Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 jmeitzen01 Nov 10, 2011 23:13:04	I  BELIEVE THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT REALLY NEEDS ADDRESSING! I enjoy running game for everyone and firmly believe that Encounters is a great thing for bringing in customers. I have been running Encounters now since it's inception and I just need to voice this tiny little concern. I have just lost yet another(7 in total now) long time player due to the constant reset of character levelfor each and every new season of encoounters. This coupled by the fact that I have had to put my own campaign on hold because of not having enough players, so the few players I have lined up for my campaign are walking away from D&D entirely. As there is no longer a trial use of the Character Builder, this is no longer an issue and cannot be used to excuse this outdated thought process.
#2 Ren_Halamather Nov 11, 2011 10:32:37	I agree with the reset...after the darksun encounters, we made a decision to keep our characters at the level they were after the last encounter, with all the magic...if they wish to make a new character with the new material that comes out for each new encounters season, they would do so at the base of the level of the average....which for the new encounters starting this Wednesday is 9th level...so sometime in this new season, some of my players will hit paragon level...this is a great way for them to play high level characters, as this is the only night some of the players get to play. I obviously have to either upgrade the monsters, or change them to higher level monsters, which again is fun to see new monsters...try this and I bet your players won't leave!
#3 jmeitzen01 Nov 11, 2011 21:34:20	Interesting idea albeit alot of work to level up Encounter as given to us. I am not sure that this is what I am getting at though. I believe that the reset is good in it's own right, however I do not believe that a reset to level 1 each and every 3-5 months. Give us a level 1 for the next encounter, then a level 11 for the next and finally a level 21. Players are not leaving because of the reset, they are leaving because of the level 1 reset. I have read many other posts relaying this exact same message, but a good deal of these were back when Wizards offered a CB trial. I would like to have my regular players vome back to Encounters, but I fear that as long as the reset is level 1 that is not going to happpen.
#4 jobygax Dec 04, 2011 13:24:11	Agreed.  I hear a lot of complaining from my Encounters night players about restarting at level 1 just when they really got their level 3 characters running fast and strong. I would think the solution would be to offer some level 1, some level 4, and some level 8 modules for each season.  At least that way a DM could choose a starter campaign or a continuation for veteran players hungry for bigger challenges. I tell them about striking off on their own, and have considered just running a level 4 game for them, but I like the perks for DMing the Encounters too much (!).
#5 _Mithreinmaethor_ Dec 04, 2011 22:59:32	This is why stores have started D&D Encounters Extended sessions.  It allows people to keep their character and move on with it. The characters from last Season are portable into Living Forgotten Realms as well.
#6 jmeitzen01 Dec 04, 2011 23:01:57	I tell them about striking off on their own, and have considered just running a level 4 game for them, but I like the perks for DMing the Encounters too much (!).  Exactly. I think its about time that WotC actually listens to its customer base and not just those that they are targeting. My intent here is not to get people rilled up,  but to see the truth. Each and every one of the polls that they send out to find out what we want are rigged so that if you answer question #1 they way they want you get to continue with question #2 and so on. If not you get told thank you for your time. The problem is that no matter how many times we bring these matters to the attention of those who are supposed to care about what we think, nothing is going to change their opinion of what they assume that we want. Imean look at it this way, if they thought that this was something that we wanted they woulld have either given this to us or at least commented on this thread by now. I am not now nor have I ever intended to bash WotC, I just believe that they should  do what they say and listen to us when they can see that we are right.
#7 jmeitzen01 Dec 04, 2011 23:11:52	The characters from last Season are portable into Living Forgotten Realms as well. Its hard enough to get players to still want to come in with the resets and the recession in time to actually play one session let alone more than one time a week to play.
#8 _Mithreinmaethor_ Dec 05, 2011 10:25:08	The characters from last Season are portable into Living Forgotten Realms as well. Its hard enough to get players to still want to come in with the resets and the recession in time to actually play one session let alone more than one time a week to play. Then take the initiative and scale the modules up and run them for your customers that want to play their 3rd level characters in the next season. I know in the D&D Encounters Forums people have done just that.  Perhaps they can give you hints and ideas on how to make this happen. As a whole those of us that come here on the internet to discuss such things are the minority of the people involved in the program.  As long as the majority of the people are fine with it then I dont see WotC changing their marketing strategy for D&D Encounters any time soon.
