D&D 5E Playtest Fatigue?

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dd.stevenson

Super KY

• Aug 2, 2013

• #31

Other than the previous packet--which I'm assuming was a phone-it-in placeholder while everyone focused on their branding meetings--I'm testing the rules. Not on the regular nights, but on off nights with one or two guys who are keen to check it out and offer feedback.

 

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Jester David

Hero

• Aug 2, 2013

• #32

Running an ongoing campaign is problematic. I just do occasional one-shots so I don't burn out.

I don't think WotC is helping with the continual silence and sporadic releases. If they were engaging and discussing the playtest a little more it might help things feel a little more active. For example, they could challenge people to try certain things to see how they work in play. Have weekly or bi-weekly tasks around certain mechanics. Because we're not sure what they're working on and are pretty much being left to our own devices, it's harder to engage with the playtest as an evolving game. Instead it just feels like playing an unfinished game...

The game isn't ready and we've only been playtesting for less than a year-and-a-half but it might be time for a change. I'm hoping with GenCon the solidify the core mechanics and call those "done" (or at least done-ish) and move from testing the core to testing modules and expansions. Providing more content and variety might help. Let people start playing as if the game were released and let them start stories and campaigns. The feedback from that will be more reflective of play and be more useful; players get more creative when the survival of a long-term character is at stake.

 

Chris_Nightwing

First Post

• Aug 2, 2013

• #33

I'm fatigued for the simple reason that everything we read about and discuss is, to us, entirely virtual. We haven't had a significant update in so many months it's silly. The sorts of things they've supposedly updated, improved and changed are so fundamental it's not useful to playtest the current downloadable rules.

 

S

steenan

Adventurer

• Aug 2, 2013

• #34

I used to run playtest games in the beginning, but I stopped several months ago.

At the beginning, it seemed that WotC is aiming for a light ruleset, with fast combat and more narrative focus (today, I'd call it Dungeon World style). I was really interested in it. While the early packets had their weaknesses, they presented a game I wanted to play.

Then, it started to go downhill. Packages introduced more "numbers game", more mechanics-focused (as opposed to fiction-focused) options and in general moved the game further and further towards 3.x style. If I want to play this kind of game, I already have Pathfinder - and nothing I saw in the playtest suggested that Next may correct Pathfinder's problems.

I'm still tracking the changes they make in the playtest and if I see Next moving back to what I liked, I'll be back on board. But I don't expect it to happen.

 

delericho

Legend

• Aug 2, 2013

• #35

I really wanted to get in on the playtest. I read the first packet and liked what I saw. But the issue was time - I was heavily involved in an ongoing campaign, and just didn't have time for anything else.

That campaign has now ended, and I could find time to playtest, but... I've not had a real good feeling about how the packets have progressed, it's probably too late to make changes to the things that really interest me*... and, yeah, I'm a bit fatigued with the process. If it came out today I would probably buy it, but I doubt I'll be playing until then.

* the "things that really interest me" are the core mechanics. And I should note that it's not necessarily that I think there's anything wrong with them as they stand in the current version. But, good or bad, if they can't be changed then that somewhat limits my interest.

 

Plaguescarred

D&D Playtester for WoTC since 2012

• Aug 2, 2013

• #36

I have been a playtester from the start (January 2012) and still am, DMing most of the time. I was playtester even before the D&D Next playtest started as i was doing playtest of 4E materials already. I knew it'd be a long process but it will be 2 years soon and i must say i really look forward to its release.

 

Li Shenron

Legend

• Aug 2, 2013

• #37

My playtests have been limited to a bunch of scattered evenings of short adventures, but technically I am still playtesting.

(Psi)SeveredHead said:

Playtests for balancing purposes need to be repetitive and frankly boring; in addition to playing games, playtesters should be creating scenarios where PCs of different classes are taking on a group of monsters, running the exact same scenarios repeatedly, even if it's a one-person game.

Click to expand...

I think WotC should invest in automated playtesting (SW programs that simulate thousands of repetitions of the same battles) if they really want to balance numbers.

Real gaming groups are rather playtesting "feel", "players satisfaction", "gamestyles", and spotting glaring balance mistakes.

(Psi)SeveredHead said:

The ghoul versus party situation was a shocker to me, not because I'm surprised at poorly-designed rules, but because those should have been fixed one playtest after the ghoul was introduced. WotC acted as if it was completely surprised that the rules were bad.

Click to expand...

One problem IMHO is that there must be a lot of feedback coming from gamers who immediately write back about their rants/raves on the latest packet, before they even try to play. A lot of this feedback is probably made of stuff like "this mechanic is so horrible because bla bla... unrealistic... bla bla... broken... bla bla...", and only a minority of the feedback contains actual playtest results. Even within that feedback, how many have picked Ghouls among the many monsters provided?

How is WotC currently sorting playtest feedback based on opinion VS feedback based on real playtest? As you say, there is no metric... I admit that I have also myself sent feedback on a couple of packets without actually playtesting them, but in that case I've always at least took care of specifying that is was not a playtest feedback. But did they treat my feedback differently or just lumped it together with the good one?

 

Osgood

Adventurer

• Aug 2, 2013

• #38

I'm still play testing, but I haven't enjoyed it in several months. My group does it reluctantly, in hopes of offering useful feedback... it's tough because we all feel the game is usually moving in the wrong direction (for us anyway). We are actually splitting time between the play yest and trying other systems out.

 

darjr

I crit!

• Aug 2, 2013

• #39

[MENTION=37579]Jester Canuck[/MENTION]; I think this is a huge issue for me. Interactivity of the playtest is lacking. I understand that the full document is behind the bleeding edge testing. But I think they can fix some of that by giving us stuff that they know isn't 'release' ready but they want us to try out. Get on the forums and blogs and g+ and others and discuss things with us. Give us ideas of what to test.

I think this would go a LONG way to get and keep the excitement and participation up. I know they are busy but this is so critical to them it should be the 1st priority.

 

Jack99

Adventurer

• Aug 2, 2013

• #40

I stopped playtesting. Can't fit both playtesting and the regular campaign into the schedule, and my players prefer to play a system that doesn't change every 2 months. Still planning on switching to Next once it is more stable or out. So far, I like it better than the other editions - at least on paper.