Dragon 397: Success and Failure - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dragon 397: Success and Failure

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mrmyth
Mar 31, 2011 9:46:53
As most people have noticed, Dragon and Dungeon have been having significant trouble in the last few months getting all the articles out on time - even by the end of the month. We were told that everything was on track to see this month's articles posted by the end of March - and this proved to be true for Dragon, which has now been posted in full. Two Dungeon articles remain missing (including an adventure), but I wouldn't be surprised if we see them by the end of the day.

So first off, I do want to thank Steve Winter and the DDI staff for having gotten everything in Dragon posted this month, and I hope this trend continues.

Unfortunately, Dragon 397 is still quite the disappointment. And why? Because the content continues to diminish.

We were told, when the removal of compilations happened, that the magazines would not be reduced in content. We have seen, nonetheless, smaller and smaller issues, and been told that the word count goal was now 50,000 - 60,000 words (when, previously, 80,000 to 100,000 words was the norm.)

In March, Dragon magazine subscribers content is 28 pages long, and almost entirely lacking in player content.

It consists of 4 articles:
-Faith and Heresy, a 9 page article, and an interesting discussion of religion and divine characters in the game... with a single ritual, and a good portion of the article probably more appropriate as DM content.
-Henchmen and Hirelings, a 10 page article, which presents some interesting - but optional - mechanics for hiring assistance for the adventuring party. Again, some of this is DM content - particularly the 4 pages of sample companion characters for use as henchmen.
-Familiars of Athas, a 5 page article that presents 9 new familiars for Athas, and a list of other appropriate Athasian familiars from other sources.
-Channel Divinity: Ioun, which provides a specific organization of servants of Ioun and which, again, the bulk of the content is mainly of use to DMs, including NPCs, plot hooks, and advice on placing it within the campaign. A single page provides a single Epic Destiny for player characters.

4 articles. 28 pages of content, of which maybe a dozen actually provided player content. 1 ritual, 1 Epic Destiny, and 9 familiars. Word count: 17,000 words.

Just for comparison, here is what Dragon magazine content looked like a year ago:
March 2010: 15 articles, 72 pages, and 42,000 words of player content.

It is clear that resources are spread thin, and I can understand that. And we've been told that things will get better - and they have, as far as the delays go.

My concern is that this is going to be the new norm - that Dragon magazine is, now, intended to be 30 pages long and almost entirely absent of player content.

All I want, right now, is to know. If that is the direction going forward, that is the magazine staff's decision to make. But I want to know what to expect. The description still says: "Dragon Magazine is the ultimate monthly player resource. Each issue brings you new material and expanded content to help make your characters more fun and compelling, including new character options, new powers, new feats, new magic items, new paragon paths, epic destinies, and more."

That isn't what we got this month. We got some decent articles, sure. And the direction of the magazine a year ago, where it was simply filled with 3-4 page articles that were nothing but new powers and feats? I don't think that was the best direction, either.

What I don't understand is why the magazine can't find a balance. I like seeing articles like Faith and Heresy - but not as the bulk of the month's content. The attitude seems to be that the abundance of feats and powers from before was a bad thing - but does that really mean we can't have any more at all? And I really don't like seeing more total content for DMs than for players in Dragon.

Is this truly the direction the magazine is going in, and the sort of thing we can expect to see going forward?

Or is something else at work - a lack of submissions, or something else entirely? Because right now, it would be nice to simply know.
#2
devon101
Mar 31, 2011 11:24:27
As most people have noticed, Dragon and Dungeon have been having significant trouble in the last few months getting all the articles out on time - even by the end of the month. We were told that everything was on track to see this month's articles posted by the end of March - and this proved to be true for Dragon, which has now been posted in full. Two Dungeon articles remain missing (including an adventure), but I wouldn't be surprised if we see them by the end of the day.

So first off, I do want to thank Steve Winter and the DDI staff for having gotten everything in Dragon posted this month, and I hope this trend continues.

Unfortunately, Dragon 397 is still quite the disappointment. And why? Because the content continues to diminish.

We were told, when the removal of compilations happened, that the magazines would not be reduced in content. We have seen, nonetheless, smaller and smaller issues, and been told that the word count goal was now 50,000 - 60,000 words (when, previously, 80,000 to 100,000 words was the norm.)

In March, Dragon magazine subscribers content is 28 pages long, and almost entirely lacking in player content.

