rant?
Whatever you're smokin' send some my way. And the product catalog is off.
The Dark Sun campaign book is $40, same as the others. As to it describing a smaller world...that's a lame excuse. Each of the City states, the valley of dust and fire, slave villages...plenty to fill up 288 pages for $40.
I could point out that you're aboslutely wrong, and that the only way to make the vastly smaller Dark Sun territory equal that of FR or Eberron for page count text would be to add extraneous info like what got people irritated about the 3.5 area books as padding. Or I could point out the fact taht a lot of the geographical info in the PGs for FR and Eberron are nearly direct repeats of the info in the CGs, thus being completely redundant.
But why let logic ruin a baseless rant?
I don't think it is a totally baseless rant. Wouldn't making the book justifiably smaller make a lot more sense if they made the price justifiably smaller too? Otherwise they are kinda ripping you off. They did it with Draconomicon 2 as well, and I bought it anyway, I guess they must be banking on that fact with the Dark Sun Campaign Setting as well.
Companies make money by finding the balance between how much product costs to make, and how much consumers are willing to pay for the product. You're only being ripped off if you percieve you're being ripped off, hence others disagreeing with you.
WotC could start charging fifty dollars a book and it would not be ripping people off unless the majority felt the price was too high and didn't buy the product.
Price and worth are relative anyway
This essentially. The bottom line is that the book is worth what you're willing to pay for it. If you think it's not worth the cost then don't buy it or buy it second hand. Griping about price is just that: griping.
I could point out that you're aboslutely wrong, and that the only way to make the vastly smaller Dark Sun territory equal that of FR or Eberron for page count text would be to add extraneous info like what got people irritated about the 3.5 area books as padding.
I disagree with this "logic". But if you are happy with 160 page books for $30 (or smaller than previous campaign books for $40) then it's going to be tough to change your mind. I certainly don't care enough to attempt to. I do, on the other hand, think that without Amazon, the price per page issue would be much larger than it currently is.
Words like "garbage" are hostile. WotC doesn't like it when you use hostile. Neither do other members of the community.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Oops, that might have been considered hostile to someone in the world, I might have to retract that. Wait, now that might have been considered hostile too, damn... just digging myself deeper.
I could point out that you're aboslutely wrong, and that the only way to make the vastly smaller Dark Sun territory equal that of FR or Eberron for page count text would be to add extraneous info like what got people irritated about the 3.5 area books as padding.
I disagree with this "logic". But if you are happy with 160 page books for $30 (or smaller than previous campaign books for $40) then it's going to be tough to change your mind. I certainly don't care enough to attempt to. I do, on the other hand, think that without Amazon, the price per page issue would be much larger than it currently is.Words like "garbage" are hostile. WotC doesn't like it when you use hostile. Neither do other members of the community.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Oops, that might have been considered hostile to someone in the world, I might have to retract that. Wait, now that might have been considered hostile too, damn... just digging myself deeper.
That's not funny. That's just rude, murph. Please refrain from this any further.
"slightly fewer" = fewer. No matter how you cut it. As to books belonging to a certain "series" so they should have less pages...really do I have to explain how that makes no sense? A book by the same publisher with the same pages = same cost. The books you mentioned came out after Open Grave, except Manual of the planes which came out a month before (as a test of the market maybe?).
I would respectfully disagree with the bold part of your statement. You might expect the same price for books of similar page counts, but the costs of each print run are almost always different. There are many different variables when it comes to printing books. Paper stock, the amount of colour, whether it's hardbound or softbound, the binding, shipping, warehousing, and then there's the cost of developing the product. And then there's the agreements with the printing companies themselves. You could put the same amount of effort into the same amount of pages for two different products, and have them come out with totally different prices... all depending on when and where you had them printed, shipped from, and stored.
Wizards is a company like any other, and in order to remain viable, they need to bring in a profit. If a product costs them more to make, why shouldn't they charge a higher price? Conversely, you would hope that they would charge a lower price for products that cost them less to make.
There's always Amazon, after all. Or if you're lucky, you currently live in Canada. With our dollar so close to the US dollar, my FLGS store charges the US price on the back cover. Which is usually ten dollars less than the Canadian price on the back cover.
I could point out that you're aboslutely wrong, and that the only way to make the vastly smaller Dark Sun territory equal that of FR or Eberron for page count text would be to add extraneous info like what got people irritated about the 3.5 area books as padding.
