D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

Sailor Moon · Jan 22, 2015

Three words: Product release control.

In my long time opinion, I think this light release schedule is going to do more harm than good. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to see another bloat fest, but the fact of the matter is, in you don't put out enough product the game will start to look abandon.

Not everyone, especially new DM's, want to create their own stuff. Some people want a fully fledged out campaign setting that DM's can let their player's loose in without them having to do tons of work. Putting out a decent amount of product works for Paizo so I don't see why it wouldn't work for D&D. They finally have a fantastic set of rules that would allow for tons of supplements and all you have to do is practice a bit of control when creating these products. We seem to be going from one extreme to the next and I think it will hurt the game in the end if they don't increase the product count.

Paraxis · Jan 22, 2015

IMO what they need to do is announce some form of the OGL so 3rd party publishers can fill the void and this wont be an issue.

le grand fromage · Jan 22, 2015

I like books, there's almost always something, an idea, creature, trap or locale, to use somewhere, somehow. The only time you can be sure you wont find something you might want to use... is when the book isn't....

Morrus · Jan 22, 2015

Paraxis said:
IMO what they need to do is announce some form of the OGL so 3rd party publishers can fill the void and this wont be an issue.

Looks like plenty are moving forward doing that anyway. You don't *need* a license to state compatibility with a product; it just makes things easier.

I'm A Banana · Jan 22, 2015

Sailor Moon said:
In my long time opinion, I think this light release schedule is going to do more harm than good.

Okay, but riddle me this: why should anyone take your opinion more seriously than the opinion of WotC?

Presumably, WotC knows more about the risks and rewards of this plan than anyone else, and they've got a financial stake in making sure it pans out. More than one person's paycheck is contingent on them getting it right, and they're not bumbling buffoons who don't know how financial planning works (admittedly, a bit of a presumption on my part). They know what the near future holds. They think it can work. In fact, they think it's a better idea.

"Paizo does it!" isn't a really good reason why WotC should (in fact, it's a pretty good reason why they shouldn't -- they can differentiate themselves from their competitor here). "It will hurt the game" is nebuous paranoia. "The game will start to look abandoned" doesn't gel with the current experience (there's an adventure coming out in March, and they just got finished releasing the major books).

So why should someone agree with your thesis?

Derren · Jan 22, 2015

Kamikaze Midget said:
Presumably, WotC knows more about the risks and rewards of this plan than anyone else, and they've got a financial stake in making sure it pans out. More than one person's paycheck is contingent on them getting it right, and they're not bumbling buffoons who don't know how financial planning works (admittedly, a bit of a presumption on my part). They know what the near future holds. They think it can work. In fact, they think it's a better idea.

You assume that WotC decided on this schedule by choice and not because of outside influence like lack of funds. Not saying that this definitely happened, but it is a possibility.

Gecko85 · Jan 22, 2015

Can we please get some more threads debating the merits of the release schedule, each with a different title? That way, those that like lots of releases will have plenty of threads in which to argue.

</ sarcasm>

Seriously, though, this same thing is being debated in several other threads already, and the horse is looking mighty flogged.

I'm A Banana · Jan 22, 2015

Derren said:
You assume that WotC decided on this schedule by choice and not because of outside influence like lack of funds. Not saying that this definitely happened, but it is a possibility.

Whatever situation they're in -- outside influence or lack of funds or not -- there is always a choice about how to respond to it. And that decision, in a business setting, is always going to be driven by the question, "how do we make as much money as we can from this?"

If they thought they could make more money with a Paizo-style staff and a Paizo-style release schedule, they'd be doing that.

Nergal Pendragon · Jan 22, 2015

In my opinion, the rapid release of these topics is leading to a quality decline and discussion bloat. I mean, quite clearly you can see how this topic doesn't fit neatly into the argument set brought about by the others! You're going to need pages and pages of errata to bring this into line!

Parmandur · Jan 22, 2015

On Twitter, Mearls has made the comparison to Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride: evergreen games that get occasional expansions or thematic variants (personally, I have Egypt Catan!).

They are releasing multiple products, and have active Encounters in stores. Nobody will think the game is "dead" based on this. There is, however, apparently good evidence that product glut limits the audience, leading to a death spiral. Anecdotal evidence bears this out, but Wizards has the hard data metrics to bear that out. They are rational actors.

D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

Sailor Moon

Banned

Paraxis

Explorer

le grand fromage

Explorer

Morrus

Well, that was fun

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich

Derren

Hero

Gecko85

Explorer

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich

Nergal Pendragon

First Post

Parmandur

Book-Friend

Similar Threads