It consists of 4 articles:
-Faith and Heresy, a 9 page article, and an interesting discussion of religion and divine characters in the game... with a single ritual, and a good portion of the article probably more appropriate as DM content.
-Henchmen and Hirelings, a 10 page article, which presents some interesting - but optional - mechanics for hiring assistance for the adventuring party. Again, some of this is DM content - particularly the 4 pages of sample companion characters for use as henchmen.
-Familiars of Athas, a 5 page article that presents 9 new familiars for Athas, and a list of other appropriate Athasian familiars from other sources.
-Channel Divinity: Ioun, which provides a specific organization of servants of Ioun and which, again, the bulk of the content is mainly of use to DMs, including NPCs, plot hooks, and advice on placing it within the campaign. A single page provides a single Epic Destiny for player characters.

4 articles. 28 pages of content, of which maybe a dozen actually provided player content. 1 ritual, 1 Epic Destiny, and 9 familiars. Word count: 17,000 words.

Just for comparison, here is what Dragon magazine content looked like a year ago:
March 2010: 15 articles, 72 pages, and 42,000 words of player content.

It is clear that resources are spread thin, and I can understand that. And we've been told that things will get better - and they have, as far as the delays go.

My concern is that this is going to be the new norm - that Dragon magazine is, now, intended to be 30 pages long and almost entirely absent of player content.

All I want, right now, is to know. If that is the direction going forward, that is the magazine staff's decision to make. But I want to know what to expect. The description still says: "Dragon Magazine is the ultimate monthly player resource. Each issue brings you new material and expanded content to help make your characters more fun and compelling, including new character options, new powers, new feats, new magic items, new paragon paths, epic destinies, and more."

That isn't what we got this month. We got some decent articles, sure. And the direction of the magazine a year ago, where it was simply filled with 3-4 page articles that were nothing but new powers and feats? I don't think that was the best direction, either.

What I don't understand is why the magazine can't find a balance. I like seeing articles like Faith and Heresy - but not as the bulk of the month's content. The attitude seems to be that the abundance of feats and powers from before was a bad thing - but does that really mean we can't have any more at all? And I really don't like seeing more total content for DMs than for players in Dragon.

Is this truly the direction the magazine is going in, and the sort of thing we can expect to see going forward?

Or is something else at work - a lack of submissions, or something else entirely? Because right now, it would be nice to simply know.

well said, thank you.
#3
obryn
Mar 31, 2011 12:34:04 I'm of two minds here... On the one hand, less content is seldom a good thing, IMO.

On the other hand, I expect I'll actually get some good use out of two of those Dragon articles, which is actually pretty good compared to most recent issues. When you add in the Jubilex article and the Eye on Dark Sun article which slipped in under my radar, I feel like my subscription was a very good value this month, low word count or no.

I understand why I could feel disappointed, but I'm actually rather pleased. I see a lot of content in the past two months that I expect I'll get a lot of use out of.

-O
#4
mrmyth
Mar 31, 2011 14:39:04
I'm of two minds here... On the one hand, less content is seldom a good thing, IMO.

On the other hand, I expect I'll actually get some good use out of two of those Dragon articles, which is actually pretty good compared to most recent issues. When you add in the Jubilex article and the Eye on Dark Sun article which slipped in under my radar, I feel like my subscription was a very good value this month, low word count or no.

Dungeon, this month, is actually looking quite solid. Demonomicon articles and the like are always big hits, we've got an interesting (if very short) adventure/encounter, some good background and support setting articles, and one more adventure on the way. Assuming it is a full-sized one, I'd have no real complaints about the Dungeon content.

Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM?
#5
obryn
Mar 31, 2011 15:25:13
Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM?

I'm running a Dark Sun game, and I'm currently running Beneath the Dust. I plan to get some use out of Mahindrazal in another level or two. I doubt I'll get actual use out of Jubilex, but if we ever go back to our high paragon game, I just might. Regardless, it was a great read.

Player-wise, one of my players has a hurrum familiar for his warlock, which was previously a reskinned warforged face; it's now an actual hurrum, so that article was great, too. I'm going to add some options for henchmen to my players, and I'll see if they take me up on it.

So yeah - a lot of hits for me this time around.

-O
#6
mrmyth
Mar 31, 2011 15:36:38
Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM?

I'm running a Dark Sun game, and I'm currently running Beneath the Dust. I plan to get some use out of Mahindrazal in another level or two. I doubt I'll get actual use out of Jubilex, but if we ever go back to our high paragon game, I just might. Regardless, it was a great read.

