D&D (2024) One D&D Survey Feedback: Weapon Mastery Spectacular; Warlock and Wizard Mixed Reactions

Jeremy Crawford discusses the results of the Packet 5 Survey:

• Weapon Mastery at 80% approval, and all options except for Flex scored similarly. Crawford says that Flex is mathematically one of the most powerful properties, but will need some attention because people didn't feel like it was. This feature is in the 2024 PHB for 6 Classes, guaranteed at this point.
• Barbarian scored well, particularly the individual features, average satisfaction of 80% for each feature. Beserker got 84% satisfaction, while the 2014 Beserker in the 2020 Big Class Survey got 29% satisfaction.
• Fighter received well, overall 75% satisfaction. Champion scored 54% in the Big Class Survey, but this new one got 74%.
• Sorcerer in the Big Class Survey got 60%, this UA Sorcerer got 72%. Lots of enthusiasm for the Metamagic revisions. Careful Spell got 92% satisfaction. Twin Spell was the exception, at 60%. Draconic Sorcerer got 73%, new Dragon Wings feature was not well received but will be fixed back to being on all the time by the return to 2014 Aubclass progression.
• Class specific Spell lists are back in UA 7 coming soon, the unified Spell lists are out.
• Warlock feedback reflected mixed feelings in the player base. Pact magic is coming back in next iteration. Next Warlock will be more like 2014, Mystic Arcanum will be a core feature, but will still see some adjustments based on feedback to allow for more frequent use of Spells. Eldritch Invocations were well received. Crawford felt it was a good test, because they learned what players felt. They found the idiosyncracy of the Warlock is exactly what people like about it, so theybare keeping it distinct. Next version will get even more Eldritch Invocation options.
• Wizard got a mixed reception. Biggest problem people had was wanting a Wizard specific Spell list, not a shared Arcane list that made the Wizard less distinct. Evoker well received.

 

[tetrasodium]

Obviously if you reach the end of the day with unused spell slots and nothing applicable to spend them on, there’s no point spending them for no reason. My argument is that if you get to that point, you have been too conservative with your spell slots. Of course by then it’s too late, you can’t go back in time to spend them in earlier encounters. But you should take note that you could have gotten away with using your spell slots more liberally that day, and try to apply that moving forward. If you’re often finding yourself with leftover slots at the end of the day, you should probably be using your slots more freely in general.

Obviously yes... but it seems obvious that you've forgotten why people are asking you about this & it's only been a few posts...

 

[Charlaquin]

Obviously yes... but it seems obvious that you've forgotten why people are asking you about this & it's only been a few posts...

People are asking me about it because I said a spell slot not spent by the end of the day is a spell slot wasted. A statement I stand by, for the reasons I just gave you.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

In what context, however? STR and DEX are more useful out of combat than INT, WIS, or CHA depending on what is going on. My character cannot persuade a stuck door open or investigate across an open pit or crevasse. Spell casters may or may not have spells to deal with those but the ability checks aren't in their favor, and using a spell in that way removes the option to later use that spell slot again at another time to create an opportunity cost.

We have certainly not found mental ability checks to be unusual or less useful. Perception and Insight are quite common, there is always a need for social checks, and knowledge can indeed be half the battle.
I wouldn't say that any one ability check (other than Perception and initiative) is particularly more common or useful.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Obviously if you reach the end of the day with unused spell slots and nothing applicable to spend them on, there’s no point spending them for no reason. My argument is that if you get to that point, you have been too conservative with your spell slots. Of course by then it’s too late, you can’t go back in time to spend them in earlier encounters. But you should take note that you could have gotten away with using your spell slots more liberally that day, and try to apply that moving forward. If you’re often finding yourself with leftover slots at the end of the day, you should probably be using your slots more freely in general.

This does not follow. If I routinely have spell slots leftover, the most that might tell me is that attrition isn’t the biggest challenge in our campaign, or that I can afford to prepare a couple “camp spells” like Healing Elixir or Galder’s Tower, or simply that I don’t need to overthink my spell slots as long as I don’t start going out of my way to burn as many as I can.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Obviously not, because here you are, at the end of the adventuring day, with those slots still unspent.

This again does not follow.

If you survived without using them, you’d be in even better shape now had you used them. Maybe you wouldn’t even need to be resting yet.

Sure I would, because it’s time to rest.

Like we’ve been going for the whole day, we are in a reasonably safe place, and we can rest, so we do.

Is the whole party ending the day with unused resources? Why? If they’ve all still got gas in the tank, they should keep going. On the other hand, if everyone but the wizard is spent, it’s their stinginess that’s costing the other party members their resources.

The party should only keep going if it makes sense. We aren’t going for 36 hours with no sleep just because attrition wasn’t the biggest challenge of that adventuring day.

 

[tetrasodium]

People are asking me about it because I said a spell slot not spent by the end of the day is a spell slot wasted. A statement I stand by, for the reasons I just gave you.

Not quite, efficiency doesn't matter to the context the statement was raised in... The context of the discussion with defcon1 & doctorbadwolf when you started saying it is what you've forgotten. Without the context that statement in isolation is mundane to the point of practically being nothing but filler words. Your efforts to step away from context and focus on the filler in isolation speak loudly about the validity of what you were attempting to challenge with it. This whole tangent on what is efficient or not that you keep returning to seems like tip toeing around & swimming through the backfire effect.

 

[Charlaquin]

This does not follow. If I routinely have spell slots leftover, the most that might tell me is that attrition isn’t the biggest challenge in our campaign,

And therefore you can safely afford to be using your resources more freely.

or that I can afford to prepare a couple “camp spells” like Healing Elixir or Galder’s Tower,

Indeed, that’s a good use of those resources that would otherwise be going to waste.

or simply that I don’t need to overthink my spell slots as long as I don’t start going out of my way to burn as many as I can.

Tomato, tomato. If you’ve routinely got leftover spells, you can afford to be using your spells more than you have been. Whether you call that “not overthinking” or “not wasting,” the message is the same: you’ve got spell slots to spare, you don’t need to be conserving them as much as you have been.

 

[Charlaquin]

Not quite, efficiency doesn't matter to the context the statement was raised in... The context of the discussion with defcon1 & doctorbadwolf when you started saying it is what you've forgotten. Without the context that statement in isolation is mundane to the point of practically being nothing but filler words. Your efforts to step away from context and focus on the filler in isolation speak loudly about the validity of what you were attempting to challenge with it. This whole tangent on what is efficient or not that you keep returning to seems like tip toeing around & swimming through the backfire effect.

What on earth are you talking about???

 

[tetrasodium]

What on earth are you talking about???

Do you not see posts 705 & 718? You may remember quoting them in 707 &723 when you started avoiding the reason why it was a good comparison by talking about efficiency & using spell slots just because a caster could.

 

[Charlaquin]

Do you not see posts 705 & 718? You may remember quoting them in 707 &723 when you started avoiding the reason why it was a good comparison by talking about efficiency & using spell slots just because a caster could.

It was not a good comparison, for the reasons I said it wasn’t a good comparison, and @DEFCON 1 ’s rebuttal was not compelling. Also, it is true that a spell slot not spent by the end of the adventuring day is a spell slot wasted. If you disagree with me on either or both of those points, then make a counter-argument instead of vaguely gesturing at… whatever you’re trying to gesture at, I still can’t really tell.