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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 6:41AM
#141
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I'm sure people have already brought this up, but here's my feedback: when I start paying for the magazines, they better update content every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday without fail, or I will be effing livid.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 7:36AM
#142
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Are the updates too hard to find?
There is a very slight learning curve to figure this out, but once you know where to look, it becomes second nature. I would not lose any sleep over this at all.
Well it would help if things consistently appeared in the order they appeared on the dated parts. I'm pretty sure I read the halls of the frost thing on thursday first, but it's dated 9/26 and now shows as newer than the swordmage article (which then gets pushed out of sight).
The date listing should work for anyone going to the site regularly, you shouldn't have to check the ToC MWF just to make sure you're not missing anything.
Is our schedule too difficult to follow?
I hate the cocky way this was said above, but there is truth to it. Are you guys capable of following the MWF schedule? You did great to start, but the past month has been really sketchy.
For our part, the MWF schedule seems fine.
I like the schedule, but would also like to see it met. It would also be nice to see stuff spread evenly across the month. At the start of 9/24 there were only 3 MWF days left in the month, but 11 Dragon and Dungeon articles left to release - that's 3-4 each day. (It seems like you put out token updates early in the month to meet shcedule then scramble at the end)
Is it good to see the Table of Contents ahead of time because it promotes interest and discussion, or is the tease a net negative?
This is the tricky one. There is a group of people who seem to have trouble grasping how the ToC is meant to work. For some reason, some people think that as soon as the ToC is up, every article along with the compiled magazine should also be available.
I don't know how to explain it properly myself. The closest I can get is that the ToC is sort of like the plans for a building that hasn't been built yet. As each article is released, its like a new floor has been added to the building until its complete. But the building doesn't instantly pop into existence just because you have the plans available.
I like the ToC - assuming you don't change it during month like was done for the last TWO (out of what? four?).
Janus Gull got bumped from August to September and the Barbarian got bumped from September to October.
To put it simply, if this is the period that you're trying to sell us on buying a digital Dragon and Dungeon and you can't keep your schedule - how do I know that it won't get worse when you have my money?
The problem with digital over print is that there is the temptation to overpromise or muck with things you've commited to.
I'll be honest, I'm leaning towards paying for a year, but if articles promised at the begining of the month start sliding once I'm paying, you can count on me demanding a pro-rated refund.
It's not that hard - it it's on the ToC on the first day of the month, it damn well better get released that month. If you not sure, you shouldn't be trying to release it that month.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 8:12AM
#143
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Date Joined:
Jun 16, 2008
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This time I feel the need to post my opinion. I have had no real problem with the direction of DDi, but I'm only interested in the magazine content. The problem with your attempt to avoid arguing was that people read a context into your article that may or may not have been there. Personally, I did not get anything condescending from either of your posts and I agree that the internet frequently becomes a bad medium for communication. Assumptions are made about how someone says something and arguments happen.
To me, the articles have been coming along fine until this past issue where it seems like something happened that put everything behind schedule. The Dungeon 158 issue is out without a Table of Contents linked and it's close to the end of the month. I had an idea for keeping on schedule. Make a month ahead and stay ahead. It may be hard to do considering that you're already on schedule so I'm not sure how this would work, but you could be working on next month's while releasing the current one.
As for the Table of Contents, it's nice, but it is a lot of teasing. It's a good and bad thing. However, content changes needs to be addressed when something is going to be pulled, because there's going to be a few people that see it before it's changed. What then was a cheerful announcement becomes a sour one and then a discussion about it happens where it boils and stews for a while until there's an explanation. The problem is that those bitter feelings don't really go away, or at least that fast. To prevent it, it needs to be addressed, quickly.
I look forward to the upcoming content and will be subscribing to DDi.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 9:18AM
#144
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Date Joined:
Dec 11, 2006
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I'm sure people have already brought this up, but here's my feedback: when I start paying for the magazines, they better update content every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday without fail, or I will be effing livid.
Sadly though, they have stated over and over, they have made no "legal" committment to this and once you've already paid, really...does it matter?
They have made a generalized comittment to have the full PDF out every month, the rest is just "we hope to's". If your ok with that, pay way.
Browncoats Unite...
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 11:05AM
#145
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Sadly though, they have stated over and over, they have made no "legal" committment to this and once you've already paid, really...does it matter?
