It kind of slipped my mind due to my attention being occupied by how much I dislike the recent marketplace changes, but I got some time now to skim the new book a bit and I remember I wanted to share some good news. One good thing that Wizards really did improve upon lately is their shipping and handling of physical books when you buy the digital-physical bundle. I got Vecna: Eve of Ruin about a week ago, and it is the first book that I recieved from Wizards that is free of cosmetic damage. There are no dents. There are no bumped corners. The book looks brand new in mint condition. If you go into your local game store, you may or may not find the equivalent book in equal mint condition. And as time goes on, physical in-store copies would deteriorate overtime, accumulating dents and bumps from being flipped through by many different people, unless you request a copy in the back inventory or something.
The book arrived in box that is quite a bit bigger than the book, and the book is wrapped in a soft cardboard mesh to further protect it incase the box gets jostled around and dropped. Previously, books arrived in boxes that just barely fit the books, and there are no additional layers between the box and the book, so if the package gets dropped or hit, dents and bumped corners easily form on the book. The only other improvement I can think of is to waterproof the package. The current packaging is fine right now for California since our summers are dry, but when it gets to rainy season during the winter, I do not think that packaging would be adequate to protect against water.
That being said, if you are a regular GM like me, dents and bumps are not a huge issue, as D&D books are tools at the end of the day, and they will get beat up over time as we use them. Water damage could be a serious issue though. On the other hand, if you are a book collector and just want the books to look pretty sitting on your shelf, I think there is a strong argument for buying the book directly from Wizards now. It will be a little more pricey since you are going to have to pay the MSRP price and pay for the digital copy (that you may or may not need). But if you are late to the game and cannot find a copy in mint condition at a store, buying from Wizards will be your best bet. If you want the alternate cover books though, you will still have to go through local game stores, and if they run out, you will have to hope to get a decent copy on Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else online.
I am in the US, so if you are an international customer, I am not sure if your shipping and handling is the same as ours. Hopefully, it is not as absymally crap as before.
That is all, folks. I just want something positive to talk about. I threw some polls for some fun visualizations
What's your constraints for the international poll? For VEoR? Or just our experience generally?
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Is it known that international shipping is packaged differently from US packaging? If orders were being fulfilled out of a WotC warehouse that doesn't also service US shipments, I could see that, but if they're all coming out of the same fulfillment center, I don't know if there'd be two packing systems.
I'm glad it sounds like WotC has worked to deliver direct orders in better condition than some have reported in the past. It sort of sounds like Paizo's method, as well as methods used by other game publishers. I'm not a super big fan of the outsized packaging (and all that filler and/or internal structure), but I do have one books subscription and kickstart a few publishers fairly regularly. I wonder how books are shipped to stores.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
What's your constraints for the international poll? For VEoR? Or just our experience generally?
Just in general. Did the packaging improve overtime? Remained the same? Got worse?
At least for the US, it was kind of bad until V:EOR. For PAB:TSO, the book right before V:EOR, the corner on the spine got bumped during shipping and handling. It is just a minor cosmetic flaw, as the book is still useable, but I can imagine a customer that is less forgiving than me would be very annoyed. I think the worst packaging result I have experienced is for the deluxe edition of D:SOTDQ, and the box got a huge bump on one of the corners and it does not look pretty. If that damaged box was sold in-store, I do not think customers are going to buy it without some discount offered.
Is it known that international shipping is packaged differently from US packaging? If orders were being fulfilled out of a WotC warehouse that doesn't also service US shipments, I could see that, but if they're all coming out of the same fulfillment center, I don't know if there'd be two packing systems.
I'm glad it sounds like WotC has worked to deliver direct orders in better condition than some have reported in the past. It sort of sounds like Paizo's method, as well as methods used by other game publishers. I'm not a super big fan of the outsized packaging (and all that filler and/or internal structure), but I do have one books subscription and kickstart a few publishers fairly regularly. I wonder how books are shipped to stores.
I have no idea if international and US shipping are handled the same or differently. I assume differently, but I do not really know for sure.
I assume stores have better packaging. If it is a book that has been out for a while sitting on a shelf, the book might have very minor bumps on the corners due to being handled a lot, but most copies I have seen in stores are in pretty good condition. If I have to nitpick, I would say the in-store copies are more likely to have minor manufacturing defects where the graphics on the cover and the spine do not line up correctly, and the printing on the spine looks really off on some of the books.
What's your constraints for the international poll? For VEoR? Or just our experience generally?
Just in general. Did the packaging improve overtime? Remained the same? Got worse?
At least for the US, it was kind of bad until V:EOR. For PAB:TSO, the book right before V:EOR, the corner on the spine got bumped during shipping and handling. It is just a minor cosmetic flaw, as the book is still useable, but I can imagine a customer that is less forgiving than me would be very annoyed. I think the worst packaging result I have experienced is for the deluxe edition of D:SOTDQ, and the box got a huge bump on one of the corners and it does not look pretty. If that damaged box was sold in-store, I do not think customers are going to buy it without some discount offered.
