Let's compare covers

[Morgenstern]

And I'll be the first to admit that I'm a friend of chicks, both in bodysuits and otherwise in varying states of undress. The combination with the draconic guy just makes it seem like it should be next to the expression "playing it safe" in an illustrated dictionary.

Ironically, it's interesting to note this is the second 4.0 PHB cover, the first having been pulled because the European distributors announced in no uncertain terms that if the book came out with that cover, they wouldn't carry the book. Period.

Guess they were feeling a little shy after that.

[Gentry]

Of course, the first cover drank deep from the fountain of suck.  Like licking the bottom deep.  The new one doesn't strike me as too terribly much better, but at least Satan doesn't appear on it. 

[Mister Andersen]

Just for point of reference in response to the "busy" vs. "retro" stance, here's a few pieces of reference I looked to for inspiration:

Man,  I so deeply <3 the original PHB cover, not least because instead of just showing stuff it tells a story.

I think I might have figured out the complaint.  It's not that the cover is too busy, it's their eyes.  I can't find a focus point in the Fantasycraft cover.  On the Blue Box, your eyes go straight to the dragon.  Warhammer, like the first edition Legend of the Five Rings RPG, has a prominent hero at the center of the melee.  There is no doubt that the AD&D cover is about that statue being looted.

What's the first thing your eyes go to with the Fantasycraft cover?  Yeah, it's awesome, but where do you first focus?  The... giant... hand?  Then maybe to Hannibal Halfling?  You have to pull back to see the party, and then further to discover the unique point of view.  If you have a frame a reference, your mind will then resolve the whoop ass taking place.  If you don't, you are lost.  It is so old school you have to have graduated from the school to know.

I think it's quite obviously the teeth. But more than that, the cover has at it's very centre a giant hand radiating out from which are halflings, elves, monsters, magic, treasure... The cover says "Fantasycraft: you'll eat it up!"

[Mister Andersen]

Of course, the first cover drank deep from the fountain of suck.  Like licking the bottom deep.  The new one doesn't strike me as too terribly much better, but at least Satan doesn't appear on it. 

I'd quite forgotten that they'd had a different cover originally.

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Comparing the two, it's interesting to note the body language:

Old cover has the spell caster backgrounded, but with chest thrust aggressively forward and arms reaching bckwards to summon power; similarly his staff is behind his body, providing support. The fighter is similarly posed aggressive, but quite obviously she's focusing on something completely different to her companion -- well, one hopes she is because otherwise she's in an utterly ridicuous spine-twisting pose designed solely to show off her tits and thighs. More than that, Mr Satan there is clearly the focal point of fthe image, as his pose is quite naturalistic while the chick is contorted to fit into th space around him, the space that he has made available.

New cover has pretty much reversed everything except gender positioning. The spell caster is now out front, but being soft and unarmoured (and displaying more flesh), her bodylanguage depicts her as recoiling from the fourthwall -- her staff is beforeher as a shield, the fireball a smaller & defensive demonstration of power -- but at least her still obvious posedness looks more comfortable. All the aggression has been transferred to the fighter -- who looks even more monstrous than Mr Satan -- with everything about him being sharp and aggressive and ridiculously oversized as he obviously prepares to attack. Strikingly, this is also the first time I've noticed the indistinct figures of the rest of the party in the background

[Valentina]

This is me failing at comprehending the outrage.
PHB take 1 is far superior in being evocative and dynamic. Ditto the actual characters themselves.
Shame, that.

[Number Three]

The issue is probably Mr. Satan.  After insisting for the past thirty years that D&D has nothing to do with satanism, they probably balked at the most demonic teifling I've ever seen.  Other than that and the awful cheesecake anatomy, it is definitely the more polished cover.  I can see Mr. Satan being a deal breaker, though.  As a retailer, it's certainly not something I would be looking forward to.

As this point, I'm hoping that Cover 2 is not the final cover, but more of a rough cut before the artist fixes all his glaring mistakes in photoshop.  Something has to be done with Dragon Boy in the awkward contempory baseball slugger pose.  I want to slap Mark McGuire's head on him and the caption, "This is why you don't do steroids, kids!"

[Valentina]

Funny thing might be then that I don't see "Mr. Satan" so much as something very alien.
And c'mon, D&D had demons n devils humping mortals for evil ends for a looooong time.
The only mistake was making a cover out of it, and that makes sense to me -I'd buy it after all.
Hrm. Oh well, ty #3 for the thoughts.

[Mister Andersen]

I personally quite dislike the overtly demonic take on4th ed tieflings. They're pretty much epic fail ever since they first showed them, but given they're still relying on the jack ass who redesigned dragons for 3rd ed it's not too surprising.

[Sletchman]

[Sarcasm] I just love the sword that dragon-thing is holding in cover #2.  And how his armor will no doubt be their sample of "fullplate", as is probably the las's from cover #1.  Go WoTC! [/Sarcasm]

Honestly - the more i see about 4th ed, the less I care.  The more I see the fantasycraft cover the less I can wait for it.

Does anyone else think that if you removed the words "Dungeons and Dragons" that it wouldn't actually sell that well based entirely on artwork?

[Aragathor]

Honestly - the more i see about 4th ed, the less I care.  The more I see the fantasycraft cover the less I can wait for it.

Ditto.

Just finished reading the news over at ENWorld. Multi-classing requiring a 13+Attribute? No evil gods in the PHB? A cover that shows a "dragon-born" that looks like a slaad?

Paraphrasing Chris Rock:

"WotC likes to keep it real, real dumb."

[Krensky]

Well, I'll find out some actual details tonight as the copy of Keep on the Shadowfell I ordered (me and some of my players want to actually play some to see how good, bad, or salvagable it is before making a final descision) should be arriving today.

That said, the fantasy setting I'm working on won't be switching. The iconic NPCs (the PCs from when I ran it and wrote in it) are not workable in 4e.

[Nepenthe]

Of course, the first cover drank deep from the fountain of suck.  Like licking the bottom deep.  The new one doesn't strike me as too terribly much better, but at least Satan doesn't appear on it. 

Yeah, I can see that cover putting a cramp on the Christmas sales in some of the more conservative circles. I can see the point in "playing it safe" now, but I won't say that the first one was exactly the paragon of inspiration, either.

I like the way the FantasyCraft cover's a kind of reverse take on the "Basic Blue" cover... But apart from that it kind of fails to provoke any feelings in me. Which is probably a good thing!

I just picked up Dragons of Winter and Dragons of Spring yesterday, and I have to say those classic Elmore Dragonlance pieces MWP used for those are just stunning. Too bad that fun ran out, too.

[TheAuldGrump]

My taste in cover art is not to be trusted - leaning in the direction of staid, quiet, and respectable. The kind of cover that has high tea with the ABoC.

The Auld Grump

[Morgenstern]

Disregarding the content for a minute (I know, that sounds odd), I like there earlier 4.0 PHB cover much, much better because it actually fits the palette of the trade dress. The reds are muted and match the lettering, the blue highlights on woman's armor are keyed to the blue bands in the overlay. The cover is much more cohesive. The newer one is comparitively garish.

[Mister Andersen]

Interesting point, but I think it actually combines to create a more claustrophobic effect. I like the implication of the 2nd cover that there's something beyond what you immediately see.