They have made a generalized comittment to have the full PDF out every month, the rest is just "we hope to's". If your ok with that, pay way.
Well I know it wasn't "legal" but didn't they say that's what they'd do? If I misread and they said they'd try, I'll get over it, but I was under the impression that was a sort of promise to us that they haven't kept. Of course, I'll still pay for it, because the content is well worth the proposed price, but it seems pretty lame to me that they wouldn't be able to keep such a schedule considering printing and distribution are no longer an issue. It's one thing to give us free content and not keep to a hard schedule; that doesn't bother me since it's free. If we're paying for it, though, I'd like either a monthly e-zine or regularly scheduled articles. Honestly the part that bugs me is never knowing when the articles are going to go up; I almost missed the Swordmage Class Acts.
I love 4th edition and the content I've seen is mostly great (some of the writing quality is subpar to me, but that's a separate issue). I'm just disappointed in several aspects of Wizards as a company, and their frequent inability to stick to their timelines is one of them.
Cheers,
Kyle
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 12:19PM
#146
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Well I know it wasn't "legal" but didn't they say that's what they'd do? If I misread and they said they'd try, I'll get over it, but I was under the impression that was a sort of promise to us that they haven't kept. Of course, I'll still pay for it, because the content is well worth the proposed price, but it seems pretty lame to me that they wouldn't be able to keep such a schedule considering printing and distribution are no longer an issue. It's one thing to give us free content and not keep to a hard schedule; that doesn't bother me since it's free. If we're paying for it, though, I'd like either a monthly e-zine or regularly scheduled articles. Honestly the part that bugs me is never knowing when the articles are going to go up; I almost missed the Swordmage Class Acts.
I love 4th edition and the content I've seen is mostly great (some of the writing quality is subpar to me, but that's a separate issue). I'm just disappointed in several aspects of Wizards as a company, and their frequent inability to stick to their timelines is one of them.
Cheers,
Kyle
M/W/F was announced plan, with a saving clause "we might not always meet the plan".
Completed PDFs were promised for the transitional that has not been met.
With 4th, end of month has an odd definition and commitment was shortly after month was complete the completed PDF would be available.
Plans are always subject to change.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 1:21PM
#147
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2007
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Personally I think the pricing is too high. I would sign up if the reduced rates were for all of DDI including the tools not yet added. I'd even sign up before the tools were finished. But I do not want to pay 120 dollars a year to use all of the online content. It's too expensive for something I will not be able to use all of the time.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 1:32PM
#148
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2008
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Honestly the part that bugs me is never knowing when the articles are going to go up; I almost missed the Swordmage Class Acts.
Ironically, until I read your post I HAD missed the Swordmage Class Acts, because three things had been released that day!
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 2:08PM
#149
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Date Joined:
Aug 18, 2007
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Well I know it wasn't "legal" but didn't they say that's what they'd do? If I misread and they said they'd try, I'll get over it, but I was under the impression that was a sort of promise to us that they haven't kept. Of course, I'll still pay for it, because the content is well worth the proposed price, but it seems pretty lame to me that they wouldn't be able to keep such a schedule considering printing and distribution are no longer an issue. It's one thing to give us free content and not keep to a hard schedule; that doesn't bother me since it's free. If we're paying for it, though, I'd like either a monthly e-zine or regularly scheduled articles. Honestly the part that bugs me is never knowing when the articles are going to go up; I almost missed the Swordmage Class Acts.
I love 4th edition and the content I've seen is mostly great (some of the writing quality is subpar to me, but that's a separate issue). I'm just disappointed in several aspects of Wizards as a company, and their frequent inability to stick to their timelines is one of them.
Cheers,
Kyle
Ouch.
So they've made no real commitment of any kind as to the amount of product they're actually going to produce?
Maybe that's a good place to start prior to asking people to pay.
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5 years ago ::
Sep 27, 2008 - 2:47PM
#150
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Date Joined:
Jun 18, 2003
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Personally I think the pricing is too high. I would sign up if the reduced rates were for all of DDI including the tools not yet added. I'd even sign up before the tools were finished. But I do not want to pay 120 dollars a year to use all of the online content. It's too expensive for something I will not be able to use all of the time.
Umm, no, if you pay for a Year Subscription, it's 60 bucks + Tax. 
Resident Logic Cannon
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