Do you want/are you ready for a D&D 5th edition?

[kitsune9]

For me, my system of choice is now Pathfinder for various reasons. However, when 5e comes out, I'll pick up whatever will be defined as the "core set" (PH, DMG, and MM) and if a "basic box" comes out, I'll pick up that too. I don't know what their approach for the new edition will be though I think I'll agree with the guy who runs the GMS blog in that they will probably make it like Dragon Age--introduce a pared down set of rules just to get players started and then introduce more "complete" rules with additional core books. Anyways, that's just my speculation.

I doubt seriously I'll make the switch to play 5e unless Paizo goes belly up.

 

[Vascant]

How about not sure...

If they handle this like 4e, with a "build it they will come" mentality then I probably won't be leaving 3.5/PF or even reading it for that matter. I haven't read the current edition so it will be even easier to pass on future editions.

This is just my opinion

 

[Corathon]

I play 1E, so I was left behind 3 edition changes ago. However, 2E and 3E at least had things that I could steal; 4E doesn't even hold that much interest for me. I expect a 5th edition to be even less useful.

 

[avin]

Yes and I'm ready.

I'm not conservative, I hate playing the same edition / system forever.

 

[avin]

I play 1E, so I was left behind 3 edition changes ago. However, 2E and 3E at least had things that I could steal; 4E doesn't even hold that much interest for me. I expect a 5th edition to be even less useful.

Really? I'm running a PF game these days and stole some nice stuff from 4E. Being fluff (races, Fomorians, some aspects of the planes like Faerie/Feywild and Shadow as parallel planes - which was already mentioned in Planescape) or crunch (physical skill challenges, some monster powers).

 

[KidSnide]

I voted "no" because I feel like the designers figured out 4e just a year or two ago, and there is more to do to fill out the system. At least to my subjective eyes, the system is mature -- not getting long in the tooth.

That said, it's a good time to think about a 5e that is more incremental than the 2e->3e or 3e->4e leaps. I think 4e suffered from insufficient playtesting and revision, given the extent the system was changing. My biggest preference is that 5e go through a longer and more thorough playtesting process for two reasons. First, I would really like it if the first set of books to have little enough errata that the physical books remain useful. Second, it would be very good for the game if the designers had enough time to write a better set of initial adventures.

-KS

 

[Grimstaff]

I'm a tentative "yes".

Tentative, because I have doubts about 5E being what I think it would need to be to enjoy any kind of resurgence of interest in D&D as a hobby accesible by both casual and hardcore players, which would basically be a very streamlined core system (think B/X informed by d20-style unified mechanics) with 4E/PF-style rules complexity available as an optional add-on in separate splats, and with the kind of campaign setting and adventure support offered by PF. So you could have your pick between rules-lite or rules-intensive, with both play-styles being cross-compatible, and both play-styles having a shared and extensive suite of adventures and setting material to enjoy.

 

[Dausuul]

They definitely have the tool to do incremental updates, but I think the 4e labeling will hold them back. Sure, those of us that keep up with the current happenings could see changes within the 4e line, but the casual observers will miss all but a new edition release which will make them look again.

There's only so much you can fix with incremental updates. For instance, possibly the single biggest complaint I've seen about 4E is the healing surge mechanic and instant hit point recovery. I can't see how that could be eliminated within the 4E system. But unless it's eliminated, a lot of those who left for Pathfinder won't come back.

 

[BriarMonkey]

Meh.

I'm not a WotC customer, they lost me a while ago. However, if they released a new edition, how they did it would be as important as what they released. If I had to "rent" my books through their subscription, I'd never do it and they would loose me forever. If they go with traditional books, I'd at least give it a look-see (after all, there is the possibility that they could put out something I'd be interested in).

In the mean time, I don't care. Pathfinder has what I want.

 

[Windjammer]

The question for me is: is WotC ready for a new edition?

Are they up for the job? That I'd like to know. We fans are poor judges of that. I hope that at least WotC themselves know.

I remember shortly after 4E was released Mike Mearls was asked in an interview if 4E was basically released because WotC needed the money. (Heart warming, the sheer naivety of some interviewers.)

I remember his reply was to laugh and say that few people have any idea how much work it is to produce a new edition. It's not as if WotC could produce new editions on sheer whim, just to get some quick money.

And I think he was probably right. It takes a LOT to produce a new edition of D&D. So much went wrong with 4E, not even so much as a game (though there's also a lot), but also with the way it was rolled out, marketed, and pre-release playtested. It seemed not so much too soon (though it was perhaps also that) but also too hasty. From skill challenge DCs to MM 1 damage numbers - a lot of 4E comes across as unnecessarily half baked, as a rush job. As if the skill or resources weren't there to produce a more solid core product right out of the gate.

But here's the catch. Compared to 2011, WotC had bigger resources back then, and a better, much larger D&D team to rely on. Look at the interior front page of your PHB 1 for the 4E credits. See how many people were involved? Dozens. Who of these is left at WotC today? How many of these people, some with jaw dropping track records, were replaced by interns or leftovers, how many of their positions even were filled since 2008? Where is the manpower today? Where is the promising new blood?

It's impossible to tell as a fan or customer, but comparing the situation to 2005-2007, when WotC hired crazily left and right, the current situation doesn't tell me so much that I am not ready for a new edition - but that WotC isn't.