Kate Welch is WotC's New D&D Designer

Glad she's joining the team.

Given that WotC could definitely use some help in the useability department of their products, someone skilled in that department sounds like an asset!

Struck up a conversation with her on Twitter since I'm aspiring to become a game designer and she mentioned that she does have game design experience. Seven years' worth to be exact. I think we're in good hands here.

Parmandur said:

Well, but are "powergame" the target audience for WotC..?

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Target audience.... I would say no.....powergaming community is never the target audience for a game, especially DnD. My point is that the designers should include their perspective as well as the other extreme of heavy roleplay when adding to the game

Congratulations! She clearly has some inspiration and passion for the job, so I'm interested to see what she comes up with.

Congrats!

It's sort of nice to see the trend of TTRPGers going to video game jobs taking a reverse here. And since we already had our video game debacle with 4th edition, I'm not worried that she's going to put the game into another video game spin.

Usability. ... My new crew was making PC last night and we all felt there was a bit more page flipping than there needed to be. Be interested to see how she can re-organize the material.

ad_hoc said:

I don't think so.

I am willing to bet that of the over 10 million D&D players, only a small number are playing on the extreme combat/powergaming end of things.

Not only do I think there are few such players, but there are far better games for their needs. Catering to them will only tank sales. 5e has done very well with its published adventures that focus on the 3 pillars of play.

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Do you have quantitative evidence of 10 million D&D players, because the number of players playing D&D today is probably much less.

However, given your number there are more players that participate in powergaming tactics because of one fact of Human Nature... nobody wants to suck at playing the game and also most games that people play D&D have more than one combat every four sessions as she claimed in her video. So if combat is more prevalent and people do not want to suck, then those players will adopt some powergaming tendencies to feel they are contributing to the group play.

Also I never claimed to "cater" to powergaming... only to include that style of play when designing the game.... unless your definition of catering is including a style of play that you personally disagree with...then yes I guess I was catering.

ccooke said:

So, wait. The D&D team is growing now? I thought it only ever shrunk or maintained size ;-)

More seriously, this is great news. A little quick googling suggests she'll be an asset.

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I was just checking up on Magic the Gathering forums this week. Apparently, Mtg is taking a serious downturn, I'm seeing a lot of talk about events failing to have enough people to participate to be held, and poor sales of recent sets. The rumor reported on the biggest (And reliable for more than a decade) Mtg rumor site is that Hasbro's prepping to sell off Wizards of the Coast.

So beefing up the D&D team makes sense, a small investment right now would potentially yield a substantial difference in the amount they're offered for WOTC if they can prove that the D&D brand can produce revenue. Right now, if they're prepping to sell WOTC, a potential buyer can argue D&D way down because it doesn't have any significant ongoing revenue streams. They'd really only be buying the brand name and a few fairly useless protected images.

No real way to tell, this doesn't prove or disprove anything, but in a few years we might be talking about how this was the first indicator.

Mathilda said:

Target audience.... I would say no.....powergaming community is never the target audience for a game, especially DnD. My point is that the designers should include their perspective as well as the other extreme of heavy roleplay when adding to the game

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Every designer has a preferred play style. It doesn't make them one trick ponies.

Mathilda said:

Do you have quantitative evidence of 10 million D&D players, because the number of players playing D&D today is probably much less.

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In early 2017 Chris Cocks (President and CEO of WotC) estimated 9.5 million players. November 2017 was the best selling month of 5e.

nobody wants to suck at playing the game

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Definitions vary. I surmise that the vast majority of players feel that they don't suck with any of the class, subclass, and race selections. The D&D player base is no longer confined to hobby game enthusiasts who spend their spare time thinking about the game. I bet most players only think about the game while they're playing it.

and also most games that people play D&D have more than one combat every four sessions as she claimed in her video.

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You're moving the goalposts. I responded to your comment that D&D designers must cater to the 'extreme combat/powergaming' players. Replying that most players have more than 1 combat every 4 sessions is not a reply to that statement.

So if combat is more prevalent and people do not want to suck, then those players will adopt some powergaming tendencies to feel they are contributing to the group play.

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I disagree with your premise and your conclusion. I think the vast majority of players feel like they are meaningfully contributing to the group regardless of their character choices. D&D is a cooperative game. Most players don't play to be in competition with each other.

Also I never claimed to "cater" to powergaming... only to include that style of play when designing the game....

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You said that [designers] need to 'address the needs' of powergamers. 'Addressing the needs of' is literally the definition of 'catering'.

unless your definition of catering is including a style of play that you personally disagree with...then yes I guess I was catering.

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This makes little sense to me. "Catering" is a verb. One can cater to a single person, a small group, or a majority. It means to provide what is needed or required to someone or group. My definition of catering has nothing to do with agreement or disagreement.

I do think that it is not in D&D's best interest to cater to a very small amount of its players by changing the game to go against its goals and thus alienate a large number of players.