I got VEoR digitally so I can't speak to that.
Before that...worse. When I first started getting books, the damage was fairly minor. A slight knock on the spine corner that you'd probably never notice on someone else's copy. Annoying, and mostly peculiar to D&D books, but nothing massive. Things got worse, to the point that KftGV had a gigantic dent in the side of the cover where it looked like someone had taken a heavy object and walloped it. I was very much considering sending it back with a complaint.
I'm glad that they're starting to do something about packaging. Their practices were awful. Hopefully, they'll fix the problems with the pages as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
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It kind of slipped my mind due to my attention being occupied by how much I dislike the recent marketplace changes, but I got some time now to skim the new book a bit and I remember I wanted to share some good news. One good thing that Wizards really did improve upon lately is their shipping and handling of physical books when you buy the digital-physical bundle. I got Vecna: Eve of Ruin about a week ago, and it is the first book that I recieved from Wizards that is free of cosmetic damage. There are no dents. There are no bumped corners. The book looks brand new in mint condition. If you go into your local game store, you may or may not find the equivalent book in equal mint condition. And as time goes on, physical in-store copies would deteriorate overtime, accumulating dents and bumps from being flipped through by many different people, unless you request a copy in the back inventory or something.
The book arrived in box that is quite a bit bigger than the book, and the book is wrapped in a soft cardboard mesh to further protect it incase the box gets jostled around and dropped. Previously, books arrived in boxes that just barely fit the books, and there are no additional layers between the box and the book, so if the package gets dropped or hit, dents and bumped corners easily form on the book. The only other improvement I can think of is to waterproof the package. The current packaging is fine right now for California since our summers are dry, but when it gets to rainy season during the winter, I do not think that packaging would be adequate to protect against water.
That being said, if you are a regular GM like me, dents and bumps are not a huge issue, as D&D books are tools at the end of the day, and they will get beat up over time as we use them. Water damage could be a serious issue though. On the other hand, if you are a book collector and just want the books to look pretty sitting on your shelf, I think there is a strong argument for buying the book directly from Wizards now. It will be a little more pricey since you are going to have to pay the MSRP price and pay for the digital copy (that you may or may not need). But if you are late to the game and cannot find a copy in mint condition at a store, buying from Wizards will be your best bet. If you want the alternate cover books though, you will still have to go through local game stores, and if they run out, you will have to hope to get a decent copy on Amazon, eBay, or somewhere else online.
I am in the US, so if you are an international customer, I am not sure if your shipping and handling is the same as ours. Hopefully, it is not as absymally crap as before.
That is all, folks. I just want something positive to talk about. I threw some polls for some fun visualizations
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
What's your constraints for the international poll? For VEoR? Or just our experience generally?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Is it known that international shipping is packaged differently from US packaging? If orders were being fulfilled out of a WotC warehouse that doesn't also service US shipments, I could see that, but if they're all coming out of the same fulfillment center, I don't know if there'd be two packing systems.
I'm glad it sounds like WotC has worked to deliver direct orders in better condition than some have reported in the past. It sort of sounds like Paizo's method, as well as methods used by other game publishers. I'm not a super big fan of the outsized packaging (and all that filler and/or internal structure), but I do have one books subscription and kickstart a few publishers fairly regularly. I wonder how books are shipped to stores.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Just in general. Did the packaging improve overtime? Remained the same? Got worse?
At least for the US, it was kind of bad until V:EOR. For PAB:TSO, the book right before V:EOR, the corner on the spine got bumped during shipping and handling. It is just a minor cosmetic flaw, as the book is still useable, but I can imagine a customer that is less forgiving than me would be very annoyed. I think the worst packaging result I have experienced is for the deluxe edition of D:SOTDQ, and the box got a huge bump on one of the corners and it does not look pretty. If that damaged box was sold in-store, I do not think customers are going to buy it without some discount offered.
I have no idea if international and US shipping are handled the same or differently. I assume differently, but I do not really know for sure.
I assume stores have better packaging. If it is a book that has been out for a while sitting on a shelf, the book might have very minor bumps on the corners due to being handled a lot, but most copies I have seen in stores are in pretty good condition. If I have to nitpick, I would say the in-store copies are more likely to have minor manufacturing defects where the graphics on the cover and the spine do not line up correctly, and the printing on the spine looks really off on some of the books.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I got VEoR digitally so I can't speak to that.
Before that...worse. When I first started getting books, the damage was fairly minor. A slight knock on the spine corner that you'd probably never notice on someone else's copy. Annoying, and mostly peculiar to D&D books, but nothing massive. Things got worse, to the point that KftGV had a gigantic dent in the side of the cover where it looked like someone had taken a heavy object and walloped it. I was very much considering sending it back with a complaint.
I'm glad that they're starting to do something about packaging. Their practices were awful. Hopefully, they'll fix the problems with the pages as well.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.