Since Mike Mearls was kind enough to post picture of his DMG, I am Curious why the Delay? Even if it was a Test Print, they should still have been able to get it printed and to distributers by the 9th and then 18th releases?
My guess is more along the lines of DMG sales counting in a given sales quarter as being a factor in the 28th and Dec 9th time line.
It was addressed on their site.. The book is delayed for further editing and revisions, as the site says "... additional time we needed to put into the DMG without sacrificing content or quality." Does Mike Mearls have a copy of the DMG? Sure. Does he have a final fully revised copy of the DMG? It's possible, but it's also possible he doesn't. Assuming the book has been finalized and he has a copy of it, do they have the means to mass produce and distribute that final copy to all their retailers by the old release date? Possibly not.
The reason for the initial delay I am awhare of. I also would believe that the DMG posted is revised test copy. They would also have time to get it to distributers. It was time frame they had for the players handbook. It is very possible that through very hard work from their staff they finished early and it may cause more problems than it is worth to adjust the date again.
Then again looking at the time frame off on the 13th of October it was poster by Jeremy Crawford DMG was done. It would be reasonable to guess this was sent to the printers at that time and the copy on the 31st may be the DMG that is the one to go to mass market. This would lead to the idea that changing the date again could cause problems and releasing it later on has revenue streams in December through new year.
Either way the DMG is done and is either in Final Test copy completed or done and working it way to Distributers and should make it in plenty of time for the 28th and 9th release schedule
Dave2 wrote:
If, quality controll is what they are doing for the printed copies great. I am thinking the one Mike posted is indeed the DMG that is going to distributers. It may be test copy, but I do not think that is the case.
Dave2 wrote:
I'm sure the problems people had with the quality of the PHB and MM will still exist for the DMG. Printing via the lowest bidder is like that.
Personally, I'm ok with the delay. It probably means there's not going to be as much errata, lol. Also, they need to update and work on the final free PDFs as well. Besides, it's a small run, super niche product that likely won't make a ton of money like the carboard crack that is M:tG. Or a crappy Hasbro Michael Bay film. Really, if D&D breaks even and doesn't have to lay off people, it's a win.
Bloodscythe wrote:
The_Jester wrote:
It's funny (but not really...) how huffy and demanding and just downright pissy people get over the ship dates on their RPG products. And how smugly sanctimonious they are in denigrating the publishers/writers. Basically it's "Your product sucks because it doesn't have (insert favorite class/weapon/whatever), it's full of typos, it's late, you're obviously putting profits first and game quality second, and I could do a better job myself in my sleep....BUT OMG I NEED IT RIGHT NOW!!!!"
Maybe "ironic" would be a better word than "funny".
Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, whenever it arrives, especially now that I know it has new subclasses.
Is there a complete list of all sneak peaks somewhere? I've seen a few magic items, the Villain subclasses....what else have we seen? (Table of Contents would ROCK.)
And, Mike & Co.: I would have done some things differently but overall 5e is great. Best edition yet.
CCS wrote:
CCS wrote:
Elfcrusher wrote:
Grazel wrote:
The_Jester wrote:
EN World has indicted the same thing the DMG is printed. I do think they finished earlier than they thought when the delay first happenend. I would also think that if it was a test copy I would post that on my twitter page rather than have people think that is the finished copy. So is the entire run dun maybe maybe not. I do think they have distrubution ready copies at Wizards at the least. As far as releasing the books like they have along with editing they mentionend prolonged hype. Having a book sell late November early December does extend sales out some. I will say that I do not think it is the sole reason for the delay. I think it was related editing and refining. I also think they finished with the process earlier than they thought. Since it was only 2 week delay I think the date was left as is.
As far as the coments above I think if you look at my earlier post, I have been very pro 5 and have said that the game was mostly done. With the PH and MM done the game to me was 95 percent done. I have also liked advantage, disadvantage, and bonded acuracy. So the DMG is about 5 percent game for me. Magic items. i look forward to all the options but they are not needed for me to enjoy the game.
First World Problems...
ChrisCarlson wrote:
It's been a very long time since I've been this thrilled with a new edition. Another 2 weeks won't kill me.
Seeing the addition of the Shadowfell and the most recent changes/refinements, I'd be ok with waiting till Jan or Feb if it was deemed beneficial to the end product.
Patience, friends. This will be worth the wait. 
because PHB was written terribly and they don't want to repeat the same mistake.
Trance-Zg wrote:
Mistwell wrote:
Angel7 wrote:
I looked at the 4e PHB in the bookstore the other day. All those two-tone stat blocks for abilities made my eyes bleed.
Much prefer this one.
