So back to "WOTC must be perfect! Never making a mistake, never producing a product I don't personally care for!"
Good grief. Some exec(s) who didn't know what they were doing made a bone headed move last year.
Then it was never actually implemented because they listened to feedback. The monsters! They produced a product some people didn't like! Lazy bastards! They hosted a conference for people that support their product, flying people in on the company dime and it didn't go flawlessly! Incompetence! They want to make money off of video games because they make far more money than movies or series! How dare they support an amazingly popular video game! Don't even get me started on the totally optional tools they're making that I don't ever need to purchase but a lot of people find useful!
I find it puzzling that one of the big complaints (still) is the OGL crap and that we don't know who thought it was a good idea. It was a stupid idea, but what would we do if we knew exactly who was behind it? Stalk them as they walk down the street crying "Shame on you"? Demand they be fired because they didn't realize the reaction they would get? People saying that have never made a mistake? I agree, this one was a doozy, but it was also squashed.
I'm not a huge fan of big corporations and the focus on short term profits. But I don't expect a company to never make mistakes, I don't expect every product to be one I'm going to purchase. WOTC actually listens to feedback and changes. A lot of companies give lip service to customer service and listening to their customers, for the most part WOTC seems to do so most of the time.
But are they really solely focused on short term profits? The surveys that led up to 5E were the most extensive ever made for a TTRPG. They let 5E be without a new release for nearly a decade, quite the switch from the previous 2.5 editions. Anybody else remember the book-a-month club they had for a while? Pepperidge Farms does and I do as well. Now they're doing a tune-up, an anniversary edition to fix some of the inevitable mistakes and patch things up a bit. As part of that they're doing another massive survey.
I don't "trust" WOTC any more than any other large company. They exist to make a profit. But this is a hobby, something that I could continue to play for the rest of my life without paying them another dime if I wanted. If the 2024 edition has stuff I want, I'll buy it. If not, I'll ignore it.
But excuse me for my overly long rant. Now I have to go and play some Baldur's Gate 3, one of the most personally enjoyable games I've played for a long time and well worth the cost considering the number of hours of entertainment I'm going to get out of it.