I disagree with this "logic". But if you are happy with 160 page books for $30 (or smaller than previous campaign books for $40) then it's going to be tough to change your mind. I certainly don't care enough to attempt to. I do, on the other hand, think that without Amazon, the price per page issue would be much larger than it currently is.Words like "garbage" are hostile. WotC doesn't like it when you use hostile. Neither do other members of the community.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Oops, that might have been considered hostile to someone in the world, I might have to retract that. Wait, now that might have been considered hostile too, damn... just digging myself deeper.
That's not funny. That's just rude, murph. Please refrain from this any further.
I disagree that I was being "rude" to you. You can't make everyone happy all the time. I'll post within the terms of the boards which I fully think that I did. Thanks for your concern though.
I would respectfully disagree with the bold part of your statement. You might expect the same price for books of similar page counts, but the costs of each print run are almost always different. There are many different variables when it comes to printing books. Paper stock, the amount of colour, whether it's hardbound or softbound, the binding, shipping, warehousing, and then there's the cost of developing the product. And then there's the agreements with the printing companies themselves. You could put the same amount of effort into the same amount of pages for two different products, and have them come out with totally different prices... all depending on when and where you had them printed, shipped from, and stored.
Good points. I suppose I was thinking that since the artists and the formats (hardback) seem the same that the costs to produce them would be roughly similar. I don't know the inner workings. Perhaps WOTC will enlighten us (/begins holding breath).
I just wonder where the line is. Is it 100 pages for $40? Are they testing the waters with the "races" books? Is 160 pages for $30 the new standard (it seems so)?
Good points. I suppose I was thinking that since the artists and the formats (hardback) seem the same that the costs to produce them would be roughly similar. I don't know the inner workings. Perhaps WOTC will enlighten us (/begins holding breath).
I just wonder where the line is. Is it 100 pages for $40? Are they testing the waters with the "races" books? Is 160 pages for $30 the new standard (it seems so)?
I don't think that WotC will come out with a detailed costs spreadsheet. That's highly confidential, and I don't think they (or any other company for that matter) would want outsiders knowing their inner workings.
However, you can compare some WotC and WW books and get a glimpse of the turnover points. I'm using Amazon for the pricing, but not their discount pricing.
The PHB is 320 pages, and retails for 35 bucks. The PHB2 and PHB3 are 224 pages and are the same price as the PHB. WW's latest WoD gamebook, Geist the Sineaters, retails for 35 bucks, and is 320 pages.
The four Powers books are 160 pages each and retail for 30 bucks. WW's latest Mage the Awakening book, Night Horrors the Unbidden, is 160 pages, and retails for 28 bucks, which is essentially 30. The Geist "Book of the Dead" is 192 pages, and retails for 30 bucks.
I am making a guess here, but I think if you look up a range of new/recent roleplaying books from various companies, the prices will fall along these lines:
< 50 pages - 10 bucks or so
51 - 150 - 20 bucks or so
151 - 200 - 30 bucks or so
201 - 350 - 40 bucks or so
351+ - 50 bucks and up.
This doesn't take into account indie publishers. I'm talking just the big and middling companies here.
I just wanted to note for the sake of this discussion that the Gamma World book (an entire rule book...) is 160 pages.
I'm just not content with 160 pages. The last few books have left me feeling something was missing in each.
I'm still chewing on your last post pb.
I just wanted to note for the sake of this discussion that the Gamma World book (an entire rule book...) is 160 pages.
I'm just not content with 160 pages. The last few books have left me feeling something was missing in each.
Ah well, to each their own. I'm just pointing out that their pricing seems to be fairly standard. As to whether the books are a good value for your money, that's different for everyone.
And Gamma World is a boxed set, you get more than the rulebook, there are cards and cardboard character cutouts and so forth. Can't compare it to just a book.
Also, I just bought the Underdark book last week. I haven't gotten through it all yet, but so far I'm extremely pleased by the content. When I first saw the book in the store I second guessed my decision for about 2 seconds because of how thin it was, but I figured with the positive reviews it was getting (and the fact that I wanted to use if for the campaign I'm DMing) it would probably be worth the price. And it absolutely is in my opinion.
