A somewhat different marketing strategy
Any big public playtest is not only done for the developers to get feedback, but also serves a marketing purpose. Marketing is done to sell your products, and boy, did that D&D Next playtest work on me: I'm buying 4th edition D&D books as if there were no tomorrow. Because it is likely that for 4th edition there actually *is* no tomorrow. The 4E books will go out of print, and the 4E support on the D&D Insider website is uncertain.
Thus I'm buying all the rulebooks I originally didn't think I needed for my current campaign, like the various "powers" books with optional powers for all classes. And I just ordered all the 4th edition adventures I didn't have yet from Amazon (some of them already marked "Only 2 left in stock--order soon!"). Basically I'm preparing for an imminent future in which there aren't any D&D products that interest me to buy, by buying everything I might need in the future to keep playing 4th edition when Wizards of the Coast will abandon me as a customer.
The sad thing about that is that my local gaming store has lots of alternative products for people who liked earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Thus the people who didn't like 4th edition had an excellent alternative in Pathfinder, and some other d20 game systems. For 4th edition there is no good alternative that I know of, it is a really unique system in its combination of roleplaying with strong tactical combat. And WotC's more restrictive Game System License for 4E never encouraged many other companies to make 4E compatible products.
On the upside the situation is obviously much better than if a MMORPG changes to a version you don't like. Once I have all the rulebooks I need, I can keep on playing 4th edition D&D forever, even if WotC doesn't support the game at all any more. Even if they go out of business, which I still think is an option. I hope they at least sell some licenses for turn-based computer games based on 4th edition, because 4E would obviously make for a much better system for that than D&D Next.
Thus I'm buying all the rulebooks I originally didn't think I needed for my current campaign, like the various "powers" books with optional powers for all classes. And I just ordered all the 4th edition adventures I didn't have yet from Amazon (some of them already marked "Only 2 left in stock--order soon!"). Basically I'm preparing for an imminent future in which there aren't any D&D products that interest me to buy, by buying everything I might need in the future to keep playing 4th edition when Wizards of the Coast will abandon me as a customer.
The sad thing about that is that my local gaming store has lots of alternative products for people who liked earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Thus the people who didn't like 4th edition had an excellent alternative in Pathfinder, and some other d20 game systems. For 4th edition there is no good alternative that I know of, it is a really unique system in its combination of roleplaying with strong tactical combat. And WotC's more restrictive Game System License for 4E never encouraged many other companies to make 4E compatible products.
On the upside the situation is obviously much better than if a MMORPG changes to a version you don't like. Once I have all the rulebooks I need, I can keep on playing 4th edition D&D forever, even if WotC doesn't support the game at all any more. Even if they go out of business, which I still think is an option. I hope they at least sell some licenses for turn-based computer games based on 4th edition, because 4E would obviously make for a much better system for that than D&D Next.
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