Any news on playtesting?

[seregil]

I realize that this must surely have been asked before, but has anyone heard when the playtesting will begin?

I'm annoyed that WOTC has asked for names then nothing. Other than compile a database full of emails, nothing seems to have come their 'signup for playtesting'

If they were not ready to begin playtesting soon, they should have waited before announcing it.

 

[delericho]

As far as I'm aware, the answer is still "Spring".

I know they've done some playtests as some of conventions, and there are some ongoing "Friends and Family" playtests, but no word yet on the open playtest.

As difficult as it is to wait, I hope WotC take their time and do this right. They're taking an awful risk revising the system so soon, and seem to be taking on an almost impossible challenge. So, the last thing they need is to also do a rush job on it.

But, yeah, I would really like to see what they've come up with!

 

[Yora]

There's another "closed public" playtest at PAX East in two weeks. I assume they will at least evaluate the feedback before creating the public playtest document.
So I'd say no earlier than may.

They are not revising, as I see it. 4th Edition gets scrapped and they try to get back to the end of 3rd Edition and give it another try.

 

[mudbunny]

There's another "closed public" playtest at PAX East in two weeks. I assume they will at least evaluate the feedback before creating the public playtest document.
So I'd say no earlier than may.

They are not revising, as I see it. 4th Edition gets scrapped and they try to get back to the end of 3rd Edition and give it another try.

How does not announcing the start date of the public playtest equate to going back to 3.X??

 

[nightwalker450]

There's another "closed public" playtest at PAX East in two weeks. I assume they will at least evaluate the feedback before creating the public playtest document.
So I'd say no earlier than may.

They are not revising, as I see it. 4th Edition gets scrapped and they try to get back to the end of 3rd Edition and give it another try.

And loose a good portion of their fan base to please people whose game was already scrapped once. There's a reason many of us left 3rd. And they'd have a better chance of getting people to use a game built on 4th, then they would on the others... Why, because those that are using old editions have already settled, and haven't been interested in changing for 10-30 years, why would they bother now? 4th edition people are more likely to change editions if they have more improvements. We are more interested in improving the system, then paying homage to pointless nostalgia.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

And loose a good portion of their fan base to please people whose game was already scrapped once. There's a reason many of us left 3rd. And they'd have a better chance of getting people to use a game built on 4th, then they would on the others... Why, because those that are using old editions have already settled, and haven't been interested in changing for 10-30 years, why would they bother now? 4th edition people are more likely to change editions if they have more improvements. We are more interested in improving the system, then paying homage to pointless nostalgia.

Before 4E was announced I loved to tinker with the rules of 3.5E. There was a lot of scope for doing so, indeed, for adapting the system near completely to other settings or styles. After 4E was announced obviously we got Pathfinder, which did this to some extent.

Now if I sat down with 4E, where would I start? I'm not sure. The whole class/power structure, to me, would require a significant change for me to start tinkering. Fundamentally, I would have to make everything fit into the power structure, or scrap it all together. The classes and races are so similar, the stats so sidelined and the system so rigid (and admittedly, fairly balanced) that I wouldn't know where to start. This is just my opinion, of course.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Whatever the reason, the wait on this playtest (without so much as an update) is kind of a drag.

They are not revising, as I see it. 4th Edition gets scrapped and they try to get back to the end of 3rd Edition and give it another try.

Why not take 3rd edition (which was a revision of 2e) and try to really meaningfully revise and update and improve and even redesign it? One might call PF and TB attempts to that effect, but they don't go very far. I'd argue that we still haven't really seen this tried.

 

[Grazzt]

There's another "closed public" playtest at PAX East in two weeks. I assume they will at least evaluate the feedback before creating the public playtest document.
So I'd say no earlier than may.

Sometime in May is what I heard (FWIW)

 

[Boarstorm]

The official twitter account said "sometime after PAX East." Or, rather, "Not before the end of PAX East," which amounts to much the same thing.

That was... last week, I believe?

https://twitter.com/#!/Wizards_DnD/status/180687785223663616

 

[Dausuul]

The official twitter account said "sometime after PAX East." Or, rather, "Not before the end of PAX East," which amounts to much the same thing.

That was... last week, I believe?

https://twitter.com/#!/Wizards_DnD/status/180687785223663616

For those not inclined to follow the link, the exact quote:

"We have a #dndnext playtest at PAX East, so I can tell you with certainty that the open playtest will not happen until some time after that." --Wizards_DnD