Personally, if a book presents good material in a concise manner (but still gets all of the information across), I'm going to consider it of higher value than a book that drones on and on with repetitive filler. I'm sure they could have described a dozen other Underdark locations in that book, but they would likely either break theme or become repetitive, and at that point it's a waste of my time to read about them. Conversely, they could have gone on for 3 pages about the Hunting Grounds or 8 pages about Forgehome, but the detail wasn't necessary. I got what I needed from the existing page count, and if they'd started talking about different shop owners in Forgehome and what they sell, with roleplaying hooks for each of them, etc. my eyes would have glossed over. I can slap a generic Dwarven name on an NPC and improvise a rudimentary personality, and besides the only things I need to know about what goods are available are the things that the party specifically shops for. Everything else is extra crap floating around in my head that I'll never use in-game. Underdark largely avoids that and for that reason I'm glad that it has a slim page count.
Anyways, that's just my two coppers.
With card packs, ugh. I hope that isn't a trend.
I do wonder if how the decision to go hardback has affected the prices (I enjoy the hardbacks, but I would take softback if it reduced the price, same goes for pdf versions).
You make a good argument with the industry standards pdb. The PHB 1 price is probably due to the amount they anticipated selling (as the one book that most players and DM's alike were going to buy).
The PHB is 320 pages, and retails for 35 bucks. The PHB2 and PHB3 are 224 pages and are the same price as the PHB. WW's latest WoD gamebook, Geist the Sineaters, retails for 35 bucks, and is 320 pages.
The four Powers books are 160 pages each and retail for 30 bucks. WW's latest Mage the Awakening book, Night Horrors the Unbidden, is 160 pages, and retails for 28 bucks, which is essentially 30. The Geist "Book of the Dead" is 192 pages, and retails for 30 bucks.
These seem a bit all over the place. 320 pages for $35 seems like a big difference to me than 224 for $35. The one thing that is essentially the same is the 160 page count books. Like I said the trend is seeming to head to 160 pages for $30. Not bad when you take into account the Amazon price. Again, without Amazon I wonder how many people would have a problem with it.
It all comes down to what consumers will be willing to pay. Ultimately, if you feel that you're being ripped off, then don't buy the book. If enough people do the same, then WotC will start losing profit, and will have to lower their prices to entice more people to buy the books. Of course this is all hypothetical. Based on what I hear on this and other forums, people are still buying the books even despite the fact that D&Di is cheaper, and gives you everything. Heck, I consider the $10 I spent on D&Di (and the $10 I'll spend again in a few months when there's enough new crunch) to be a bargain price for the crunch that I wouldn't have normally purchased (like Divine Power, and likely the PHB3 because I simply don't like Psionics enough to buy the book). I still bought PHB2, Arcane Power, and Primal Power though. Even for pure crunch that I use often enough, I like to have a physical book at the table.
Also, I just bought the Underdark book last week. I haven't gotten through it all yet, but so far I'm extremely pleased by the content. When I first saw the book in the store I second guessed my decision for about 2 seconds because of how thin it was, but I figured with the positive reviews it was getting (and the fact that I wanted to use if for the campaign I'm DMing) it would probably be worth the price. And it absolutely is in my opinion.
Personally, if a book presents good material in a concise manner (but still gets all of the information across), I'm going to consider it of higher value than a book that drones on and on with repetitive filler. I'm sure they could have described a dozen other Underdark locations in that book, but they would likely either break theme or become repetitive, and at that point it's a waste of my time to read about them. Conversely, they could have gone on for 3 pages about the Hunting Grounds or 8 pages about Forgehome, but the detail wasn't necessary. I got what I needed from the existing page count, and if they'd started talking about different shop owners in Forgehome and what they sell, with roleplaying hooks for each of them, etc. my eyes would have glossed over. I can slap a generic Dwarven name on an NPC and improvise a rudimentary personality, and besides the only things I need to know about what goods are available are the things that the party specifically shops for. Everything else is extra crap floating around in my head that I'll never use in-game. Underdark largely avoids that and for that reason I'm glad that it has a slim page count.
Anyways, that's just my two coppers.
Underdark is a good book, but if it had 224 pages like Open Grave, filled with content of the same standard as the rest of the book, it would have been a great book. If it had droned on, as you say, it would have lessened the appeal for sure.
It's too bad Heinsoo is no longer with the company.
Your pet peeves really aren't any of my concern.
These seem a bit all over the place. 320 pages for $35 seems like a big difference to me than 224 for $35. The one thing that is essentially the same is the 160 page count books. Like I said the trend is seeming to head to 160 pages for $30. Not bad when you take into account the Amazon price. Again, without Amazon I wonder how many people would have a problem with it.