Player-wise, one of my players has a hurrum familiar for his warlock, which was previously a reskinned warforged face; it's now an actual hurrum, so that article was great, too. I'm going to add some options for henchmen to my players, and I'll see if they take me up on it.

So yeah - a lot of hits for me this time around.

Which is definitely good! But I think that also supports a bit of my point - the magazines are doing pretty good with content for DMs. But how much is there for the players themselves?

#7
Shroomy
Mar 31, 2011 16:37:04 So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then?
#8
mrmyth
Mar 31, 2011 16:57:05
So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then?

Of course not!

For one thing, it is already existing content - a reprint of the PHB Warlord, with a new format and some errata. Thus, I don't count it, for the same reason I wouldn't count preview or playtest articles found in earlier issues.

But even more important, in this case, is that it isn't DDI subscriber content. It is free content available to everyone. I'm looking at, above, precisely what a paying DDI customer got for their subscription in Dragon magazine.
#9
salty1
Mar 31, 2011 19:26:50 Faith and Heresy: An interesting read, and though not immediately useful, it could be relevant at some point. Until I read this, it never occurred to me that I could solve the problem of the Lawful Stoopid Paladin by having his own church hunt him down for heresy.

Henchmen and Hirelings: All very useful, especially in groups that are missing roles or just uncommon skills like Thievery. The problem is, this just expands on the Companion Characters rules printed in the DMG2.

Familiars of Athas: Group doesn't play Darksun.

Channey Divinity: Players don't care about Ioun.
#10
spqr202
Mar 31, 2011 21:00:48 Still need a compiled pdf though.
#11
mysticbelmont
Apr 03, 2011 20:01:51 I sure hope the ToC for this month is still a joke, what with 2 actual crunch worthy articles.
#12
Janx_14
Apr 03, 2011 22:34:21 Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too?

That looks very very sad.

Joke please?
#13
robertread3
Apr 03, 2011 22:52:27 i would like more races to be honest, classes to me are a construct of how your character likes to fight, but i love to have diffrent races with racial feats to play with. so far they have added some stuff to classes i dont play, exept the warlord but oddly alot of the stuff i care about is not ddi exclusive so i dont really need it to look in on it.

for example the heroes of shadow preview

this is a product im looking foward to, however for free they release all the previews. i would of thought that would be DDI exclusive 100% previews, playtests and whats going to happen next seems to be inside stuff to me.

im not complaining, just wondering why i need to care about ddi when you give me free content (like the races vryloka and shade) its really someting that would add value to the product.
#14
mysticbelmont
Apr 03, 2011 22:58:36
i would like more races to be honest, classes to me are a construct of how your character likes to fight, but i love to have diffrent races with racial feats to play with. so far they have added some stuff to classes i dont play, exept the warlord but oddly alot of the stuff i care about is not ddi exclusive so i dont really need it to look in on it.

for example the heroes of shadow preview

this is a product im looking foward to, however for free they release all the previews. i would of thought that would be DDI exclusive 100% previews, playtests and whats going to happen next seems to be inside stuff to me.

im not complaining, just wondering why i need to care about ddi when you give me free content (like the races vryloka and shade) its really someting that would add value to the product.

They need to give current races some much needed feats.

Especially the changeling.
#15
robertread3
Apr 03, 2011 23:04:51 couldent agree more mysticbelmont, couldent agree more

every race imo should be as supported as the dragonborn, teifling, eladrin, half elf, dwarf and elf no exeptions
#16
Aegeri
Apr 04, 2011 0:35:33
Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too?

That looks very very sad.

Joke please?

They are further april fools day joke articles. It's pretty obvious if you know what a battletoad is (It's an old, hard as nails NES game that drove many of us older folks bonkers back in the day).
#17
Damon_Tor
Apr 04, 2011 0:54:53
Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too?

That looks very very sad.

Joke please?

They are further april fools day joke articles. It's pretty obvious if you know what a battletoad is (It's an old, hard as nails NES game that drove many of us older folks bonkers back in the day).

It's also the subject of a popular prank phone call.
#18
havyx
Apr 07, 2011 2:39:03
So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then?

Of course not!

For one thing, it is already existing content - a reprint of the PHB Warlord, with a new format and some errata. Thus, I don't count it, for the same reason I wouldn't count preview or playtest articles found in earlier issues.

But even more important, in this case, is that it isn't DDI subscriber content. It is free content available to everyone. I'm looking at, above, precisely what a paying DDI customer got for their subscription in Dragon magazine.

