Jester David
Hero
I'm excited for Occult Adventures but I doubt it'll see any use at my table with a good dozen classes already out that haven't been used and multiple books that have barely been touched. Still, it's a much better idea for an expansion that the Advanced Class Guide.
(I have suspicions the ACG was really released to contrast with the rules lite nature of 5e, and appeal to the optimizers and character builders in the hobby.)
I don't know where Paizo will take the RPG for 2016 and beyond. My first thought is "Pathfinder Revised", but that might push people to 5e, so Paizo will likely want to hold off on a new edition until the full impact of 5e is known. There's enough content and narrative room for a few good hardcovers still. And Paizo itself has a lot of brand loyalty, so they might be able to hold onto their fanbase for some time, or even keep much of their audience after a game revision. Paizo is a smaller company than WotC and can make do with far smaller numbers of sales, especially if they're content being the #2 or #3 name in the buisness.
Paizo will likely continue what they started this year and segue into more big Campaign Setting books. We have Inner Sea Gods this year and Inner Sea Races in 2015, which appeal to people even if they're using Golarion with Pathfinder or 5e or FATE. So I imagine Paizo will continue to focus on the campaign setting and Adventure Paths first and foremost.
There's no way Paizo will switch to 5e. They were burned multiple times for being dependant on other companies and IP, so they very much want to remain independent, rather than tying the continued health of their company to the whims of WotC. At worst, I can see them phasing out the RPG and making their APs and world content edition neutral, perhaps having the crunch as separate PDFs, reducing the amount of new monsters in the adventures, or providing conversion guides for 5e.
This will still be hard as there's a LOT of people tied to the rules publishing business right now, so Paizo will either have to diversify and find those people jobs working on different brands or products than the RPG or have some layoffs.
(I have suspicions the ACG was really released to contrast with the rules lite nature of 5e, and appeal to the optimizers and character builders in the hobby.)
I don't know where Paizo will take the RPG for 2016 and beyond. My first thought is "Pathfinder Revised", but that might push people to 5e, so Paizo will likely want to hold off on a new edition until the full impact of 5e is known. There's enough content and narrative room for a few good hardcovers still. And Paizo itself has a lot of brand loyalty, so they might be able to hold onto their fanbase for some time, or even keep much of their audience after a game revision. Paizo is a smaller company than WotC and can make do with far smaller numbers of sales, especially if they're content being the #2 or #3 name in the buisness.
Paizo will likely continue what they started this year and segue into more big Campaign Setting books. We have Inner Sea Gods this year and Inner Sea Races in 2015, which appeal to people even if they're using Golarion with Pathfinder or 5e or FATE. So I imagine Paizo will continue to focus on the campaign setting and Adventure Paths first and foremost.
There's no way Paizo will switch to 5e. They were burned multiple times for being dependant on other companies and IP, so they very much want to remain independent, rather than tying the continued health of their company to the whims of WotC. At worst, I can see them phasing out the RPG and making their APs and world content edition neutral, perhaps having the crunch as separate PDFs, reducing the amount of new monsters in the adventures, or providing conversion guides for 5e.
This will still be hard as there's a LOT of people tied to the rules publishing business right now, so Paizo will either have to diversify and find those people jobs working on different brands or products than the RPG or have some layoffs.
