D&D 5E State of D&D

[Tony Vargas]

It is a lot less controversial for a start

Well, yeah, 'less folks hating on it' would tend to equal 'less controversial' (except in the very hypothetical case of unanimous hate, of course - and even Sword Coast Legends didn't rate /that/).

So what is there to hate on other then a glacially slow Forgotten Realms heavy release schedule?

And it's not like "more please" is exactly hate. Ingratitude, at the very worst, maybe.

 

[Shasarak]

And it's not like "more please" is exactly hate. Ingratitude, at the very worst, maybe.

You would be surprised about the number of fans who take "more please" as a personal affront on behalf of the hard workers at WotC.

 

[Shardstone]

I'm not sure where some of this skepticism is coming from. Maybe I'm ignorant, but it would seem, to me at least, that a lot of things for 5E have been better then previous editions--at least since 3E. Their sales, as far as we know, are doing really well. Their new marketing plan has been drawing in a consistent audience and satisfying more players. Their embrace of older editions has allowed them to bring older editions of players into the new era. While they aren't perfect, they have been doing a fantastic job at reaching a new level of quality with their current product.

 

[Huntsman57]

I'm not sure how well it's doing. I enjoy is for the most part despite that I had to adjust the healing/dying/save or suck rules to suit what I consider to be a more tensely rewarding system akin to 2E and 3.5. Yet, despite this overhaul I am in love with every other aspect of 5E.

Has it caught on? I dunno. I feel like folks aren't giving it a chance. I've checked in with a lot of folks I used to play with back in the 2E and 3.5 days, ALL of whom converted to Pathfinder. They're still playing Pathfinder. I'm not sure if they ever gave 5E a glance. I rather hope my experience isn't typical, but my group is playing 5E only because I said that's what I'm now running. I don't know anyone else outside of all you folks on the forums that has done the same.

I admit that I'm not sure how well the other old hats I know would tolerate the more simplistic rules or the lack of danger immediacy in 5E, but I think overall that 5E has done of good job of (a least in most cases) not oversimplifying that which should be more complex out of necessity. At the same time combat in 5E is more interesting by reducing the stat ladder and focusing on more special abilities along with the interesting addition of bonus actions and reactions. As for the lack of danger immediacy in 5E, while that is genuinely a problem that any old hat would agree with, I would argue that we are looking back with somewhat rose tinted glasses, and there were plenty of other things we house ruled back in the day as well.

 

[Remathilis]

Its funny, I've been getting back into Magic: the Gathering and low-and-behold, I see this thread on MTGSalvation. The short version of the thread is that there is a lot of doom-and-gloom about M:TG involving online (the MTGO client is... lacking), marketing (some really sketchy games and apps), and the general idea that "WotC isn't listening to its customers" and "its in danger of losing to Hearthstone (Blizzard's CCG)".

Deja-vu hit me. You could replace nearly every complaint the M:TG crowd has with its game with the D&D crowd and their game. Online non-existent? Check. Spinoff items like gaming and apps poor? Check. Blizzard still eating D&D's lunch via WoW? Check. There are a few differences (D&D players are complaining about the glacial pace of releases, M:TG the constant treadmill of new sets) but both fandoms have some similar thoughts.

This leads me to believe one of two things are true.

Wizard's has no idea what they're doing, stumbling by ineptly only on the strength of their brands' names and is eventually going to fail and take down the CCG/TTRPG markets with them.

Wizard's is secretly brilliant and know exactly what they're doing thanks to strong market research, design, and the ability to read the tea-leaves better than their "fans" can.

So either D&D and Magic are in great hands and will see continued growth and success for years to come, or we'll all be playing Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and Pathfinder next year...

