Quote from: Abyssal Maw;384999So..what would the difference between that and "exactly how they said they would do it" be?

Not a whole lot.  Primarily cosmetic.

Quote from: areola;384998So all books after Essentials are small paperbacks?

Hard to say for sure, until more of the 2011 schedule is revealed (after April 2011).

Quote from: areola;384998And Player's Option? Is that the way they introduce the Shadow power source?

This is highly suggestive to be the case.

The Heroes of the Fallen Lands cover reads "Iconic Races and Classes for All Players." Iconic? Uggh. This is pure forum geek speak making its way into the shop window.

Quote from: The_Shadow;385028The Heroes of the Fallen Lands cover reads "Iconic Races and Classes for All Players." Iconic? Uggh. This is pure forum geek speak making its way into the shop window.

Wonder if the two "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." books, are actually a compilation "stealth" release of Martial Power 3, Arcane Power 2, Divine Power 2, and Primal Power 2 for the more popular classes, as well as "Player's Handbook Races" 32 page books on Dwarves, Eladrin, Elves, Halflings, Humans, Drow, Half-elves, Half-orcs.

One introduces tieflings and dragonborn into the essentials line from what ive read on the wizards site.

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;385043One introduces tieflings and dragonborn into the essentials line from what ive read on the wizards site.

Yes.  Wonder how well that "Player's Handbook Races:  Dragonborn" 32 page book sold.

The last time I was at several local gaming stores, the owners mentioned that 32 page dragonborn book didn't sell very well.  One place still has 12-15 copies of it sitting on the shelves.

Was any of the material exclusive to the book?  

I can't see buying a 32 page pamphlet mixed with fluff and mechanics when it's just as easy to get the content online, since you're not talking about a substantial amount of information that needs to be organized or anything.

Quote from: Peregrin;385045Was any of the material exclusive to the book?  

I can't see buying a 32 page pamphlet mixed with fluff and mechanics when it's just as easy to get the content online, since you're not talking about a substantial amount of information that needs to be organized or anything.

I don't know offhand.  I don't have a DDI subscription.

Offhand I don't really see "Player's Handbook Races" 32 page books on elves, dwarves, halflings, etc .. being that compelling of a purchase to begin with.

It doesn't even pass my own "impulse buy" test.  Even crappy modules are a better "impulse buy".

Hmm.  Next time I'm at the shop, I'll have to compare.

I agree, though.  Most of those small booklet purchases really aren't substantial enough to warrant buying.  I could see them maybe moving at a con or an organized event where people are pepped up from playing, but you'd have to really sell the things.

In a twisted way, a "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." book would be a better dumpster for such content, than several 32 page "Player's Handbook Races" books which will probably end up sitting on the shelves collecting dust for a long time.

These days there's hardly any worthwhile "impulse buys" anymore whenever I visit a gaming store.  In recent months, the only "impulse buys" I picked up were some Pathfinder modules and maybe some older 1E/2E AD&D stuff in the used bins they occasionally get.

At several nearby gaming stores, the owners/managers mentioned the Martial Power 2 book was somewhat of a stinker in sales.  If this is the case more generally and widespread, perhaps there may not be much appetite at WotC to release more "Power" books like Martial Power 3, Arcane Power 2, etc ...

The "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." books may very well be an easier place to release such new content, instead of a Martial Power 3, Arcane Power 2, etc ... for people who are still interested in buying paper D&D books.

The shadow power classes may possibly be released as a "Player's Options:  Heroes of Shadow" book in 6" x 9" trade paperback format, instead of a "4E Player's Handbook 4" hardcover book.  If this turns out to be the case, one wonders how well the 4E PHB3 sold.  At several nearby gaming stores, the managers/owners mentioned the PHB3 sales weren't the greatest, but not a complete stinker either.  (ie.  They didn't have to put PHB3 on backorder yet).

The smaller sized 4E Essentials (and later) books have a size of 6 x 9, while the older 4E D&D hardcovers book have a size of 8.5 x 11.  These correspond to page surface areas of 54 square inches and 93.5 square inches respectively.  The ratio of these areas is 93.5/54 = 1.73148.

The official page count of the Nentir Vale Gazetteer is 192 pages in a 6 x 9 trade paperback size.  Assuming the size of the text and most pictures/art is approximately the same, an equivalent 8.5 x 11 sized book with the same content would have about 192/1.73 = 111 pages.  In practice, it means this would probably be a 8.5 x 11 sized softcover book with a page count of 96, 112, or 128 pages.

The official page count of the 4E Essentials "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." books are 352 pages per book in a 6 x 9 trade paperback size.  Assuming the size of the text and most pictures/art is approximately the same, an equivalent 8.5 x 11 sized hardcover book with the same content would have about 352/1.73 = 203 pages.  In practice, it means this would probably be a 8.5 x 11 sized hardcover book with a page count of 192, 208, or 224 pages.  (For comparison, the 4E PHB2 and PHB3 have page counts of 224 pages).

The first "Player Essentials:  Heroes of the Fallen Lands" book is covering the cleric, fighter, ranger, rogue, and wizard classes, along with the dwarves, eladrin, elves, halflings, and humans races.

http://wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/247520000

The second "Player Essentials:  Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" book is covering the cleric, the druid, the paladin, the ranger, and the warlock, along with the dragonborn, drow, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings races.

http://wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/247510000

No idea why they're covering the cleric and ranger in both books.  (One really cynical ploy could be if WotC is trying to convince players who like to play clerics and rangers, to buy both books).

If the last few 4E Power books were not particular hot sellers, then packaging new builds for the more popular classes into these two "Player Essentials" books, would be better than releasing a Martial Power 3, Arcane Power 2, Divine Power 2, or Primal Power 2.  (No point in releasing new books, which they suspect may not sell very well).

I wouldn't be surprised if the races sections of these two "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." books, covers content which in principle could have been published as individual "Player's Handbook Races" 32 page books (ie. new crunch, etc ...).  Personally, I don't see individual 32 page "Player's Handbook Races" books on elves, dwarves, humans, halflings, half-orcs, etc ... to be that compelling of an "impulse buy".

Overall, it wouldn't be surprising if these two "Player Essentials:  Heroes of ..." books, are very much like two 4E Power books with some "Player's Handbook Races" content tacked on.  WotC's marketing people probably figured out it may very well be easier to sell such books, with new crunch for the more popular classes and races.

Thanks for the info. I am curious to see the new builds for the classes. But then again, I didn't really care about the new builds from MP2 or Dragon mags. The 2 builds for each class in the PHB was simple enough.

With the Nentir Vale being fleshed out, they might as well make it a campaign setting.

Wonder how the hardcore 4e fans feel with their collection going small paperbacks.