I'm concerned about the state of DDI. I'd largely forgiven the lack of tools originally advertised based on some good solid Dungeon and Dragon magazine articles. I subscribed, you see, for the magazines - My Dungeon collection goes back to issue #1, my Dragon collection to about issue 25.
Between the abysmal failure that is the online character builder and the recent and completely unacceptable announcement that the magazines will no longer be compiled...
You're losing money, Trevor, because I'm upset. I'm no longer recommending DDI to fellow gamers - up until August I still was (with gusto even). I'm even considering, reluctantly, cancelling my own subscription. I want to be able to give WotC money, I want to because I trusted you, until recently, to want to deliver the best product.
Your recent releases have not reflected that. The online character builder lacks the essential versatility of its predecessor. It lacks customizability, the facility to create many characters (because 20 is NOT many for a D&D player, which surely you must know). It lacks the ability to keep a detailed journal... because character's experiences and that journal are what players care about.
Now the online magazines are being reduced to blogs and the sort of fluff articles we used to get, almost daily, for free. Except now we're supposed to pay for them and pretend we forget you used to produce better for us and just give us the articles.
The compilations are important. Trivial in cost to produce. Critically important to me as a subscriber (remember, I subscribed originally for the magazines, which is why you didn't lose me immediately when you failed to deliver the VTT for two years).
Please... don't force me to cancel my subscription and give my money to WoW instead. I don't want to. But right now WoW is improving, and DDI is taking tremendous steps backwards. Smart money says I should cancel and spend the money on WoW until you prove yourselves capable of delivering on even basic promises. I've been a customer and a player for over 30 years. I've got loyalty to the brand... and you're squandering that loyalty and taking it for granted.
Sincerely,
Koldoon - still a DDI subscriber. For now.
I think you missed how to send someone a private message since that is where this belongs.
Calling it an "open letter" implies otherwise.
Yes, it's a calling out, and perhaps rude. But then so is a failure to deliver services, taking more money for less services, replacing a good product with an alpha test at best, and consistently missing deadlines. So is saying your purposes are one thing and then not having courtesy to respond when people dare to say "that doesn't make sense."
It's time for wizards to dialogue. not talk at us but with us. Time to stop playing damage control and instead engage their customers.
You have managed to surmise many of my current feelings so now I don't feel the need to have to post them myself.
I agree with everything you have said.
I think the primary issue is that your open letter doesn't say anything new. What purpose does it serve?
If a thousand people stand outside of congress, all holding signs, and all the signs say generally the same thing, would sending one guy have been just as effective? One guy with a sign is a nut job, a thousand guys with signs is a movement.
I think the primary issue is that your open letter doesn't say anything new. What purpose does it serve?
If a thousand people stand outside of congress, all holding signs, and all the signs say generally the same thing, would sending one guy have been just as effective? One guy with a sign is a nut job, a thousand guys with signs is a movement.
Looking forward to those other 800-900 people. Generally stuff like this gets about 80-120 people in agreement.
I think the primary issue is that your open letter doesn't say anything new. What purpose does it serve?
If a thousand people stand outside of congress, all holding signs, and all the signs say generally the same thing, would sending one guy have been just as effective? One guy with a sign is a nut job, a thousand guys with signs is a movement.
Looking forward to those other 800-900 people. Generally stuff like this gets about 80-120 people in agreement.
80-120 WOTC customers vs. their entire consumer base is a far greater percentage of than 1000 people are to the entire population of the country.
80-120 people at ~$70/year = $5,600 - $8,400 per year. That can/does make a difference.
You would think, but honestly no. Heck when I was at McGraw Hill, our company alone could spend $23,000 a year on food for meetings and parties and such.
Because for those customers lost, it seems they are gaining more.
80-120 people at ~$70/year = $5,600 - $8,400 per year. That can/does make a difference.
You would think, but honestly no. Heck when I was at McGraw Hill, our company alone could spend $23,000 a year on food for meetings and parties and such.
Because for those customers lost, it seems they are gaining more.
Yeah, we already know you aren't in customer service. And with that kind of theorycrafting, they wouldn't even have a customer support department at all. Yet, they do.
Brand recognition only goes so far. There comes a point when the treatment of its customers outweighs the brand name. Leaning on the Dungeons and Dragons name is not an excuse to mistreat customers, and that is how much of it is being perceived. All you have to do is open your eyes to it. Perception is reality.
Looking forward to those other 800-900 people. Generally stuff like this gets about 80-120 people in agreement.
It was an analogy.
Looking forward to those other 800-900 people. Generally stuff like this gets about 80-120 people in agreement.
