A million apologies if this has already been mentioned/brought up. I looked using the search feature and couldn't find anything. Anyways........ Do any of you have PHB's that have faded print found throughout the book? In mine it appears that every few pages the printer was running low on ink. While it is still pretty much legible, it can be very hard to make out in low-light situations. The pictures, topic headings, etc, look just fine. However the actual black ink print is the main problem. While it isn't a game-ender, I do feel like I shouldn't have to squint at printing in a book that I paid $50 US for. Anyone else have this problem?
Yeah, mine is also a bit faded in places. It's not a big deal, but it is something that should probably be corrected for future printings.
Yes, mine arrived with faded print and one of the pages was ripped. I have since returned it and picked up a new one.
I actually bought two PHB and both seem to be of great quality, at least so far.
On the other hand, my copy of Hoard of the Dragon Queen came from amazon very badly miss-bound. It was like the pages were shoved into the hardcover while the cover was crushed into an angle. The pages are straight if the cover is held down wrong, and if the hardcover is held straight the pages come out in an all-funny angle. Exchanging it for a new one.
I have some pages with faded text too. It's still legible but a bit annoying.
Ah ok. Glad to hear that I am not the only one. Perhaps I can get it replaced or swapped at my local store. I really hope that future books don't have this issue.
Both of mine are perfect, no faded ink issue. Very happy with my books.
I think these things are bound to happen, best thing to do is return or exchange your bad copies.
I have some patchy faded parts in my book too but its still totaly readable.
Light can often fade the pages. Have you tried reading it in a dark windowless room?
I haven't noticed in mine, but I'll take a look tonight. If it does, I'll return it for another copy.
I have it. On many pages. Sigh.
I've got it on quite a few pages. The characters that are faded seem to be in the areas of the parchment background that are lighter in color, so it creates a splotchiness effect when seeing the page as a whole. It's not bad at all, very much legible even in low light (and I'm not even an elf!), so probably not worth getting replaced. Hopefully someone above is listening, though, to correct it.
I just checked mine, and thankfully it's in perfect shape. Like I said before, I'd take it back if it was bad enough, especially for the price of the PHB (and because I like to keep my stuff in pretty good shape).
Yep, I have ink-faded pages on mine too. But the binding is perfect!
Chalk it up to a personality quirk of the book. ;)
My PHB is faded here and there as well. It's a bit annoying, but I plan to buy another copy anyways at some point. Also, it is readable, but distracting sometimes. Hopefully the monster manual and DMG don't suffer the same flaw. I expect more of a $50 book, but the content is so good that I don't care.
@Demomonkey: Yeah, I have tried it. In high lighting it is easier to see. In low light, the faded portions are actually harder to read.
@Whir: Haha, this is true. I could always think of it as being some old faded tome I suppose.
To be honest, I would expect more from a $50 book. However, due to the qaulity of the information itself, I am finding it hard to get too annoyed. There are a few pages that I almost want to take pics of to show you guys due to the horrendous printing. But, I can manage. As terrible as it sounds, I think I would feel bad taking it back to my FLGS after the struggle he went through to make sure I had a reserved copy on the 8th of August. The problem really does look like a standard printer running out of ink. While no words are actually missing, there are quite a few paragraphs where the entire bottom half of a word is completely invsible. As I said before, as long as the MM and DMG turn out ok, I won't complain too loudly. This is the most motivated I have been to play in years, so, I guess I am willing to take the heat round on this one.
Faded ink on my pages too. Legible? Yes. But... kind of worried how long it's gonna take before the text is gone. I take my phb everywhere. 
yes faded ink, looks like their printer is goint to went out of ink
one can easily blur the scripture with the finger
I've read through more of my PHB now and I've found a number of pages with faded, smudged and/or slightly blurry text. Nothing terribly bad, but I think I might contact customer service anyway. The trouble is, with so many people reporting this problem, it seems like there's no guarantee any replacement I might get won't have the same problem.
I have a few pages with light ink. Like everyone else, I admit that for $50 this shouldn't be happening, but considering the binding seems fine, and I hand picked one that had very minimal page waviness to it, I'm choosing to look on the bright side.
I think for the Monster Manual I'm going to hold out and get it from Amazon. At $30, if there's a major printing problem or if it's dinged due to bad packaging (which is an all too frequent occurence these days), at least it's a fairly minor hassle to get a replacement. And if there's a minor problem, I'll feel less bad about it at the discounted price.
-HM