I think it's just a page range. Break a specific threshold and they bump the price up.
As for Amazon, when you think about it, 30 bucks isn't that bad. A book is something that should continue to give value for its entire life, assuming you found its contents useful to you. Compared to any other entertainment media, books are the biggest bang for buck going, simply due to their longevity.
I mean, sure, 15 years ago that 160 page book was probably 15 bucks or so, there abouts. But it was also softcover with a glue spine.
Your pet peeves really aren't any of my concern.
Way to win friends and influence people, dude.
I wonder if it's worth noting that people could easily have responded to your original post in exactly the same way? Hmm...
If someone posts while I'm typing something I'm not really going to go back and edit with the format you are looking for Mar.
Your pet peeves really aren't any of my concern.
Avoiding double posting doesn't really fall under pet peeve, that is more along the lines of standard netiquette. Or at least that's what I was always seen taught on every forum that I've ever been on. *shrugs*
It isn't necessarily double posting on pupose. My son wanders in the room often so editing and making sure that I haven't posted twice in a row is low on my lists of concerns.
And @bugley I don't come to online discussion forums to "make friends". I usually discuss topics that interest me with random people that share that interest in some fashion. To each their own I guess.
I wonder if it's worth noting that people could easily have responded to your original post in exactly the same way? Hmm...
I think a couple did, maybe not in so many words or in that exact phrase. Where's the netiquette police?!!!
I'm not completely opposed to working on whatever's missing, as I like to tinker. But with what little time I have to work on D&D, I'll have to sacrifice one or more projects in order to pick up a new one. (darksun expansion) So when DS comes out, I'll be forced to drop my eberron projects for a few years, or I won't have time to work on darksun.
Still, even with the disappointing information I'v read, I'm as happy as a thrikreen at an all you can eat elven buffet.
Out of all the books, the drop in pages hitting Dark Sun bugs me the most. My favorite setting and what dragged me into 4e. We'll see. The campaign setting and the monster book might be as well done as the Underdark book.
I think a couple did, maybe not in so many words or in that exact phrase. Where's the netiquette police?!!!
All I meant was: This is a discussion board, and good behavior facilitates discussion, while bad behavior impedes it. You're free to do whatever you like, just as I am free to draw conclusions about your motivation.
I think a couple did, maybe not in so many words or in that exact phrase. Where's the netiquette police?!!!
All I meant was: This is a discussion board, and good behavior facilitates discussion, while bad behavior impedes it. You're free to do whatever you like, just as I am free to draw conclusions about your motivation.
Right, fine, whatever. I'm not the one telling you how you should act. I've wasted too much time in this thread answering internet watchdogs. There are moderators on these boards and an ignore option, I suggest you use one or both of them. Like I said, I neither believe that I was being hostile or behaving "badly" towards anyone in this thread. I made a sarcastic remark to someone who deemed to lecture me. Hardly a hostile or bad act in my books. You'll notice I've tried to remain on the topic of the thread, where those who wish to argue netiquette have not.
Good discussion usually revolves around "discussing" things rather than lecturing others.
I think a couple did, maybe not in so many words or in that exact phrase. Where's the netiquette police?!!!
All I meant was: This is a discussion board, and good behavior facilitates discussion, while bad behavior impedes it. You're free to do whatever you like, just as I am free to draw conclusions about your motivation.
Right, fine, whatever. I'm not the one telling you how you should act. I've wasted too much time in this thread answering internet watchdogs. There are moderators on these boards and an ignore option, I suggest you use one or both of them. Like I said, I neither believe that I was being hostile or behaving "badly" towards anyone in this thread. I made a sarcastic remark to someone who deemed to lecture me. Hardly a hostile or bad act in my books. You'll notice I've tried to remain on the topic of the thread, where those who wish to argue netiquette have not.
Good discussion usually revolves around "discussing" things rather than lecturing others.