Totally agree.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mrmyth Mar 31, 2011 9:46:53	As most people have noticed, Dragon and Dungeon have been having significant trouble in the last few months getting all the articles out on time - even by the end of the month. We were told that everything was on track to see this month's articles posted by the end of March - and this proved to be true for Dragon, which has now been posted in full. Two Dungeon articles remain missing (including an adventure), but I wouldn't be surprised if we see them by the end of the day. So first off, I do want to thank Steve Winter and the DDI staff for having gotten everything in Dragon posted this month, and I hope this trend continues. Unfortunately, Dragon 397 is still quite the disappointment. And why? Because the content continues to diminish. We were told, when the removal of compilations happened, that the magazines would not be reduced in content. We have seen, nonetheless, smaller and smaller issues, and been told that the word count goal was now 50,000 - 60,000 words (when, previously, 80,000 to 100,000 words was the norm.) In March, Dragon magazine subscribers content is 28 pages long, and almost entirely lacking in player content. It consists of 4 articles: -Faith and Heresy, a 9 page article, and an interesting discussion of religion and divine characters in the game... with a single ritual, and a good portion of the article probably more appropriate as DM content. -Henchmen and Hirelings, a 10 page article, which presents some interesting - but optional - mechanics for hiring assistance for the adventuring party. Again, some of this is DM content - particularly the 4 pages of sample companion characters for use as henchmen. -Familiars of Athas, a 5 page article that presents 9 new familiars for Athas, and a list of other appropriate Athasian familiars from other sources. -Channel Divinity: Ioun, which provides a specific organization of servants of Ioun and which, again, the bulk of the content is mainly of use to DMs, including NPCs, plot hooks, and advice on placing it within the campaign. A single page provides a single Epic Destiny for player characters. 4 articles. 28 pages of content, of which maybe a dozen actually provided player content. 1 ritual, 1 Epic Destiny, and 9 familiars. Word count: 17,000 words. Just for comparison, here is what Dragon magazine content looked like a year ago: March 2010: 15 articles, 72 pages, and 42,000 words of player content. It is clear that resources are spread thin, and I can understand that. And we've been told that things will get better - and they have, as far as the delays go. My concern is that this is going to be the new norm - that Dragon magazine is, now, intended to be 30 pages long and almost entirely absent of player content. All I want, right now, is to know. If that is the direction going forward, that is the magazine staff's decision to make. But I want to know what to expect. The description still says: "Dragon Magazine is the ultimate monthly player resource. Each issue brings you new material and expanded content to help make your characters more fun and compelling, including new character options, new powers, new feats, new magic items, new paragon paths, epic destinies, and more." That isn't what we got this month. We got some decent articles, sure. And the direction of the magazine a year ago, where it was simply filled with 3-4 page articles that were nothing but new powers and feats? I don't think that was the best direction, either. What I don't understand is why the magazine can't find a balance. I like seeing articles like Faith and Heresy - but not as the bulk of the month's content. The attitude seems to be that the abundance of feats and powers from before was a bad thing - but does that really mean we can't have any more at all? And I really don't like seeing more total content for DMs than for players in Dragon. Is this truly the direction the magazine is going in, and the sort of thing we can expect to see going forward? Or is something else at work - a lack of submissions, or something else entirely? Because right now, it would be nice to simply know.
#2 devon101 Mar 31, 2011 11:24:27	As most people have noticed, Dragon and Dungeon have been having significant trouble in the last few months getting all the articles out on time - even by the end of the month. We were told that everything was on track to see this month's articles posted by the end of March - and this proved to be true for Dragon, which has now been posted in full. Two Dungeon articles remain missing (including an adventure), but I wouldn't be surprised if we see them by the end of the day. So first off, I do want to thank Steve Winter and the DDI staff for having gotten everything in Dragon posted this month, and I hope this trend continues. Unfortunately, Dragon 397 is still quite the disappointment. And why? Because the content continues to diminish. We were told, when the removal of compilations happened, that the magazines would not be reduced in content. We have seen, nonetheless, smaller and smaller issues, and been told that the word count goal was now 50,000 - 60,000 words (when, previously, 80,000 to 100,000 words was the norm.) In March, Dragon magazine subscribers content is 28 pages long, and almost entirely lacking in player content. It consists of 4 articles: -Faith and Heresy, a 9 page article, and an interesting discussion