 

[Kite474]

From my admittedly small sample size (I tend to avoid LGS like the plague). 5e is doing. Okay?.... My group plays monthly but its a little hard to tell if we are enjoying 5e itself or just the way our GM runs it. In terms of sales though only 3 people out of the group of the roster of players and GM have bought a players manual. I and the GM have a DMG and MM. Neither of us have bought any adventures and do not intend to in the foreseeable future

So all in all at my end its hard to tell. But then again our group may not be 5e's core audience (Casual LGS based Module Running Groups)

As for Remathilis is statement im gonna take the option of they know what they are doing. Which is creating a product that appeals to both a casual audience and the nostalgic. Which if my long years in the video game industry have taught me sells like cocaine covered hotcakes

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

You would be surprised about the number of fans who take "more please" as a personal affront on behalf of the hard workers at WotC.

Unless you are saying that you are one of this number of fans that you speak of and personally have taken "more please" as a personal affront on behalf of the folks at WotC, it's not even remotely your place to say that - especially because it likely just your opinion/interpretation of someone's opinion that you are painting in a negative light because they answered your "more please" with their own "no more, please."

 

[Kite474]

Considering how much offense you are takeing to his statement you may or may not be proving his point.

 

[lobo316]

I'm not sure how well it's doing. I enjoy is for the most part despite that I had to adjust the healing/dying/save or suck rules to suit what I consider to be a more tensely rewarding system akin to 2E and 3.5. Yet, despite this overhaul I am in love with every other aspect of 5E.

Has it caught on? I dunno. I feel like folks aren't giving it a chance. I've checked in with a lot of folks I used to play with back in the 2E and 3.5 days, ALL of whom converted to Pathfinder. They're still playing Pathfinder. I'm not sure if they ever gave 5E a glance. I rather hope my experience isn't typical, but my group is playing 5E only because I said that's what I'm now running. I don't know anyone else outside of all you folks on the forums that has done the same.

I admit that I'm not sure how well the other old hats I know would tolerate the more simplistic rules or the lack of danger immediacy in 5E, but I think overall that 5E has done of good job of (a least in most cases) not oversimplifying that which should be more complex out of necessity. At the same time combat in 5E is more interesting by reducing the stat ladder and focusing on more special abilities along with the interesting addition of bonus actions and reactions. As for the lack of danger immediacy in 5E, while that is genuinely a problem that any old hat would agree with, I would argue that we are looking back with somewhat rose tinted glasses, and there were plenty of other things we house ruled back in the day as well.

OK, this is off the topic a bit, but what is the "lack of danger immediacy" you are referring to? I'm guessing every group will have differing opinions on this, but I've found 5e to be pretty "intense" on the danger side of things. Heck, 4e is really the one that appeared to kill the "danger" in the game. I think 5e has done a decent job of bringing that back. Not quiet as "dangerous" as 1e or 2e, but certainly closer than 4e ever was (or Pathfinder for that matter, both those systems are just crazy "god-makers", lol!).

I think you may be onto something with the "rose colored glasses" reference.

 

[Jester David]

Its funny, I've been getting back into Magic: the Gathering and low-and-behold, I see this thread on MTGSalvation. The short version of the thread is that there is a lot of doom-and-gloom about M:TG involving online (the MTGO client is... lacking), marketing (some really sketchy games and apps), and the general idea that "WotC isn't listening to its customers" and "its in danger of losing to Hearthstone (Blizzard's CCG)".

Deja-vu hit me. You could replace nearly every complaint the M:TG crowd has with its game with the D&D crowd and their game. Online non-existent? Check. Spinoff items like gaming and apps poor? Check. Blizzard still eating D&D's lunch via WoW? Check. There are a few differences (D&D players are complaining about the glacial pace of releases, M:TG the constant treadmill of new sets) but both fandoms have some similar thoughts.

This leads me to believe one of two things are true.

Wizard's has no idea what they're doing, stumbling by ineptly only on the strength of their brands' names and is eventually going to fail and take down the CCG/TTRPG markets with them.

Wizard's is secretly brilliant and know exactly what they're doing thanks to strong market research, design, and the ability to read the tea-leaves better than their "fans" can.

So either D&D and Magic are in great hands and will see continued growth and success for years to come, or we'll all be playing Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and Pathfinder next year...

It common to a lot of fandoms.
Such as from the Transformer wiki: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ruined_FOREVER