Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 drnick Feb 09, 2011 13:57:53	To Whom it May Concern (most probably D&D brand management): It has become clear to me through various commentaries by Steve Winters (among others) as well as recent P.R. snafus that the digital magazine content is not currently part of the standard development workflow for Dungeons and Dragons brand products. Now I understand that each book has it's own writing and development team and I understand that it must be a monumental task to take these products from a patchwork of different concepts and ideas and put them into a coherent framework but you guys really need to iron out your workflow for development vis a vis the digital initiatives. Let me be frank, I understand that you're in a transition right now but a whole host of the problems you guys are having could be resolved by fully integrating ddi into the development process. For a few concrete expamples: the recent miscommunication with the assassin could have been avoided all together if you guys had a plan in place for the essentials assassin ahead of time. You could then have released the dragon article with clear "playtest" demarkation. Additionally, the quality of the content released in the magazines could be improved dramatically if they were taken into consideration in the larger framework of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons and not shunted off to the side (as it were). Anywho, thanks for making games that I love and I'm looking forward to you guys learning from your mistakes and improving the quality of your product. Sincerely, Nick P.S. Feel free to ignore Lokaire's reply below. He's just bitter sometimes. EDIT: Darn it. Not sure who to contact about moving a thread. This is clearly in the wrong place.
#2 blazian Feb 09, 2011 14:04:57	Wherever it belongs I like it.
#3 mudbunny Feb 09, 2011 18:19:57	I'll get it moved to DDI General later on tonight. (PS, to get something moved, you also contact me.) (PPS, I will be including this in the weekly report.) (PPPS, they are integrating Dungeon and Dragon into the R&D pipeline.)
#4 lokiare Feb 09, 2011 20:07:19	I'll get it moved to DDI General later on tonight. (PS, to get something moved, you also contact me.) (PPS, I will be including this in the weekly report.) (PPPS, they are integrating Dungeon and Dragon into the R&D pipeline.) {just bitter} I thought they were done integrating it. They said February should see the magazines back on track with 120 pages of quality content with equal fluff and crunch... {/just bitter}
#5 Damon_Tor Feb 10, 2011 0:35:36	(PPPS, they are integrating Dungeon and Dragon into the R&D pipeline.) Is this because the errata team got layed off?  Ask them if their policy on errata has changed at all.  Do they still plan to release free errata?  If not, will things remain as-printed, or will we see more "in book" rules changes, perhaps some sort of annual Rules Compendium series?
#6 drnick Feb 10, 2011 12:30:22	PPPS, they are integrating Dungeon and Dragon into the R&D pipeline. Yeah, I read that. And my response is "Sorta, I guess?" It sounds to me like development is still shunted off to the side and that they are throwing it into R&D's lap after the fact for QA. I guess what I'm proposing is for Magazine material to be part of the bigger D&D strategy and to be considered along with book releases at the beginning stages of development.