of religion and divine characters in the game... with a single ritual, and a good portion of the article probably more appropriate as DM content. -Henchmen and Hirelings, a 10 page article, which presents some interesting - but optional - mechanics for hiring assistance for the adventuring party. Again, some of this is DM content - particularly the 4 pages of sample companion characters for use as henchmen. -Familiars of Athas, a 5 page article that presents 9 new familiars for Athas, and a list of other appropriate Athasian familiars from other sources. -Channel Divinity: Ioun, which provides a specific organization of servants of Ioun and which, again, the bulk of the content is mainly of use to DMs, including NPCs, plot hooks, and advice on placing it within the campaign. A single page provides a single Epic Destiny for player characters. 4 articles. 28 pages of content, of which maybe a dozen actually provided player content. 1 ritual, 1 Epic Destiny, and 9 familiars. Word count: 17,000 words. Just for comparison, here is what Dragon magazine content looked like a year ago: March 2010: 15 articles, 72 pages, and 42,000 words of player content. It is clear that resources are spread thin, and I can understand that. And we've been told that things will get better - and they have, as far as the delays go. My concern is that this is going to be the new norm - that Dragon magazine is, now, intended to be 30 pages long and almost entirely absent of player content. All I want, right now, is to know. If that is the direction going forward, that is the magazine staff's decision to make. But I want to know what to expect. The description still says: "Dragon Magazine is the ultimate monthly player resource. Each issue brings you new material and expanded content to help make your characters more fun and compelling, including new character options, new powers, new feats, new magic items, new paragon paths, epic destinies, and more." That isn't what we got this month. We got some decent articles, sure. And the direction of the magazine a year ago, where it was simply filled with 3-4 page articles that were nothing but new powers and feats? I don't think that was the best direction, either. What I don't understand is why the magazine can't find a balance. I like seeing articles like Faith and Heresy - but not as the bulk of the month's content. The attitude seems to be that the abundance of feats and powers from before was a bad thing - but does that really mean we can't have any more at all? And I really don't like seeing more total content for DMs than for players in Dragon. Is this truly the direction the magazine is going in, and the sort of thing we can expect to see going forward? Or is something else at work - a lack of submissions, or something else entirely? Because right now, it would be nice to simply know. well said, thank you.
#3 obryn Mar 31, 2011 12:34:04	I'm of two minds here... On the one hand, less content is seldom a good thing, IMO. On the other hand, I expect I'll actually get some good use out of two of those Dragon articles, which is actually pretty good compared to most recent issues. When you add in the Jubilex article and the Eye on Dark Sun article which slipped in under my radar, I feel like my subscription was a very good value this month, low word count or no. I understand why I could feel disappointed, but I'm actually rather pleased. I see a lot of content in the past two months that I expect I'll get a lot of use out of. -O
#4 mrmyth Mar 31, 2011 14:39:04	I'm of two minds here... On the one hand, less content is seldom a good thing, IMO. On the other hand, I expect I'll actually get some good use out of two of those Dragon articles, which is actually pretty good compared to most recent issues. When you add in the Jubilex article and the Eye on Dark Sun article which slipped in under my radar, I feel like my subscription was a very good value this month, low word count or no. Dungeon, this month, is actually looking quite solid. Demonomicon articles and the like are always big hits, we've got an interesting (if very short) adventure/encounter, some good background and support setting articles, and one more adventure on the way. Assuming it is a full-sized one, I'd have no real complaints about the Dungeon content. Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM?
#5 obryn Mar 31, 2011 15:25:13	Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM? I'm running a Dark Sun game, and I'm currently running Beneath the Dust. I plan to get some use out of Mahindrazal in another level or two. I doubt I'll get actual use out of Jubilex, but if we ever go back to our high paragon game, I just might. Regardless, it was a great read. Player-wise, one of my players has a hurrum familiar for his warlock, which was previously a reskinned warforged face; it's now an actual hurrum, so that article was great, too. I'm going to add some options for henchmen to my players, and I'll see if they take me up on it. So yeah - a lot of hits for me this time around. -O
