Kate Welch is WotC's New D&D Designer

WotC has a brand new D&D designer, and it's Kate Welch! She plays Rosie Beestinger, the Lightfoot Halfing Monk in Acquisitions Inc's "C Team". She starts work on February 2nd. That's all I know for the moment, but more info if I hear it!

[video=youtube;fRsURJf4SjQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRsURJf4SjQ[/video]
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[ad_hoc]

the same is true in D&D, if a player wants to be better... he/she will in some sort of fashion ultimately optimize / power-up some aspect of their game

#1 This is not what 'powergamer' means
#2 I think that most players don't care about getting better. They want to do their best to help out, but they don't care how good they are at that and won't be putting effort into improving. The people at my table have busy lives. The busiest one is currently preparing their PhD. dissertation. I am sure they don't care about getting better at combat in D&D and yet they also enjoy combats.

 

[Parmandur]

My point is to capture both playstyles because everyone that is in middle does some combination of both

It's not a strict, evenly distributed dichotomy, I reckon. Indeed, I'm certain the proper balance for their audience was taken into consideration by WotC when hiring.

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[Mathilda]

#1 This is not what 'powergamer' means
#2 I think that most players don't care about getting better. They want to do their best to help out, but they don't care how good they are at that and won't be putting effort into improving. The people at my table have busy lives. The busiest one is currently preparing their PhD. dissertation. I am sure they don't care about getting better at combat in D&D and yet they also enjoy combats.

1. I am not going to argue about definitions.. no point in doing so
2. I absolutely disagree with your second point....if they truly do not want to get better, they will eventually lose interest in the game and quit. To the second part of your point #2, I am going to assume you are the DM since you said "at my table"... only you can answer this, when you play, do you actually challenge the party or do you "fudge" rolls to ensure the party is successful? and if you say you challenge them, have you TPK'd them and if so, what was the response, did they quit, did they complain it was too hard, etc. I have not watched your game but how would they do if they went to a convention and played an AL mod... would the pressure of finishing an adventure in 4 hours be too much? In sports, they call it playing down to your competition.. meaning that instead of playing to one's abilities, one slacks off.. Do you do that to your party?

 

[Mathilda]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/139409870

5e discussion starts at 26:40

9.5 million players at 27:30

"D&D fifth edition is played by....played actively by about 9.5 million people...give or take and that is just the tabletop version."

Fair enough... it would be interesting on how he arrived at that number..

Now I am curious if he quoted a player base number for Magic: The Gathering since that game is considered a "Franchise Base" game per the 2016 Hasbro Annual Report and I assume they are still both WoTC controlled games

 

[Parmandur]

Fair enough... it would be interesting on how he arrived at that number..

Now I am curious if he quoted a player base number for Magic: The Gathering since that game is considered a "Franchise Base" game per the 2016 Hasbro Annual Report and I assume they are still both WoTC controlled games

Unfortunately, their methodology is likely proprietary information, but likely accurate.

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[Mathilda]

It's not a strict, evenly distributed dichotomy, I reckon. Indeed, I'm certain the proper balance for their audience was taken into consideration by WotC when hiring.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

I disagree... I would imagine it is simple bell curve distribution.... with players that the play the game with zero dice rolling (i.e. heavy role players) and players that play the game with all dice mechanics and zero role playing being at the opposite ends with everyone else forming the bell by playing the game by utilizing both playstyles

 

[3catcircus]

My point is to capture both playstyles because everyone that is in middle does some combination of both

How about capturing *neither* and leave it up to the vast army of third-party content to fill that role?

I'd argue that making a character *good* at something another character in the party isn't good at is not power-gaming. Power-gaming generally focuses on maximizing one thing to the exclusion of everything else. Not many players do that - I've never seen a majority of players (whether home campaigns, at cons, or in organized play) do that - and I've been gaming for 40+ years. Likewise, I've not seen many players spend multiple sessions doing nothing but dialog with the DM and not throw a single die. Those that want to do that tend to gravitate towards diceless systems, LARPing, SCA, etc.

WotC should be sticking with hiring people who can produce products that focus on appealing to the majority of potential buyers - and that means middle of the road without heavily investing into either of the two extremes.

