I'd like to see more options for races. I liked that Xanthar's provided some Racial Feats (though not enough for me). I'd also like to see some sort of 'level progression' maybe for races where they each have different options presented as racial features as opposed to just getting everything at first level. Kind of like class abilities but for Races. This way, every mountain dwarf wouldn't look alike and it would add customization for each character.
The only thing I still need for D&D 5e is buyable, fully updated PDF versions for all books. Then I would be 100% satisfied I guess. Without being able to search for keywords, everything just takes so much longer. And it's super annoying to read the rules AND then also take all the errata and check if anything was changed.
Don't think I need anything else.
OH WAIT! It also needs a video game that 100% follows the ruleset. Including turn-based combat.
Hopefully the beadles product does sell well and they and other competitors start looking at lower priced options.
For me, a book of a few hundred statted NPCs for the Forgotten Realms. From lots of named but generic characters, to a few score characters from the main narrative. That would be useful.Noted D&D blogger Mike "Sly Floursh" Shea recently asked this on Twitter:https://twitter.com/SlyFlourish/status/1063808500676075521
What does D&D need next?
We have two campaign settings, one in stores. Three official accessories with monsters. Extra subclasses. Lots of races.
There are a wealth of minis, both random prepainted and non-random unpainted. We have dungeon tiles. There are dice. We have tactical maps, both blank and printed. Lots of adventures, both new and classic. Books for kids, including the newly relaunched Endless Quest.
And that's before getting to the absolute wealth of amazing 3rd Party Products from Green Ronin, Kobold Press, Nord Games, and others.
I imagine the two big requests will be "psionics" and "the artificer". Or the inevitable flayed horse of "a better ranger".
Okay, but what else is left for the game beyond just more? More subclasses. More adventures. More monsters. A big ol' generic more. Aka bloat.
Things like gods have been covered by Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Tome of Foes, limiting the need for a Deities & Demigods. And the updated mechanics of planes are covered quite well in the DMG, so the Manual of the Planes is less necessary.
Why?
When stopping to reply to Sly Flourish, I realized I’m almost “good”. That the edition feels close to complete.
I can think of a couple good options, but a lot of ideas just feels like content for the sake of content. Books because they're expected each year and not because they really fill a gap in the game.
I think the perfect balance for me would be the encounter tents, maps, some glossy paper handouts.
And maybe props and painted minis as premium options.
I feel like wotc is missing out on fully realising sales for the d&d ip. Next year our dm is going to run dragonheist and the players and i would happily buy a set of painted minis for a marked up price vs buying a bunch of boosters and hoping for the best. Likewise if there was a good option for packages maps, images of places and enemies and handouts that we could give him to hand over to us during the course of the campaign i think itd be a very tempting option.
Much of the core demographic of the game is changing. I feel customers are getting older as a whole, with more income to spend on their hobby. And this is a currently missed opportunity for wotc.
Hopefully the beadles product does sell well and they and other competitors start looking at lower priced options.
A better D&D website... I'm not a fan of the current incarnation of WotC's site. :/
My wishlist...
More short adventures (not the massive hardcover books)
High level play adventures
Sure. You could even include psionic rules in a mini-campaign about aboleths or mind flayers.
"Crunchy" tactics rules option add-on
An app that allows campaign management, character creation, note sharing, combat tracking