#6 mrmyth Mar 31, 2011 15:36:38	Out of curiousity, what material/ideas/content from the Dragon articles do you expect to get good use out of? And is it something you plan to use as a player, or as a DM? I'm running a Dark Sun game, and I'm currently running Beneath the Dust. I plan to get some use out of Mahindrazal in another level or two. I doubt I'll get actual use out of Jubilex, but if we ever go back to our high paragon game, I just might. Regardless, it was a great read. Player-wise, one of my players has a hurrum familiar for his warlock, which was previously a reskinned warforged face; it's now an actual hurrum, so that article was great, too. I'm going to add some options for henchmen to my players, and I'll see if they take me up on it. So yeah - a lot of hits for me this time around. Which is definitely good! But I think that also supports a bit of my point - the magazines are doing pretty good with content for DMs. But how much is there for the players themselves?
#7 Shroomy Mar 31, 2011 16:37:04	So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then?
#8 mrmyth Mar 31, 2011 16:57:05	So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then? Of course not! For one thing, it is already existing content - a reprint of the PHB Warlord, with a new format and some errata. Thus, I don't count it, for the same reason I wouldn't count preview or playtest articles found in earlier issues. But even more important, in this case, is that it isn't DDI subscriber content. It is free content available to everyone. I'm looking at, above, precisely what a paying DDI customer got for their subscription in Dragon magazine.
#9 salty1 Mar 31, 2011 19:26:50	Faith and Heresy: An interesting read, and though not immediately useful, it could be relevant at some point. Until I read this, it never occurred to me that I could solve the problem of the Lawful Stoopid Paladin by having his own church hunt him down for heresy. Henchmen and Hirelings: All very useful, especially in groups that are missing roles or just uncommon skills like Thievery. The problem is, this just expands on the Companion Characters rules printed in the DMG2. Familiars of Athas: Group doesn't play Darksun. Channey Divinity: Players don't care about Ioun.
#10 spqr202 Mar 31, 2011 21:00:48	Still need a compiled pdf though.
#11 mysticbelmont Apr 03, 2011 20:01:51	I sure hope the ToC for this month is still a joke, what with 2 actual crunch worthy articles.
#12 Janx_14 Apr 03, 2011 22:34:21	Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too? That looks very very sad. Joke please?
#13 robertread3 Apr 03, 2011 22:52:27	i would like more races to be honest, classes to me are a construct of how your character likes to fight, but i love to have diffrent races with racial feats to play with. so far they have added some stuff to classes i dont play, exept the warlord but oddly alot of the stuff i care about is not ddi exclusive so i dont really need it to look in on it. for example the heroes of shadow preview this is a product im looking foward to, however for free they release all the previews. i would of thought that would be DDI exclusive 100% previews, playtests and whats going to happen next seems to be inside stuff to me. im not complaining, just wondering why i need to care about ddi when you give me free content (like the races vryloka and shade) its really someting that would add value to the product.
#14 mysticbelmont Apr 03, 2011 22:58:36	i would like more races to be honest, classes to me are a construct of how your character likes to fight, but i love to have diffrent races with racial feats to play with. so far they have added some stuff to classes i dont play, exept the warlord but oddly alot of the stuff i care about is not ddi exclusive so i dont really need it to look in on it. for example the heroes of shadow preview this is a product im looking foward to, however for free they release all the previews. i would of thought that would be DDI exclusive 100% previews, playtests and whats going to happen next seems to be inside stuff to me. im not complaining, just wondering why i need to care about ddi when you give me free content (like the races vryloka and shade) its really someting that would add value to the product. They need to give current races some much needed feats. Especially the changeling.
#15 robertread3 Apr 03, 2011 23:04:51	couldent agree more mysticbelmont, couldent agree more every race imo should be as supported as the dragonborn, teifling, eladrin, half elf, dwarf and elf no exeptions
#16 Aegeri Apr 04, 2011 0:35:33	Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too? That looks very very sad. Joke please? They are further april fools day joke articles. It's pretty obvious if you know what a battletoad is (It's an old, hard as nails NES game that drove many of us older folks bonkers back in the day).
#17 Damon_Tor Apr 04, 2011 0:54:53	Shouldn't both the slaad and battletoad articles be dungeon articles too? That looks very very sad. Joke please? They are further april fools day joke articles. It's pretty obvious if you know what a battletoad is (It's an old, hard as nails NES game that drove many of us older folks bonkers back in the day). It's also the subject of a popular prank phone call.
#18 havyx Apr 07, 2011 2:39:03	So you are not counting the 31 page Class Compendium article then? Of course not! For one thing, it is already existing content - a reprint of the PHB Warlord, with a new format and some errata. Thus, I don't count it, for the same reason I wouldn't count preview or playtest articles found in earlier issues. But even more important, in this case, is that it isn't DDI subscriber content. It is free content available to everyone. I'm looking at, above, precisely what a paying DDI customer got for their subscription in Dragon magazine. Totally agree.