D&D 5E how many 5e supporters are upset about the possible $50 price tag

variant · Mar 10, 2014

Zardnaar said:
THose other RPGs costing 50 or 60 bucks only require 1 book for the complete rules. Pathfinder is PHB and DMG and is large. The other (clones) D&Ds are also cheaper than WoTC apparent price. Also inflation doesn't really explain a $35 to $50 jump since 2008.

Hackmaster is three books, Player's Handbook, Hacklopedia of Beasts, and the upcoming Gamemaster's Guide. Others that require only one book are simply barebones RPGs with less content. In a lot of those other RPGs, while a whole game is contained in one book, it doesn't mean it has the same content of the three book set of other games. A lot of that content is cut and put in supplemental books which you have to pay for to get it anyway.

The question is whether the amount of content in the book justifies the price. My hope is that we get many more pages of content and make the PHB a more insular product. Most players shouldn't need more than the PHB.

ren1999 · Mar 10, 2014

Let's get back to what made D&D great.
The books were easy to handle and reference with only an average of 130 pages.
The price tag was within the range of middle class allowances.

Consider the really poor economy today. 50$ is too much to pay.

Wizards, cut the volume of each book to 130 pages and charge $19.95 for each one.

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Mark CMG · Mar 10, 2014

GMforPowergamers said:
how is it biased?

Well, technically, I had to use "I was unsure" (#2) when I *am* still unsure. But, nothing to do with the price.

Mistwell · Mar 10, 2014

So the list of people who say they were going to buy but now have doubt because of the price include, in my opinion, a lot of people who made it clear they were unsure about the game before the price issue existed. I think all of Ashkelon, Dausuul, ForeverSlayer, GMforPowergamers, Jester Canuck, and mhensley had all expressed, to one degree or another, doubt and a level of unsureness before the price issue existed.

Am I wrong? Were all you guys really "totally on board" with buying 5e sight unseen before this price issue came about?

pemerton · Mar 10, 2014

Mistwell said:
So the list of people who say they were going to buy but now have doubt because of the price include, in my opinion, a lot of people who made it clear they were unsure about the game before the price issue existed. I think all of Ashkelon, Dausuul, ForeverSlayer, GMforPowergamers, Jester Canuck, and mhensley had all expressed, to one degree or another, doubt and a level of unsureness before the price issue existed.

Obviously posters can speak for themselves, but as someone who reads a lot of D&Dnext and other threads I would regard both [MENTION=58197]Dausuul[/MENTION] and [MENTION=67338]GMforPowergamers[/MENTION] as strong supporters, and probably also [MENTION=37579]Jester Canuck[/MENTION] - Dausuul in particular made it clear a year or more ago that he(?) wanted a game closer to B/X than 4e, though learning some lessons about tightness of design/structure from 4e. D&Dnext looks like a candidate to be that game.

delericho · Mar 10, 2014

I was uncertain about 5e, and remain uncertain. If I do decide to buy, that $50 price tag won't stop me.

That said, my immediate reaction to the $50 tag was something of a "sticker shock" - a combination of what looked like a big increase (even though, correcting for inflation, it's not so bad), and that $50 threshold... plus my tendency in the last few years to cut back.

But, looked at objectively, my 3.5e core rulebooks are probably my best purchase ever, in terms of price paid vs hours of use, closely followed by my 2nd Ed core rulebooks. If I were to play 5e half as much as either of those editions, $50 is practically a steal.

So... we'll see, I guess. I would of course prefer a $40 price point, but I can live with $50. And, of course, we don't actually know what $50 will buy - is it a one-book game, or one third of a core set, or something else? That makes a big difference as well.

Dausuul · Mar 10, 2014

pemerton said:
Obviously posters can speak for themselves, but as someone who reads a lot of D&Dnext and other threads I would regard both @Dausuul and @GMforPowergamers as strong supporters, and probably also @Jester Canuck - Dausuul in particular made it clear a year or more ago that he(?) wanted a game closer to B/X than 4e, though learning some lessons about tightness of design/structure from 4e. D&Dnext looks like a candidate to be that game.

"Strong supporter" was a good description and it still is. As I said, the price tag made me blink a little, but it's not going to stop me buying it--though it might stop me from buying a couple of spare PHBs, which is my normal practice. I chose the "uneasy" option because it seemed like the best way of saying "Still on board, but this does seem rather high and I worry it might turn a lot of people off."

(This is why wording polls is a tricky business. "Uneasy" covers a great deal of ground.)

Blackbrrd · Mar 10, 2014

Isn't the thread quite irrelevant, since we don't actually know what price 5e is going to have, and we don't know what we will get either? The "leak" we have had first said 50$, then something like 38$, and was then removed. It didn't tell what you would get for it either. I do find it amusing that the OP focuses on the first 50$ price tag, and totally ignores the 38$ price tag.

Dausuul · Mar 10, 2014

Blackbrrd said:
Isn't the thread quite irrelevant, since we don't actually know what price 5e is going to have, and we don't know what we will get either? The "leak" we have had first said 50$, then something like 38$, and was then removed. It didn't tell what you would get for it either. I do find it amusing that the OP focuses on the first 50$ price tag, and totally ignores the 38$ price tag.

It was a scrap of information from a source that might possibly have been in the know. Therefore it must be debated to death.

delericho · Mar 10, 2014

Blackbrrd said:
The "leak" we have had first said 50$, then something like 38$, and was then removed.

The $50 was the RRP, the $38 was their discounted price. Since discounts generally can't be guaranteed at any specific level, it makes more sense to discuss the RRP.

You are right, however, that the $50 has never been confirmed (or denied) by WotC, nor do we know the format of the book. Indeed, we can't even be 100% certain that 5e will have a PHB at all, although it does seem highly likely!

(I suspect the reason this has generated so much discussion is precisely because $50 is a higher value than expected but it also sounds believable - it seems like a price point WotC might well go for.)

D&D 5E how many 5e supporters are upset about the possible $50 price tag

How did the price of $50 effect you?

I was unsure about 5e but the price has me less likely to buy

I was unsure about 5e but the $50 price tag doesn't effect me

I didn't like 5e so I still wont buy it

I dislike Wotc and am happy they are pricing themselves out

I was a 5e supporter and still am

I was a 5e supporter but the price tag has me uneasy about it.

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