 

[ad_hoc]

2. I absolutely disagree with your second point....if they truly do not want to get better, they will eventually lose interest in the game and quit.

That simply isn't true.

The goal of D&D (for most) is not to win.

It's to facilitate fun social engagements with friends.

when you play, do you actually challenge the party or do you "fudge" rolls to ensure the party is successful? and if you say you challenge them, have you TPK'd them and if so, what was the response, did they quit, did they complain it was too hard, etc.

No fudging. There have been 2 or 3 TPKs in the last year. We usually have a brief discussion of how awesome the campaign/ending was and then everyone makes new characters.

I have not watched your game but how would they do if they went to a convention and played an AL mod... would the pressure of finishing an adventure in 4 hours be too much?

I doubt any of them would want to play at a convention or with strangers. Most of the players you know might go to conventions, but the vast majority of players don't go to them. Remember, over 10 million active players.

We're not speaking the same language. I don't think you understand the way most people play D&D. Indeed, you had no idea how popular the game really is. You seem to be framing everything in terms of competition and adversaries.

There is demonstrated well in the movie Arrival (2016):

[sblock] The Chinese government has learned to communicate with the aliens through the game Mahjong. As such, all of their communications are about adversaries and competition. Their language leaves no room for anything else. Everything must be framed that way, and as such they misinterpret the aliens.[/sblock]

To you 5e is one thing, but it is something else to most people. My recommendation is to play a different game because your goals don't align well with the goals of 5e. There is some overlap there, but you will likely continue to be frustrated by the design decisions of WotC.

 

[dave2008]

2. I absolutely disagree with your second point....if they truly do not want to get better, they will eventually lose interest in the game and quit. To the second part of your point #2, I am going to assume you are the DM since you said "at my table"... only you can answer this, when you play, do you actually challenge the party or do you "fudge" rolls to ensure the party is successful? and if you say you challenge them, have you TPK'd them and if so, what was the response, did they quit, did they complain it was too hard, etc. I have not watched your game but how would they do if they went to a convention and played an AL mod... would the pressure of finishing an adventure in 4 hours be too much? In sports, they call it playing down to your competition.. meaning that instead of playing to one's abilities, one slacks off.. Do you do that to your party?

I'm not sure what you are rambling about. What does any of this have to do with whether or not his players like to get better at combat?

Personally, my players do not actively try to get better, but they do like to get better things (weapons and equipment) and get new features (new - not necessarily better). But they don't care about learning better tactics, or picking the best features, or spells, or weapons, or feats. They don't plan ahead or do anything like power gaming. Heck, they are challenged by the monsters in the MM as is!

 

[Sacrosanct]

You really miss the point.... the point is this: People inherently do not want to suck so they will do some sort of optimization so they can also contribute to the group. I am not talking about the player who will go to the Nth degree in optimization... that is another discussion. I am not even talking about the player who thinks he/she is better than everyone and says other people suck. What I speak about is something true in all of us, in life deep down you know what you are good at and what you are not good at... if you wish to be better at something, you ask questions, you read books or go on the internet for advice... the same is true in D&D, if a player wants to be better... he/she will in some sort of fashion ultimately optimize / power-up some aspect of their game

I disagree. For many, if not most of the gamers, optimizing on any level doesn't matter. D&D is not a competition, not between players themselves, and not between the players and the DM. You seem to have this assumption that being able to contribute and/or the ability to have fun in a game is dependent on engaging in some level of optimization. That's a false assumption.

1. I am not going to argue about definitions.. no point in doing so

If you're going to use words like optimization and power gaming, things that have clear meanings, then you better believe that the proper usage of them is important.

2. I absolutely disagree with your second point....if they truly do not want to get better, they will eventually lose interest in the game and quit.

And this really illustrates the issue, doesn't it? If PCs don't get better, players will lose interest and quit? This is a role-playing game. Thousands of gamers play because they enjoy role playing, and enjoy the company of friends, and a million other things other than seeing if some numbers on a character sheet get better. This isn't a sports competition. You don't play D&D to keep getting better. it's a game. Looking at the video, Kate Welch seems to be one of those players who could have fun forever just partaking in a good story and having fun with friends without giving one whit on trying to max out stats or DPR.