D&D 5E Mystic and Artificer now on DM''s Guild. Part of additional playtest process

[TheWriterFantastic™]

This would be a great opportunity for Keith Baker to play with the 5e Artificer.

Or for Bruce Cordell to toy with the Psionics rules?

 

[Sir Brennen]

I'm annoyed they didn't bother updating the classes for this. Especially the artificer, which was released five months ago.

I don't see that the Guild has that many more users than Unearthed Arcana and the website. It's not like it was hard to download off the website. This has the added barrier of entry that you need a DMsGuild account.

In the first thread on this topic, there was also a Youtube video link where Mearls explains the reasoning. The main advantage is they can update the material in DMsG without having to create a whole new UA page, plus opening it up for use/incorporation/modification in a space where they can see the results.

 

[Jester David]

The main advantage is they can update the material in DMsG without having to create a whole new UA page

That's a strong advantage.
Or would if it seemed at all likely they were going to update this material again. They haven't touched the artificer since January. If they were going to update that, doing that *now* would have been the perfect time, when it's getting the most attention and people would be downloading it anyway to see what differences there are.
Doing it later just makes it a stealth update.

Ideally, this is content we'll see in the book coming the fall. Which means the text for that needs to be finalized in August. That's two-and-a-half months. If that was the case, hopefully they'd have further revisions already.
If it's not planned for that book… well, who knows when it'll be released. It's unlikely they'll do two heavily player class-crunch books in subsequent years. So… 2019?

plus opening it up for use/incorporation/modification in a space where they can see the results.

Except now this content is available for other DMsG authors to build off of and reference.

That'd be great… if people weren't already doing that. Like this:
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/204644/Master-Makers-Artificer-Character-Options

This would also be more reassuring if we'd seen any signs they were looking at material on the DMsGuild...

 

[SkidAce]

This would be a great opportunity for Keith Baker to play with the 5e Artificer.

I didn't think of that....

 

[MechaTarrasque]

That's a strong advantage.
Or would if it seemed at all likely they were going to update this material again. They haven't touched the artificer since January. If they were going to update that, doing that *now* would have been the perfect time, when it's getting the most attention and people would be downloading it anyway to see what differences there are.
Doing it later just makes it a stealth update.

Ideally, this is content we'll see in the book coming the fall. Which means the text for that needs to be finalized in August. That's two-and-a-half months. If that was the case, hopefully they'd have further revisions already.
If it's not planned for that book… well, who knows when it'll be released. It's unlikely they'll do two heavily player class-crunch books in subsequent years. So… 2019?



That'd be great… if people weren't already doing that. Like this:
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/204644/Master-Makers-Artificer-Character-Options

This would also be more reassuring if we'd seen any signs they were looking at material on the DMsGuild...

At least at some point they have looked at stuff from the Guild as seen at http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/march-2016-review. How much or how often is a good question, though.

 

[bedir than]

I'm annoyed they didn't bother updating the classes for this. Especially the artificer, which was released five months ago.

I don't see that the Guild has that many more users than Unearthed Arcana and the website. It's not like it was hard to download off the website. This has the added barrier of entry that you need a DMsGuild account.

It's not about quantity of users. It's about allowing the users to adapt the content in ways WotC didn't expect, and then WotC can use that in their products.

 

[LordEntrails]

... where Mearls explains the reasoning. The main advantage is they can update the material in DMsG without having to create a whole new UA page, plus opening it up for use/incorporation/modification in a space where they can see the results.

Making a webpage is trivial, or should be if they are using any type of reasonable CMS. And updating a webpage also should be trivial. Either they are; hand coding their webpages in Notepad, using it as an excuse, or Mike doesn't have a clue.

I don't think #1 is true, and Mike seems too intelligent and experienced to think #3. Therefore it seems like it's some sort of excuse. Probably a valid one, but not very forthright, sounds just like fod. Opening it up is a good reason, IMO, and appreciated.

That said, I could careless if they have updated it, plan to, or not. And even though others have pointed out that the UA material has already been adopted by DMsG authors, it doesn't mean they should have been doing that.

 

[darjr]

I'll bet they didn't want to update them yet to get them out asap. Next update will be AL legal and I bet they wanted to give folks a heads up asap.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Making a webpage is trivial, or should be if they are using any type of reasonable CMS. And updating a webpage also should be trivial. Either they are; hand coding their webpages in Notepad, using it as an excuse, or Mike doesn't have a clue.

I don't think #1 is true, and Mike seems too intelligent and experienced to think #3. Therefore it seems like it's some sort of excuse. Probably a valid one, but not very forthright, sounds just like fod. Opening it up is a good reason, IMO, and appreciated.

You're making an assumption about why they don't want to make a new web page. No one said anything about it not being easy to create a new web page. It's more of a visibility and usability issue. If they went that route, now they'd have multiple versions of the playtest material (since they keep the previous pages), and anyone linking to it either has to make updates or point to old material. And if they updated it in place, it's more of a hassle to let people know "Hey, we updated an old page!" With the DMsG, updates occur in the same place, and you can see that in your account info.

It's pretty clearly explained in the video why their doing it this way and what they think the advantages are.

 

[Jester David]

It's not about quantity of users. It's about allowing the users to adapt the content in ways WotC didn't expect, and then WotC can use that in their products.

Possibly.
I know I haven't even *thought* about making a subclass or options for these because the design is in flux.

I don't want to design something and then have the official version cone out and replace my design. Like working on a buffing artificer that empowers armour or weapons and have that be in the book.
Or have to throw out all my content and completely redesign. Such as if the final version is a 1/2 caster rather than 1/3.

Still... with one book a year, there's no shortage of "easy" options. WotC kinda needs to focus on the heavily desired go-to stuff right now. The basics. They don't need to get experimental with mechanics.