D&D 5E Poll: How do you feel about 5e pace of releases?

[KoolMoDaddy-O]

The release schedule has been too slow but for me it's also an "and such small portions too" argument. My primary want is for bolt-on mechanics or guidelines and adventure anthologies (no such thing as too many side quests), both of which Wizards has been stingy with, so I don't need more of what I don't want. In the end Wizards' 5e scarcity has been a good thing because it pushed me toward 3PP, where I've found a bounty of material that is often as good as, if not better than, what Wizards produces.

My biggest complaint with their releases is Wizards can't seem to publish a book that doesn't need errata and/or an apology five minutes later.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

The release schedule has been too slow but for me it's also an "and such small portions too" argument. My primary want is for bolt-on mechanics or guidelines and adventure anthologies (no such thing as too many side quests), both of which Wizards has been stingy with, so I don't need more of what I don't want. In the end Wizards' 5e scarcity has been a good thing because it pushed me toward 3PP, where I've found a bounty of material that is often as good as, if not better than, what Wizards produces.

And it's not just small portions. Fewer books, with smaller portions, and dramatically more reprinting. As I noted above, over the course of more than a year, the only player-facing book...had a bunch of reprinted races. I don't think a single one was actually new. It was just written TCoE-style, which is trivial to implement. GotG has...one subclass, a feat, and some new spells.

My biggest complaint with their releases is Wizards can't seem to publish a book that doesn't need errata and/or an apology five minutes later.

Errata should not be a sin. Errors occur. Even extremely good testing doesn't catch everything (not that I think they do extremely good testing, but still). The apologies, of course, are another matter.

 

[Stormonu]

It's a bit too slow for my tastes, but that's probably a good thing.

Moreso, it would benefit me more if there were less adventures being put out and more setting, monster or player books. Greyhawk, FR (focusing on places other than the Sword Coast), Dark Sun, Jakandor or new settings would appeal to me. I'm always a sucker for monsters, and they could do "advanced" or variant bestiaries in a slightly different style than the base monster books they've done.

Then again, I collect far more than I get to play, so for me it's reading material, with an occasional item to toss into the game. I just don't have any more shelves for adventures nowadays.

 

[MichaelSomething]

It's a bit too slow for my tastes, but that's probably a good thing.

Moreso, it would benefit me more if there were less adventures being put out and more setting, monster or player books.

Need more settings???

 

[Minigiant]

Basically.
It's too fast for someone who is buying every book no matter what.
It's far too slow for someone who is only buying certain types of books or only the best books.

My theory was that TSR didn't go out of business because they printed too many books but because they printed more than they could afford and sold them all the the same demographics until they hit saturation.

 

[Retros_x]

While I don't want a return to the madness of release schedules as they existed in 3X and 4E, I'd like a somewhat faster pace. We are talking about the biggest RPG in the world, backed by a multinational corporation. They really could manage more than six books a year. They don't need to release things so slowly that everyone has a chance to play everything they publish.

Which they don't, I think its fair to assume in general no one manages to play everything they publish before the next release. At least I never heard of a DM who accomplish that.

 

[ECMO3]

As a sort of a spin-off from the mothballing thread... what is your personal opinion about the pace of releases for D&D 5e?

I'm not asking about whether it is good or bad from the point of view of sales, but how do you feel about it as a customer and as a player.

My biggest complaint is WOTC releases way too many rules and not nearly enough adventures. Instead of a new rulebook every 6 months (we will have 2 books on Dragons soon) I would like to see them focus on hard cover campaigns. It is about time we got a campaign based in the Calimsham Desert or the Moonsea area. I would much rather have that then books on Giants, soon to be 2 books on Dragons and numerous rule books.

 

[Parmandur]

My biggest complaint is WOTC releases way too many rules and not nearly enough adventures. Instead of a new rulebook every 6 months (we will have 2 books on Dragons soon) I would like to see them focus on hard cover campaigns. It is about time we got a campaign based in the Calimsham Desert or the Moonsea area. I would much rather have that then books on Giants, soon to be 2 books on Dragons and numerous rule books.

There is only one rulebook about dragons: the Pracrical Guide is a fun kid's book, no rules.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And it's not just small portions. Fewer books, with smaller portions, and dramatically more reprinting. As I noted above, over the course of more than a year, the only player-facing book...had a bunch of reprinted races. I don't think a single one was actually new. It was just written TCoE-style, which is trivial to implement. GotG has...one subclass, a feat, and some new spells.

Didn’t spelljammer come out at the same time as Motm?

besides which, MoTM does a lot more than rewrite races in the style of TCOE. Many races are near total rewrites, like the deep gnome.

 

[Parmandur]

Didn’t spelljammer come out at the same time as Motm?

besides which, MoTM does a lot more than rewrite races in the style of TCOE. Many races are near total rewrites, like the deep gnome.

Mot. Was originally supposed to come out in late 2021, but thenrules gift set was delayed tonearm 2022, and then it was released individually between Radianr Citadela and Spelljammer. But the revamps for 2024 were hashed out between those two books, it seems.