TOPIC: HUGE NEWS about Gen Con!

Matthew Hayward wrote: This is such a win/win for people who want to consume all the TD content:

Before: 4 dungeons with 18 unique rooms.
Now: 3 dungeons with 21 unique rooms
Result: +3 more rooms available.

Before: It took 8 hours to see all 18 rooms.
Now: It takes 6 hours to see all 21 rooms.
Result: 2 more hours of free time at Gen Con

Before: It cost $248 to see all 18 rooms: $13.78 per room.
Now: It costs $234 to see all 21 rooms: $11.14 per room.
Result: Lower absolute cost and lower per room cost to see all the rooms.

On top of all that the floor space should increase a bit for each dungeon.

This is how I think. I now have more free time at GenCon to do other stuff while still enjoying the full TD experience. For me, GenCon time is more valuable than the dollars the runs will cost me. And I love getting the entire experience.

Some people are more worried about XP, or just puzzles, etc, and I can see how the news isn't as good for them.

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: This is such a win/win for people who want to consume all the TD content:

Before: 4 dungeons with 18 unique rooms.
Now: 3 dungeons with 21 unique rooms
Result: +3 more rooms available.

Before: It took 8 hours to see all 18 rooms.
Now: It takes 6 hours to see all 21 rooms.
Result: 2 more hours of free time at Gen Con

Before: It cost $248 to see all 18 rooms: $13.78 per room.
Now: It costs $234 to see all 21 rooms: $11.14 per room.
Result: Lower absolute cost and lower per room cost to see all the rooms.

On top of all that the floor space should increase a bit for each dungeon.

This is how I think. I now have more free time at GenCon to do other stuff while still enjoying the full TD experience. For me, GenCon time is more valuable than the dollars the runs will cost me. And I love getting the entire experience.

Some people are more worried about XP, or just puzzles, etc, and I can see how the news isn't as good for them.

Was it laid out that all runs will be 4 combat, 3 puzzle?

Jeff321 wrote:

Mongo wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: This is such a win/win for people who want to consume all the TD content:

Before: 4 dungeons with 18 unique rooms.
Now: 3 dungeons with 21 unique rooms
Result: +3 more rooms available.

Before: It took 8 hours to see all 18 rooms.
Now: It takes 6 hours to see all 21 rooms.
Result: 2 more hours of free time at Gen Con

Before: It cost $248 to see all 18 rooms: $13.78 per room.
Now: It costs $234 to see all 21 rooms: $11.14 per room.
Result: Lower absolute cost and lower per room cost to see all the rooms.

On top of all that the floor space should increase a bit for each dungeon.

I love the way you think!

I like your analysis, but to play devil's advocate...

For people who only care about getting max XP, it was $62 x 2 = $124 last year vs $78 x 3 = $234 this. 89% increase. (Of course you are getting 50% more XP too.)

Overall I like the change but I can understand why some might opt out.

Talked to my friends last night and this is how they look at it. They are both 8th level players and are heavily leaning towards calling it quits. There's a chance they'll change their mind and maybe do 1 run. I'm trying to talk them into GHC. We'll see.

Dave wrote:

Jeff321 wrote:

Mongo wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: This is such a win/win for people who want to consume all the TD content:

Before: 4 dungeons with 18 unique rooms.
Now: 3 dungeons with 21 unique rooms
Result: +3 more rooms available.

Before: It took 8 hours to see all 18 rooms.
Now: It takes 6 hours to see all 21 rooms.
Result: 2 more hours of free time at Gen Con

Before: It cost $248 to see all 18 rooms: $13.78 per room.
Now: It costs $234 to see all 21 rooms: $11.14 per room.
Result: Lower absolute cost and lower per room cost to see all the rooms.

On top of all that the floor space should increase a bit for each dungeon.

I love the way you think!

I like your analysis, but to play devil's advocate...

For people who only care about getting max XP, it was $62 x 2 = $124 last year vs $78 x 3 = $234 this. 89% increase. (Of course you are getting 50% more XP too.)

Overall I like the change but I can understand why some might opt out.

Talked to my friends last night and this is how they look at it. They are both 8th level players and are heavily leaning towards calling it quits. There's a chance they'll change their mind and maybe do 1 run. I'm trying to talk them into GHC. We'll see.

I emailed all my friends to see if they are still interested, given the big price increase. If they are all still interested, I am too. If all (or even most) of my friends decide it's too expensive now, we might drop out entirely, as one of my main draws to True Dungeon is sharing it with my friends. I hope they are interested in continuing, but I won't be surprised at all if they aren't.

We'd planned on playing for decades (we joked about my friend's children helping us through True Dungeon in our old age, with our walkers), but it seems like we'll be priced out of it sooner or later now. If we're willing to pay $78 this year, will we be willing to pay over $80 next year, over $90 the next, or over $100 in a few years? I can't blame True Dungeon for continuing to raise the price every year as long as it keeps selling out, but it may be reaching the tipping point for us.