#9 mudbunny Dec 05, 2011 20:15:37	I think its about time that WotC actually listens to its customer base and not just those that they are targeting. One thing that you are missing: In ordder for a company to survive, it must continually make efforts to bring in new customers. No company can survive when it focuses only on the customers it currently has. WotC currently has *1* program focused on introducing D&D to brand new players who don't have anyone to teach them, that is Wednesday Night Encounters. Experienced players, on the other hand, ahve the RPGA, Lair Assault, as well as home games that they can play in. Lair assault came about *directly* as a result of people telling WotC that they wanted something official that allowed players to use *all* of the options available, not just the group of books that are the limits in encounters. And the RPGA (via LFR), well, they are everywhere and see everything. The problem is that no matter how many times we bring these matters to the attention of those who are supposed to care about what we think, nothing is going to change their opinion of what they assume that we want. Imean look at it this way, if they thought that this was something that we wanted they woulld have either given this to us or at least commented on this thread by now. WotC is aware of this thread, I brought it up to them in the weekly report that I sent them last night. However, from the information that is available, WotC appears to be happy with the official support that they offer both new and experienced players.
#10 jmeitzen01 Dec 05, 2011 23:27:29	Thanks. Well, I guess that when I no longer have enough players interested in coming in to this program I will loose interest in WotC products. Myself and  many others have complained about this for over a year now, and when nothing gets done about it but put out Lair Assaults a Level 5 "contest"! So be it. I am tired of trying to convice players to co back from the dark side that is WotC's direct competition. Make your bed, lay in it. I for one won't hear your complaints when Hasbro decides to let the brand go.
#11 Style75 Dec 06, 2011 13:46:28	I for one won't hear your complaints when Hasbro decides to let the brand go. Let the brand go? Never going to happen. When was the last time Hasbro let any major brand name go to a potential competitor? Never. What they do is put the brand on ice for a few years until think it's time for a comeback with a new generation. OR they spin off a brand into a different type of product. I think the latter is more likely with D&D. It's a major name brand, a huge IP for Hasbro that they use to sell any fantasy related product. Look at the board games as an example. Conquest of Nerath flew off the shelf at my local game store. Do you think it would have done so well if it didn't have the D&D brand name? The RPG may die (I personally don't think it will) but Hasbro will resurrect its corpse into something and keep the D&D name alive. That's what companies do when they own such well known IP's. With regard to Encounters, I've run tables where I knew players wanted to play at higher levels so I simply leveled up all the monsters using the MB and adjusted the various DC's. It only takes about 10 minutes to print off the new sheets and make the adjustments to my notes. It wasn't perfect, but it worked well enough for these pick-up games. Then I report the game as normal so everyone still gets their rewards. No problem, everyone has fun.
#12 mudbunny Dec 06, 2011 15:33:42	Thanks. Well, I guess that when I no longer have enough players interested in coming in to this program I will loose interest in WotC products. Myself and  many others have complained about this for over a year now, and when nothing gets done about it but put out Lair Assaults a Level 5 "contest"! The plural of anecdote is not data. In the store(s) you have experience with, Encounters may not be doing well. In other stores however, Encounters runs 5 or 6 tables, and it would go higher but there is simply no more room. In those stores, interest for a higher-level program is pretty much non-existant. So why should WotC take your personal experience and hold it in higher importance to those experiences that are different from yoursÉ WotC is not, despite the feelings of some of the more vocal forum members, stupid. If it was more advantageous for them to dump Encounters and do something like Encounters at a higher level, they would not hesitate to do so. However, by all reports that I have been able to find on the 'net, the stores in which Encounters is not doing well are greatly outnumbered by the stores in which Encounters *is* doing well. Now, again, the plural of anecdotes is not data, but given that when stores run Encounters, they have to report the results in to WotC, it is a very safe assumption to make that WotC is pleased with how Encounters is doing and the number of new D&D players that it is bringing into their customer base. I for one won't hear your complaints when Hasbro decides to let the brand go. D&D has a brand recognition of, if I recall right, around 95%. That is to say that 95% of people in the US have heard of D&D. That is not 95% of people who play computer games or any sub-population like that. It is 95% of the US population as a whole have heard of and recognize the term "D&D". Once you go past McDonald's, Coke, Pepsi and the other big brand names like that, there are very few brands that have a similar recognition factor. Hasbro will not let that go. In addition, the board game side of D&D is doing, by all reports, phenomenally well. Should D&D all of a sudden drop in popularity, they won't be sold. Rather, Hasbro will do with the IP what it did with the Transformers and GI Joe. Put them in the vault for a while, and then pull it out again when the time is right. (See also Walt Disney and their 7-year cycle for their movies.)