It was an analogy.
I know. I'm saying that the amount of people in these forums that are going to mean a large number, of people are unhappy with a decision, never seem to happen.
It's about 80-120 at best, and that's not a large number. All companies know they will lose customers, but as long as they gain more then they lose, it's ok. And of the people that say they are done, some will, some won't.
Wizards is reportedly listening to the customer and paying attention to the boards. 80-120 people on the forums is also representative of the customers who do not post on the forums.
@Damon: Your analogy is spot on to how voices get heard.
If a thousand people stand outside of congress, all holding signs, and all the signs say generally the same thing, would sending one guy have been just as effective? One guy with a sign is a nut job, a thousand guys with signs is a movement.
The key here is that all of those people are standing in the same place. They don't walk into the supermarket while I'm having a conversation and start yelling.
If a thousand people stand outside of congress, all holding signs, and all the signs say generally the same thing, would sending one guy have been just as effective? One guy with a sign is a nut job, a thousand guys with signs is a movement.
The key here is that all of those people are standing in the same place. They don't walk into the supermarket while I'm having a conversation and start yelling.
I am not sure I follow your tangent here. Can you elaborate, because if the complaint is with that supermarket, that is exactly where they go to complain?
Look, can't we just keep it to one thread? That's all I ask.
Obviously, that is virtually impossible to police or maintain, in any forum in the history of the internet. You can request it, but you know as well as I that it does absolutely no good.
Look, can't we just keep it to one thread? That's all I ask.
It's annoying for sure, because often these kinds of threads are started by the same people. And sure it makes it seem like they reached that 1,000 over 1 people protesting, but it's not.
Generally I stay out of these threads, the Letters to WoTC, the WoTC is failing.
It just shows that when a person is unhappy, they are going to be very vocal about it. Being very vocal isn't the same as a lot of people are unhappy. All research shows an unhappy customer spends more time talking about that, then happy customers do.
Some may take that to mean WoTC shouldn't listen to those customers, but it doesn't. It just means that WoTC needs to look and see how valid their complaint is.
So because something is impossible I shouldn't ask for it? I'm not asking for enforcement, I'm asking for civility.
You can ask for whatever you want. But your expectations are what set you up for disappointment. I simply was letting you know that it's not going to happen in a forum with this much traffic.
And it can't really be called uncivil. People have different experiences and resources to accessing the site. Searching for a specific topic can prove to be more of a burden than it is assistance. You know as well as I that forum search capabilities are erratic at best. You really can't blame someone for posting a question/complaint instead of searching through the forums to find the exact thread to post in.
I would agree if there weren't already about ten threads on the front page. I would also be inclined to ignore these threads if people didn't invade other, non complaint threads with their complaining.
In all honesty, It's not the complaining that bothers me anymore. I've pinned it down to the stifling effect it has on other (possibly productive) conversation that I may actually be interested in.
When every thread about the CB devolves into a complaint-fest, is anything productive really happening? I'm sure WotC has read the same complaints when they were voiced in the 10 other threads (it's pretty evident at this point that they are actually reading these things).
I would agree if there weren't already about ten threads on the front page. I would also be inclined to ignore these threads if people didn't invade other, non complaint threads with their complaining.
In all honesty, It's not the complaining that bothers me anymore. I've pinned it down to the stifling effect it has on other (possibly productive) conversation that I may actually be interested in.
When every thread about the CB devolves into a complaint-fest, is anything productive really happening? I'm sure WotC has read the same complaints when they were voiced in the 10 other threads (it's pretty evident at this point that they are actually reading these things).
I agree, that's a problem. If you say, I have an issue, the same handful of people are some of the first on a thread, announcing doom and gloom and the end of WoTC, and then they go and start a new thread.
And when people at WoTC try and control the number of threads, by locking or merging, those same people then complain about being censored. It's highly amusing at times. Amusing because those same people, who are claiming they are being censored and ignored by WoTC, then try and shut up anyone having something good to say. Or turn valid complaint threads into the tired, WoTC is evil/only care about money/ruined everything.
I would agree if there weren't already about ten threads on the front page. I would also be inclined to ignore these threads if people didn't invade other, non complaint threads with their complaining.
In all honesty, It's not the complaining that bothers me anymore. I've pinned it down to the stifling effect it has on other (possibly productive) conversation that I may actually be interested in.
When every thread about the CB devolves into a complaint-fest, is anything productive really happening? I'm sure WotC has read the same complaints when they were voiced in the 10 other threads (it's pretty evident at this point that they are actually reading these things).