Agree about the index and the impossibility of looking up spells, though. But other than wasting pages by printing out each class's complete spell list, sorted by level, I don't know how they could do it better. It belongs online, not in a book.
Elfcrusher wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
After some thought, I am debating whether I need the DMG. Not saying I like or dislike DMGS, I have bought only one and that was for 1E. About the only thing that would save me time would be Random Tables. I suppose once the DMG is done we will get closer to a Spelljammer release. 
Elfcrusher wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
abs1nth wrote:
I'd rather have a good, complete product out that takes a little longer, than one that's rushed and half-assed.
Mistwell wrote:
So now that Crawford, Perkins, and Mearls have all shown copies of the DMG. I would say that my time line was about right. October 13th done, and around 31st Mearls had copy and others. I am guessing that the release schedule could have indeed been moved up from the initial re adjustment ie the 28th and Dec 9th. They are not doing any kind of quality checks at this point. Now how far they are into the full print run I do not know. I also think moving up the release date does not make sense at this time supply chains ect. I also think that having the last of the big three books coming out late November 28th early December 9th is not a bad thing. They are not releasing add on rules as before. 4th it seemed a rule book every 3 months. This is not the case now and the rules they do add are going to be tied to theme for awhile at least. March will be a players guide for the Elemental Evil Adventure. So we may only get one to two rule books a year. Having the last of the bid 3 coming out two weeks later and closure to the Holiday season does not hurt their/Wizards feelings at all. That is what I would do.
Once again this not a knock against the game or company at all just an observation. I have enjoyed the game quite a bit and like bounded accuracy and advantage and disadvantage. The game to me was 95 percent done with MM and PH. The other 5 percent was magic items which are in DMG. The large amount optional rules will be interesting to look at and read but will not change how much I like 5e, which is allot.
Printing delays aside, if they'd plan for releasing PDFs along side the books, we could have the DMG in hand via PDF by now.
Instead we keep hearing how they want to make sure their digital plan helps them grow D&D. How does PDF prevent them from growing the business. All the games I care to think about have PDFs these days. PDF sales are icing. In Paizo's case, they basically give away their PDFs for free (with subscription.)
WOTC needs to stop worry about the sales they're not getting from people that steal the books and start worry about the sales they're not getting by not having PDFs at all. They could be selling the DMG right now, but they're not.
Dave2 wrote:
dmgorgon wrote:
They actually had boxes of the MM at Gen Con. Anyone who took part D&D 100 dollar experience got the MM so around 100 copies or so. If they had started the push around the 31st October they may have got it/DMG into the distrabution chain to move the date up, but when you are only talking around two weeks does it make sense to do it. Probably not.
The good news is we should see it/DMG on the 28th November or the 9th December. Then I will probably have awhile to wait untill I will have another 5e core book to look forward to from Wizards with their new schedule.
SirUrza wrote:
My only problem with the PHB is the spell dump. Which might grow. (If all the other editions are an indecator, it will grow.)
One list.
Honestly, it'd be easier if there was no overlap between caster classes, and each class just had their own spells. It is a pain in the butt to flip through that and wonder: a) what class(s) get this spell, and what spell school is this spell...
Whatever. I cannot think of a better way to do it in print form. So, there's that.
What's much worse, IMO is the sacred cow of 9 spell levels vs. 20 PC levels. That's the real dead elephant in the room that should have been burned over a decade ago.
seti wrote:
Here's a side example highlighting the time it takes to print.
Paizo's Strategy Guide is good to go. It's finished and was planned to be in stores in December. Paizo recieved the copies now, but it's apparently going to take them almost a month to get them to shelves.
However, according to news on the Paizo blog, there was a problem in the printing, and books were ruined:
http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lgpm?Strategy-Guide-Update
This means books will not be out until February.
So finishing the book means nothing, and it can take two months for a completely finished book to end up on store shelves. Because printers only work so fast (and problems happen if they rush) and shipping books to distributors and then to stores takes time.
Now, since WotC prints in the US rather than China, getting books from the printer will be faster. But they deal with the same distributor as Paizo, so getting books from the publisher warehouse to stores isn't any faster.
Grazel wrote:
Azzy1974 wrote:
seti wrote:
By the way, if you haven't seen it, I built my own dynamic spell index here:
http://salty-ridge-7989.herokuapp.com/
but it doesn't have the actual spell descriptions. If the text were available online somewhere I would link it, but I'm not about to type in every spell.
But I'd much rather see WotC provide a complete implementation of this sort of thing, and do the same thing for monsters and magic items, then waste pages trying to build more printed indexes.
SirUrza wrote:
seti wrote:
Mistwell wrote: