Just like an amtrack train, this thread has derailed.  

Mind getting this thread back on track please?

Amazon UK are offering a 34% discount.

As much as I may sympathise with the plight of the modern RPG store there's no way I'm going to pass up an offer like that.

Quote from: Mike S.Just like an amtrack train, this thread has derailed.  

Mind getting this thread back on track please?

What else is there to say? Those are cheap prices: good for the consumer, bad for the competition. Unless there's new information I think all the lines of speculation have been covered already.

In the end, there's not really anything stores can do about it. They can opt to stop selling D&D, which hurts themselves and their loyal customers. They can opt to try to match it with incentives of their own, which might also hurt them depending on the incentive offered. Or they can keep on keepin' on.

No - We can also badmouth Amazon - THAT's what we can do!!!

Amazon cut in front of me in line!!


Amazon don't Surf!!

Its actually a bit worse for the FLGS.

If 4E release follows past patterns, then the chain bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble will get the 4E books before the FLGS do and will sell 4E a day or so before the official release date.

For all you Amazon.com shoppers, you have to understand that the 4E books may go on sale and be bought on a specific date, but that may or may not be the date that those books get shipped.

And the game store chain that Koltar belongs to has a definite love-hate relationship with WotC that goes back for years.

Quote from: Settembrini

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke

Quote from: SettembriniIt´s the opposite of what Dancey did! The ENFORCED sales via brick & mortar at the start of 3e!

Seems this faithful cooperation in the games stores being the main recruiter for D&D has been severed.

I am puzzeld. Ryan Dancey advised WotC against fulfiilling orders from Amazon?

http://gamingoutpost.com/article/another_nail_in_the_coffin/

I remember that.

That was five months before the Big Announcement at Gen Con 1999, one and a half year before the publication of 3e. Back then D&D was a rather small fish for WotC, compared to MTG and the behemoth that was Pokemon.

WotC was more concerned with protecting the perceived value of their trading card booster packs. Amigo, the German distributor of MTG and Pokemon, also required a picture taken of the store premises as part of an account application. Their field service would later check on them, especially if the only product ordered was MTG and Pokemon.
Other distributors (Pegasus, FanPro) handled new accounts similarly.

That was more of a measure against MTG and Pokemon fans that registered a business licence just to get their fix at net price.