D&D (2024) I'm a longtime player and there really is only one thing that will stop me from switching to 5.X

[Clint_L]

I guess if there was no physical option for books that might turn me off. I generally like/am fine with digital. However, I definitely want a physical Monster Manual. If I can't get that, it might turn me away from D&D.

True - I love having most books on digital, but some I want to have right in my grubby hands. Not for playing - that's all done on DDB. Just for reading and treasuring on my own time. Almost the only books I purchase in physical form these days are for gaming. Or comics/graphic novels.

 

[payn]

A dislike of the mechanics.

 

[dave2008]

Not for playing - that's all done on DDB. Just for reading and treasuring on my own time.

This, 100% this

 

[Weiley31]

1) WotC continuing on the PG and only PG (never even PG-13) tonal path that they seem to be on. It's not something that makes me angry, it's something that makes me bored, and I've seen companies go this way before

I can appreciate this, but honestly it's not something that really gives me much pause, mostly because I put so much of my own work into developing settings to play in, even if they are published ones. Just as I have been easily able to excise objectional materials over the decades, so can I push past bowdlerization in the setting. But I can feel how when rules soften and reduce consequences of choices, it can turn some people off. Honestly, again, I just change it to suit the tone I need for my table, but I grok wanting material to support your preferred playstyle because, in the end, that's what you are paying for.

Everyone’s horniness in launch Baldur’s Gate 3 was a bug, not a feature

‘There were a lot of people that enjoyed it’

www.polygon.com

 

[MoonSong]

The main reason to not change is the erasure of Half-elf, without a good reason -a killer app- to offset that loss.

I think of blind/random minis as a very new thing (because I'm rather an old thing, myself, I guess).
And, clearly, a thing inspired by the CCGs that gave WotC life.

That said, minis were a huge part of wargaming back in the day, and of D&D, which grew out of wargames. And they were toxic lead. And we were glad to have 'em.
And, yeah, they were a comparatively expensive part if you bought a lot of 'em.

And, y'know, we used dice and pawns from other games and whatnot when we didn't have a mini, so

Tony, you're back! n_n

 

[MonsterEnvy]

If I wasn't already turned off by the rules, it would be randomized content, loot boxes, etc.

Random rolled for loot is a staple of the game since the start

 

[Incenjucar]

Random rolled for loot is a staple of the game since the start

The premise of this thread is about how your real life money is spent, not the random loot tables used in-game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can appreciate this, but honestly it's not something that really gives me much pause, mostly because I put so much of my own work into developing settings to play in, even if they are published ones. Just as I have been easily able to excise objectional materials over the decades, so can I push past bowdlerization in the setting. But I can feel how when rules soften and reduce consequences of choices, it can turn some people off. Honestly, again, I just change it to suit the tone I need for my table, but I grok wanting material to support your preferred playstyle because, in the end, that's what you are paying for.

Yeah, in the end, you're just not getting anything worth paying for.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I don't foresee anything WotC could do to make me not want to purchase the latest and greatest D&D foundational product. First, because I am lucky enough to have the luxury of enough spendable cash to pick them up, and second because one of my greatest joys/hobbies when I am online is hanging around and posting on EN World about Dungeons & Dragons with you people. And I will always want to make sure I'm fully up on the current happenings with the game. Even if I'm not actively playing or running one curretly, I'd still want to know what folks are talking about.

I've been posting here continually for more than 20 years and have no intention of stopping. So if I'm going to make you people read my ridiculous posts... the least I can do is make sure they are coming from a place of relatively knowledgeable information.

 

[Li Shenron]

For context, I have been a DnD player since 1e of ADnD, back around 1982 or so by my best guess. I am a DM at heart and I buy a good deal of books overall. I have switched with every edition of ADnD into DnD, including the .5 style material. each time a new edition or demi-edition has come out, I have switched. The closest I have come to not doing this was 4e, but even that I played for the entirety of its publishing life.

None of the above is to brag, as it seems a rather silly thing to brag about. It is for context. I am a highly invested, high commitment DnD gamer and my purchase history reflects that. I have only mildly been following proposed rules changes in the playtest materials because, given my personal history, I'm expecting to switch to 5.X when it drops, cycling out 5e material as it gets superseded, just as I did with 3e to 3.5 for example.

All that said, there is one thing that will force my hand to not follow through, and that is radically changing how I interact with the game economically. for me, online tools and resources are a supplement, a tool which aids in my tabletop experience. But I want physical books. I want to make one time purchases and have a resource on my bookshelf. For its many crimes, the true failing for me with 4e was the constant rules updates and errata, the constant tinkering, that made my books inaccurate. If 5.x were to move to a digital first priority, I am going to be turned off. If it moves to a model where I pay a subscription to play as a given, rather than as ais, I am out.

What about you? Ignore rules. Ignore setting. Where is your line on DnD as a product that you pay for where you would walk away? For example, I know that one of the things that drove some away with 4e was that the emphasis on using minis was an additional expense that made people not make the jump.

I absolutely share the sentiment. Subscriptions are amazing for those who sell (they stabilize revenue), not for customers (you always end up paying more than you otherwise would). I am not against digital tools but I don't really use them, I think they tend too often to "become the game". I find that the concept of "living rules" constantly updated to supposedly improve the game, is ok only for a few videogames (the most competitive ones), but is a farce for a RPG. If any of these 3 are required by a RPG or edition, I am certainly not even touching it.