I can't disagree that it's annoying. But I suppose 21+ years of internet lurking has numbed me to it. It's just part of the trade-off of being able to share thoughts and ideas with such a wide variety of personalities and at light speed: sometimes you have to trim the fat to get to the meat.
I find, though, that if you don't bash and insult those people, and try to answer them succinctly and civilly, they typically will make an effort to make the forums a better place. When you lump them into a group and flame them (directly or indirectly), it is more counterproductive than anything.
it was done purposely
You are a doctor, after all.
I argued for a "wait and see" with the new character builder. Now I've got it, and I don't like it, overall, for reasons that have been stated over and over by many people.
I'm upset about the cancelled books. Books I was looking forward to and expected to be able to sell to my customers.
I'm most upset about the lack of communication. It's really, really wrong that I get most of my information about "what's going on" here on the forums. As a retailer. I get practically no information whatsoever from WotC or through the games distributors. I just recieved a new product catalogue in the mail yesterday that still includes the Class Compendium, which we know is gone, and says Heroes of Shadow will be softcover and out in March. This is the "official" news I get.
Presumably there will be some announcements and/or a lynching at D&D Experience. I hope they are ready for it.
I get practically no information whatsoever from WotC or through the games distributors.
Yeah, this sucks.
Generally I stay out of these threads, the Letters to WoTC, the WoTC is failing.
It's not really relevant to anything in this thread... or anywhere else really... but this comment amused me. From the brief time I've spent semi-following this sub-forum, it seems like you've replied to almost every single complaint about WotC.
Generally I stay out of these threads, the Letters to WoTC, the WoTC is failing.
It's not really relevant to anything in this thread... or anywhere else really... but this comment amused me. From the brief time I've spent semi-following this sub-forum, it seems like you've replied to almost every single complaint about WotC.
Any, I am quitting DDI thread, nope, what's the point?
The majority of WoTC are doooooomed posts, nope, what's the point.
If it's a specific subject (No more comps) yes, I will speak up.
But the general, Oh Woah is me the end is neigh, and I hate WoTC. No point, it's just pure drama of little value.
Canceling my DDI subscription didn't post in that thread.
Communication didn't post in that thread.
Where are the skill powers...
Open Letter to WoTC
I will no longer be updating the D&Di wiki
Will thee every be a Necromanacer...
Virtual Tabletop
Riddle Me this, Wizards
Stop Automatic Renewal! Which used to have a lovely rant by the OP.
Bug-Cleric power
All threads I've read, but did NOT post in. All on the front page. And not all threads I posted go against what the the OP is complaining about.
The Death of Dragon and Dungeon magazine why, i agree, the loss of the end month comps suck.
Wizards won't lisetn to us maybe... I make a joke, but I certainly don't disagree with the poster.
Boycott Hasbro I question his need to boycott, but I still say he has the right to.
Update tomorrow, Brace yourself A thread basicaly making fun of the forums on update day. I point out that the OCB wasn't perfect as some seem to think, that WoTC is communicating like people have asked, and then that the off line MB won't be updated because of the Online coming out.
A positive opinion of wotc I posted my view, which wasn't all sunshine and lolly pops and left it at that.
It's time to return to the start all I do is mention that they will probably never put dark sun creatures in the offline monster builder,
Are they going to update the old Monster Builder The same as above, just letting them know they aren't going to add any more content to the old monster builder
Well, those are the threads started by non WoTC staff on the front page when I edited this. Ten I didn't post in, 7 I did. Of the 5 that are WoTC official announce ments, 3 I posted in, one of those being a thread to post in if you needed technical help. The other two, I'm in disagreement with WoTC's choice to stop the comps, and the other, I want WoTC to be clear when they say Content Every Weekday.
So, I guess I post in less then half the threads. And sometimes I agree with the complaint, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I just pass information on. I did a quick run down of the second page of posts, and I'm in 27% of those, and some of them, I'm in full agreement with the complaint, more so then when I disagree with someone.
Interesting, though I did see the same handful of names in just about every thread, save one or two. Seems some other people actually do post in just about every thread. Certainly far more then I do. Not only do you see these names in about 90% of the threads, you see them many times in that thread. Often far more then the OP of the thread. Often these names have thier posts moderated or removed as well.
Proof is in the pudding. I do admit that when I speak my mind, i'm pretty blunt and it gets attention. So much that a few people have taken to stalking me on the forums, to the point where they have gotten multiple time outs for it. I'm really not worth it.
It's not really relevant to anything in this thread... or anywhere else really... but this comment amused me. From the brief time I've spent semi-following this sub-forum, it seems like you've replied to almost every single complaint about WotC.
Like a cat and catnip, it is.