Have just read this thread from start to finish and have to agree with bugleyman and others that you need to calm down with the way you address others here. Promoting a discussion does not include labelling others or lashing out at those who don't agree with you. Not wishing to lecture on "netiquette" since this is honestly the first time I have seen the word used
but seriously, you need to re-read your posts before submitting dude.Getting back to your topic, the reason I read this whole thread was because you have highlighted an issue that has bothered me for a little while and one that I wanted to discuss here. Page counts have been dropping and whilst I am not concerned about WotC ripping me off, I am concerned that this is a move to a smaller scale (ie. cheaper) business model. Frankly, I don't expect the company to be looking after my money, I expect them to be looking after their own or they wouldn't be able to keep producing the books I buy every month. I had though, forgotten until this month, how truly small a 32 page supplement is and when I got the dragonborn book, it reminded me why I rarely bought them for previous editions. I feel like I am getting less for my money - plus I like nice chunky hardbacks on my bookshelves
. As I have posted elsewhere, I am concerned about the shift in content from the original model for 4E. We had been expecting a Campaign Guide, a Player's Guide and an adventure each year and as you have said above, this has been changed for Dark Sun. The content later in the year will be replaced by the D&D Essentials range, which looks interesting but will undoubtedly include a certain repetition of content. This strikes me as potentially a cost-saving effort in order to preserve the brand.
I hope I am wrong and that this is in fact an adaptation to customer needs but if I am right, I sincerely hope WotC succeeds and that D&D is kept alive through this.
I'm not even going to get into the 32 page books (adding them to my collection) since I have a DDi subscription, I'm not sure I would need them for anything. All that is left after DDi is non-setting specific racial fluff which doesn't excite me too much.
The Essentials seem like a redesign of the whole line, I guess they found the last two years worth of releases to be beginner unfriendly and the move necessary for the growth of the market. All I have to go on is Slavisek's (sp) article about them. Adding new builds and such amongst the repitition and new player friendly organization is a bit annoying, again there is DDi to cover that I suppose.
They are unfortunately a list of items I won't be buying since by the time my son is old enough to play out of the Red Box a new edition will have come along.
What IS true is that the reduced page count may impact my buying decision; EPG was already a pretty borderline purchase, and if Dark Sun really feels like a smaller book, I might just not buy. Nobody's getting "screwed", because nobody has to buy anything they don't want. (Hundreds of corporations are attempting to sell thousands of things every day that I'm not interested in buying; they're not "screwing" me by doing so.)
If the Dark Sun book contains everything you need (in your opinion, YMMV) to run a Dark Sun game of D&D, does it really matter if it's 160 pages or 170?
Sure, the page counts have gone down a bit, but answer me this then: What is missing? I don't mean, "Oh, they could have given us 10 more pages of fluff in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide". I mean, "They forgot to add descriptions of the new items" or complaints to that effect.
'Cause really, I don't want WotC to add in pages of stuff just cause they can.
Cause really, I don't want WotC to add in pages of stuff just cause they can.
But they should or we wouldn't have this thread...
I think we ought to separate the page counts of books and the actual content of the books.
If the Dark Sun book contains everything you need (in your opinion, YMMV) to run a Dark Sun game of D&D, does it really matter if it's 160 pages or 170?
Sure, the page counts have gone down a bit, but answer me this then: What is missing? I don't mean, "Oh, they could have given us 10 more pages of fluff in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide". I mean, "They forgot to add descriptions of the new items" or complaints to that effect.
'Cause really, I don't want WotC to add in pages of stuff just cause they can.
I wish they were charging QUALITY, but they aren't. So, what can we judge by?
There are reasons to buy the book, even if it's 10 dollars.
See? WotC didn't rip you off, because you decided not to buy it. It was above your reservation price, so you didn't buy it. But if the book is within your reservation price, you're getting a deal, because it's lower than the highest price you're willing to pay for the books.
Cause really, I don't want WotC to add in pages of stuff just cause they can.
But they should or we wouldn't have this thread...
If they are creating a new book, and get to 150 pages when all is said and done... where do the extra pages come from? Random stuff? Ads? I mean, I'd like to think that they are putting in the best stuff they can come up with. So what are they going to "pad" the books with?
I wish they were charging QUALITY, but they aren't. So, what can we judge by?
So are you going to buy a book with 320 blank pages over a book with 160 pages of content? Cause I have dozens of books for you to purchase then. :P Page count isn't everything. It's basically judging a book by it's cover. How can you say that a book isn't worth buying because it has 10 less pages than a previous book at the same price point?
WotC might read these forums, and they might take our suggestions and complaints to heart and do something about it. But the number one thing they listen to is our wallets. If something doesn't sell, then they are not likely to try things along that line again. When something new comes out, go down to your FLGS, flip through the book, and decide whether or not you're buying it.