Losing Interest in the D&D Next Playtest?

SteveC · Jul 4, 2012

I think the biggest issue with the playtest is that there isn't much there to work with.

I've played two sessions, and run two as well, and my group has pretty much gotten what they're going to out of it.

The playtest module, the caves of chaos, is basically an unchanged version of what came out in 1979. I played the adventure in 1979 (as did several of my players) and adventure design has come a long way then. Rooms filled with monsters that are nothing but ever increasing bags of hit points that do ever increasing damage is not that interesting in 2012.

(Now the caves do have a few more interesting encounters, yes, but that's about 80% of the adventure...)

We haven't got the rules for character creation, so we're playing characters without knowing all the hows-and-whys behind them, so we're left with the notion that "WotC is not very good at making pre-gens" (Rogue with 8 wis, I'm looking at you!)

So there are not, to my mind, that many things to do with the playtest itself. Certainly not enough to make a mini campaign out of it that can keep me interested as a player.

With all of that said, it may sound like I'm hatin' on the new edition, but I still have a lot of hope: backgrounds and themes sound very interesting, and the advantage rules have been very popular. What I am looking for is something I can really sink my teeth into. Until then, I'm about done with the playtest unless my group asks for it .... which I doubt they will.

Morrus · Jul 4, 2012

SteveC said:
So there are not, to my mind, that many things to do with the playtest itself. Certainly not enough to make a mini campaign out of it that can keep me interested as a player.

Is there enough there that you can answer the survey questions? That's pretty much its purpose. It's not supposed to replace your regular campaign - its a playtesting tool for those who wish to help playtest.

SteveC · Jul 4, 2012

Morrus said:
Is there enough there that you can answer the survey questions? That's pretty much its purpose. It's not supposed to replace your regular campaign - its a playtesting tool for those who wish to help playtest.

They certainly do, I completed the survey with the help of my group, and on of the things we talked about was precisely how this wasn't the sort of thing we wanted in the new edition: I've returned to the keep on the borderlands enough, thank you.

The real issue to me is that I would have had no problems at all with the lack of material if we weren't going to wait several months for the next batch. It was an interesting teaser (with a lot of issues, but, hey, it's a very early beta...)

I can completely sympathize with the folks who haven't gotten to the playtest, it came out when I was on my honeymoon, so there was no way I was going to touch it for about a week...

renau1g · Jul 4, 2012

Do we know when the next update will come out? I haven't been in touch much for the last month or so.

Thanks

john112364 · Jul 4, 2012

My group played 2 sessions, one at 1st level and one at 2nd level. We enjoyed both sessions (some of us more than others) we gave our feedback and then agreed that that was all we wanted to do with the play test. So while, yes I've lost interest in the play test, I have not lost interest in Next. I'm now waiting (more or less) patiently for the next play test packet.

john112364 · Jul 4, 2012

john112364 said:
I'm now waiting (more or less) patiently for the next play test packet.

Is it here yet?

Dice4Hire · Jul 4, 2012

End of Summer is the latest news I heard.

Scrivener of Doom · Jul 5, 2012

Morrus said:
The hard part is the core math. 3.5 had that pretty much ready-baked for Paizo; they just needed to tweak it. WotC is developing a new, flatter core math.

D&D Next is a LOT more diferent from 3.5 than Pathfinder is. Its very underlying structure is different. (snip)

Yes, it's a bit different to 3.5E but it has similarities with OD&D, 1E, 3.5E and 4E. The flatter maths (dude, you're English: what's with "math"?) is from OD&D.

(snip) Whether you consider that worth a heavily-loaded label like "orginal thinking" or not is your personal choice - and I'm not really interested in getting into a debate about peoples' value judgements; but it is a difficult task and not the same task performed by Paizo designers. (snip)

Heavily-loaded? It certainly wasn't intended that way and wasn't offered as an absolute as looking at the phrase in context will reveal.

And it's not the same task but very similar. In this case it's about grabbing bits from various editions, not just 3.5E, and mixing them together in the tradition of fantasy heartbreakers all over the internet.

Brix · Jul 5, 2012

I complained earlier that things are progressing too slow. I almost lost interest in the whole process a few month ago, when post announcement nothing substantial happened.
However the flame was lit again, when I got the playtest documents. We use the new rules for some sessions now, and we're quite happy.

BUT! Again the flow of information is much too low. There should be something new every week to play with.
Why not even sell something right now? Much like the Pathfinder beta rules?
Because I also think that businesswise it's not a smart move to wait so long. I mean who buys 4E now?