I’m not pleased by the price increase either. I will still play 3 or 4 runs at gencon. Personally I would rather have closer to last years quality, price, and tickets available.
I get if there is going to be a 25% decrees in tickets there has to a corresponding increase in price.
Maybe ghosting will become too expensive to make since and lead indirectly to easier to obtain tickets for the event.

I guess only time will tell how this affects the overall health of the game.

Wayne Rhodes wrote: I’m not pleased by the price increase either. I will still play 3 or 4 runs at gencon. Personally I would rather have closer to last years quality, price, and tickets available.
I get if there is going to be a 25% decrees in tickets there has to a corresponding increase in price.
Maybe ghosting will become too expensive to make since and lead indirectly to easier to obtain tickets for the event.

I guess only time will tell how this affects the overall health of the game.

I hope so myself.

I know for certain i am far less likely to do pugs anymore at Indy. I'm aiming to do forum runs where i know ahead of time especially difficulty.

With the ticket increase i'm willing to bet there's going to be more issues of class selection in coaching. With people doing less runs you're going to see less people settle for 2nd/3rd choice of class and more roll off's i'll bet. I generally play enough that playing a different class for a run doesn't bother me. For those doing 1/2 runs there is going to be more i'm geared for X only and this is the only time i can play it.

I like buying out all 10 spots and then playing a 5-man nightmare run with us each ghosting... made game fun and more challenging...

With price increase I think it will be harder to justify that, so I hope a harder level soon gets introduced that is tougher than nightmare (epic like in True Grind maybe?).

I love the direction True Adventures is taking the game... I don’t like the price increase, but we shouldn’t forget that True Adventures is not a non-profit and if it doesn’t continue to grow and bring in income, it could fizzle out and crash. Better storyscapes cost more money... and more volunteers also costs in hotel rooms and stipend.

I love the game and hope it continues to be a success. I plan on following TD to all the conferences possible (like a groupie...). I may purchase less runs, but that should (hopefully) give other people the opportunity to play.

With my stressful life, True Dungeon is one of my few releases... maybe i can deduct the price as health care costs on my taxes... mental health? Ha ha... Like an adict, I NEED the game to continue... <sheepish grin>

5 man runs were a blast. I don't know if they can really be economically viable though, since ghosting is only allowed at GC, unless the rule changes.

I do believe that there was going to be an EPIC difficulty added at Origins. Not sure if that is still the plan or not?

Our group is considering skipping GC altogether, and maybe trying to make it to a different event, to help defray costs.

Wade Schwendemann wrote: 5 man runs were a blast. I don't know if they can really be economically viable though, since ghosting is only allowed at GC, unless the rule changes.

I do believe that there was going to be an EPIC difficulty added at Origins. Not sure if that is still the plan or not?

Our group is considering skipping GC altogether, and maybe trying to make it to a different event, to help defray costs.

I might would consider the same but I’m already too far committed at this point for this year.

Wade Schwendemann wrote: 5 man runs were a blast. I don't know if they can really be economically viable though, since ghosting is only allowed at GC, unless the rule changes.

I do believe that there was going to be an EPIC difficulty added at Origins. Not sure if that is still the plan or not?

Our group is considering skipping GC altogether, and maybe trying to make it to a different event, to help defray costs.

So you know that I coach. And I haven’t had anybody ask me but I have heard from other coaches that people ask them to write epic in for difficulty level and then it’s up to the DM’s to make things up to make it more difficult and more fun. I haven’t actually seen any official plans to include an epic difficulty level but it’s certainly an option for you.

Bob Chasan wrote:

Wade Schwendemann wrote: 5 man runs were a blast. I don't know if they can really be economically viable though, since ghosting is only allowed at GC, unless the rule changes.

I do believe that there was going to be an EPIC difficulty added at Origins. Not sure if that is still the plan or not?

Our group is considering skipping GC altogether, and maybe trying to make it to a different event, to help defray costs.

So you know that I coach. And I haven’t had anybody ask me but I have heard from other coaches that people ask them to write epic in for difficulty level and then it’s up to the DM’s to make things up to make it more difficult and more fun. I haven’t actually seen any official plans to include an epic difficulty level but it’s certainly an option for you.

My group did that at GHC last year. A few of the DMs really got into it. But it was the next to last run of the last night.. So I don't know how it would turn out if if became a more frequent occurrence. And there was no one in the group that did not already have max XP for the year. Final thought - consistency is one of the goals for DMS. A lot of improvised epic would trash that goal.

Wow. While I understand the rationale, this puts a larger burden on people who organize runs and on any that were more concerned with just maxing XP, not necessarily running both combat/puzzle versions.

I love immersion as much as anyone, but an extra $20 worth per person per adventure might be a bit high of a jump. This has me really torn on how to plan future years because budgets are very tight. I'd look more at going to cons with the $58 price point instead, but another key part of the GenCon experience for us are the friends that go most years to GenCon, but don't go to other conventions.