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 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
This stuff is printed in China and shipped over. If anything went wrong at the Chinese end of business, like several pages duplicated or imaged blurred etc, then it wouldn't pass muster and would be pulled.

I would strongly suggest that is what happened.

That is a fair assessment and what I think happened as well. With the holidays upon us, and shipping times... this delay could be months long.

 Tamwulf wrote:

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
This stuff is printed in China and shipped over. If anything went wrong at the Chinese end of business, like several pages duplicated or imaged blurred etc, then it wouldn't pass muster and would be pulled.

I would strongly suggest that is what happened.

That is a fair assessment and what I think happened as well. With the holidays upon us, and shipping times... this delay could be months long.

I wouldn't go that far. The publisher is going to bend over backwards to get this fixed as quickly as possible, if it was their fault at least. If it was a QA issue from FW's end before sending off, well then it could be a bit of a wait.

I'm hoping they would just go ahead and publish the digital version, I prefer having all my rules on my iPad, especially when I go to events that are far away.

All im wondering is, what was it that they had a slot ready for it and everything, how abrupt did it have to be. And how did they not catch it sooner.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
All im wondering is, what was it that they had a slot ready for it and everything, how abrupt did it have to be. And how did they not catch it sooner.

Because they can't catch it any sooner than the moment they get it from the printer?

Two possibilities here:
1. It was an editing error. The typeset was off, a picture wasn't right, they were missing a page... something they didn't catch in the editing process. When the proofs came back, someone caught the error, and it was bad enough that they resubmitted the proofs for a new print run. Considering how bad the editing in Book VII: Inferno was, this had to be a HUGE mistake, like whole pages missing, or the layout was all messed up. Sometimes, the software they use to translate the digital copy into a typeset copy isn't perfect at the Chinese printers. In cases like this, the Chinese printers sometimes make their own "corrections" without consulting the publisher and, well... yeah. You can see how that could turn out.

2. The Chinese printing factory messed it up. See the software issue above. For example, and I'm not saying this is what happened, but let's say Forge World makes the book in a particular software package called "Book Layout". It's 100% English and proprietary. They hand over the Book Layout files to the Chinese Printer company that discovers they don't/can't use those files for printing, so they have to convert them. They don't want to lose the contract by telling Forge World they need a different File, so they convert it themselves as best as possible. Master copy of the book gets printed, FW looks at it, and rejects it for whatever reason (quality, bad editing, whatever). Chinese printers fix whatever errors FW tells them to, and then prints the book.

Before you say #2 is rare and doesn't happen... this is actually pretty common and happens all the time when dealing with foreign printers. Game companies and the print shops don't like to talk about it for obvious reasons, but it happens.

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
All im wondering is, what was it that they had a slot ready for it and everything, how abrupt did it have to be. And how did they not catch it sooner.

Because they can't catch it any sooner than the moment they get it from the printer?

Yes...most likely.

Proofs can be checked, and digital files reviewed, but until the actually books are actually in hand...

 em_en_oh_pee wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
All im wondering is, what was it that they had a slot ready for it and everything, how abrupt did it have to be. And how did they not catch it sooner.

Because they can't catch it any sooner than the moment they get it from the printer?

Yes. On some rare occasions it's no more a conspiracy than just 'gak happens'. I'm not sure quality control and so on are to our standards in Chinese manufacturers as we've seen from countless kickstarters and other companies dipping their toes into plastics, they can be a bit 'looks good enough, sling it in the crate, ship it and keep your fingers crossed'...

It'll be ready when it's ready. GW/FW actually want your money, so they're not holding it from us out of spite, they want the cash and will be moving to get it right and sell us things asap.

Yeah, I've been as critical as anyone over the debacle of FW rules lately and their incompetence in handing it, but I can't blame them for this. If the printer screwed up it's not FW's fault, and I'd much rather have them delay the book to fix it instead of rushing out a defective product.

 Peregrine wrote:
Yeah, I've been as critical as anyone over the debacle of FW rules lately and their incompetence in handing it, but I can't blame them for this. If the printer screwed up it's not FW's fault, and I'd much rather have them delay the book to fix it instead of rushing out a defective product.

True that. Only worry I have with this is the rather long delay this means :( Several months as a miinimum as the shipping time from China isn't that quick. And interesting how little time they have between arrival and pre-orders starting. There was like what week or less between them announcing pre-order date and announcing delay? So they received books like week if that before pre-orders start? Guess companies get their boat cargo more reliably timed than individuals who have 30-90 days estimated arrival date

At least we have the mind howl spell which for me is the most important change. Rest I can live without for a while. If it comes to order state(not even released. As long as I can put in order it's fine) on january it won't be too bad. Free shipping for January ensures I can order just it as well.

tneva82 wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Yeah, I've been as critical as anyone over the debacle of FW rules lately and their incompetence in handing it, but I can't blame them for this. If the printer screwed up it's not FW's fault, and I'd much rather have them delay the book to fix it instead of rushing out a defective product.

True that. Only worry I have with this is the rather long delay this means :( Several months as a miinimum as the shipping time from China isn't that quick. And interesting how little time they have between arrival and pre-orders starting. There was like what week or less between them announcing pre-order date and announcing delay? So they received books like week if that before pre-orders start? Guess companies get their boat cargo more reliably timed than individuals who have 30-90 days estimated arrival date

At least we have the mind howl spell which for me is the most important change. Rest I can live without for a while. If it comes to order state(not even released. As long as I can put in order it's fine) on january it won't be too bad. Free shipping for January ensures I can order just it as well.

The pre-orders and release probably had more to do with shipping times for the holidays. Forge World can't guarantee you'll get an order by Christmas if you don't order it by December. If the book had come out on time, there would have been maybe 3-4 weeks of orders that could be guaranteed delivery by Christmas.

I'm just glad they decided to pull it and fix it, instead of some of the stuff I've seen other companies do- like stickers to cover up a page, or printed errata sheets included with the book, or "here is the book you paid for, it's messed up, don't use it, we'll be making a new print run when all these are handed out...", or my favorite "Here is the new expansion for the game version 1.0! And we are announcing the all new version 2.0 of the game to be released immediately!" In the ledger of screw ups, this isn't that bad at all.