D&D 4E 4E Playtesting

[The_Baldman]

I'm almost positive this isn't the case.

and I'm pretty positive that Piratecat is pretty positive that he's right.

Remember gang the vast majority of playtesters were handpicked per Chris Tulach. So not only do you have dedicated playtesters you have trusted and accountable playtesters. There is lots going on per Chris and Dave Noonan and I am guessing they are very happy with the lack of leaks to this point.

Dave

 

[Pbartender]

I'm almost positive this isn't the case.

I'll echo this... I have friends from outside EN World who have admitted to being playtesters with playtest material (which in of itself, apparently, was something of a no-no), but refused to divulge any details.

 

[mhensley]

I'll echo this... I have friends from outside EN World who have admitted to being playtesters with playtest material (which in of itself, apparently, was something of a no-no), but refused to divulge any details.

Then they aren't really your friends then, are they?

 

[SteveC]

I'm kind of surprised that there has been such a tight control over the information even with an NDA and that it's been so effective. I'm surprised because the rest of the publicity for 4E has been so...chaotic for lack of a better word.

Here we are at just over seven months from release of the new game and haven't had any detailed discussion of mechanics that are new or changed in 4E. Yes, we know some general things, but almost no specifics.

Does anyone know if there is someone orchestrating the promotion and publicity for 4E as a full time job? I can't imagine WotC doesn't have a publicity team for this sort of thing.

--Steve

 

[kenmarable]

I cannot condone doing this-- but based on how much information about 3.0 was leaked by playtesters-- I am SHOCKED that nobody has done this with 4th. Even the other poster's argument about the relationship between EN World and WotC- though it makes sense-- would not prevent an NDA violator from leaking information on ANOTHER website or wiki (which would soon become THE 4e news site, I imagine). And nobody has done THIS yet either. It sounds like this NDA is working "too good to be true".

It was also a lot easier to be a 3e playtester from my experience. Heck, I pretty much just said "Hey, I wanna playtest something" and they sent me a photocopy of the 3.0 PHB, and print outs of the Word docs for the DMG and the mechanics from the FRCS.

So I imagine the 3e playtesting was far larger and more expansive. With that many people, it's much easier to find a few leaks. The 4e playtesting is far more tightly controlled.

That being said... Hey, I wanna playtest something!

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were pre-gen characters. During 3e playtesting, we had versions of the iconics at every level in order to test them against monsters.

I'm not a 4e playtester, by the way, although I wish I was!

I'd call that a mistake.

 

[Bagpuss]

So I imagine the 3e playtesting was far larger and more expansive. With that many people, it's much easier to find a few leaks.

I think that's the most likely case I really hope that a wider audience gets to playtest once they have a better idea of the finalised rules, especially if it is a big step like 2 was to 3. Because otherwise the paying customers are going to be the playtesters and we'll be seeing a 4.5 a year or two down the line.

 

[Maggan]

It was also a lot easier to be a 3e playtester from my experience. Heck, I pretty much just said "Hey, I wanna playtest something" and they sent me a photocopy of the 3.0 PHB, and print outs of the Word docs for the DMG and the mechanics from the FRCS.

So I imagine the 3e playtesting was far larger and more expansive.

I have what might be a controversial theory about that; the huge playtesting of 3e was part of the marketing for the game, more so than part of the rules design for the game.

WotC wanted the word out there that D&D was back with a vengeance, and pave the way for the changes of 3e. To do that, they utilised a huge playtest program to get the word out and get people used to the changes.

Of course, the playtesting also had impact on the game design, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the primary force behind the massive 3e playtest was marketing. This time, the need for such a massive playtest for marketing purposes isn't there.

Please note that I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, it's just a thought I've had a couple of times.

/M

 

[KingCrab]

After fully seeing the system, they're all too crushed to speak?

I suspect epochrpg is right, and people are still waiting for materials, specially since it seems they're still making all sorts of changes at this point.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I want info on 4e as much as the next poster, but asking people to break their NDA is kind of inconsiderate, both to the playtester and to WotC.

Agreed.

Except I'd drop the "kind of".


RC