I'm not sure it will be GenCon -- there will be something big I assume at GenCon, maybe a Red Box or something. One of the cool things about NEXT is that the way it is being funded (independently of Hasbro, purely by MtG money), is that the designers have much more leeway in getting it "right". The rumor around WotC is that 4E's reaction got Hasbro to go completely hands off on the development of the game; for better or worse.
D&D 5E Final playtest packet due in mid September.
- Thread starter Blackwarder
- Start date
wedgeski
Adventurer
That's really interesting.
jodyjohnson
Adventurer
I think this is all relative to how big they want that initial release to be. 3 300+ page books is very different than what could be a B/X release with Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle as the model. A 1-10th campaign with the Core rules and classes. But in separate booklets like Rules and B2.
Something like that is much faster to push through. The point is still to make it beginner friendly - 3 massive tomes is pretty intimidating.
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
I think no one is factoring the time already devoted to the next phase. Mike could literally mean that NOW the internal playtesters start fixing the numbers. But what I get from his articles is that is what the internal team has been doing for quite some time, if not the very beginning. From our perspective a new phase begins, not theirs. Even the comments about focusing make sense within this understanding. Up until now the design team split their focus between internal and external, whereas now they intend to focus more internally.
Jeff Carlsen
Adventurer
I had not heard any of that, which does leave me a touch skeptical. Is that public knowledge anywhere?
Warbringer
Explorer
That's a strong argument. My concern is that from an audience perspective its the wrong way round. GenCon is full of experienced players craving new full rules; Christmas is the time for a entry level introductory product.
Still, not arguing with you that we might get the Dragonspear like product at GenCon next year
I know I'm just a random dude on the internet - but I've heard that directly from people at Wizards themselves (one who happens to be the poor bastard who has to deal with Hasbro on behalf of D&D, though poor is not a true statement, he has a nice house in Seattle); due to where I live and my friend circles, I am fortunate to know several of the WotC employees, as well as occasionally bar chat with them. I think last year I started a thread at PAX talking about 5E and have shown that I do have an idea what I'm talking about.
They've been balancing the numbers for approximately 4-5 months for certain classes & builds -- usually while a concept is being publicly tested, they are having the closed testers check the numbers for that concept.
the Jester
Legend
I haven't heard that anywhere, but it occurred to me that it would be logical to see the new packet in fairly short order after GenCon.
Here's hoping it's waiting for me when I get back from Black Rock City!
Jester David
Hero
I imagine there'll be some of that. And that is very important. Running a party through the same fight twice, seeing how it works and rebalancing, revising the rules, and then running them through it again. And that is valuable and necessary.
But they're likely doing that internally, and not getting the Alpha/Friends 'n' family testers doing it as well. And there's no real reason they couldn't do that and continue the public test.
Plus, a rigorous regimented test doesn't give you feedback on creative spell uses, combos, unusual monster combinations, unusual tactics and the like. There are so many things that work fine under ideal circumstances but might break or play weird under nonstandard play.
For example, the 4e paladin's mark worked and played fine by the book. Until you didn't acted in the expected and could run around kiting a monster or getting free damage.
There's other worrying things, such as the absence of so many races and classes. They've worked so far to make sure the classes feel right and overlooked the bard, which might be one of the hardest classes to get right. They have to get the bard right the first time, because they have to use that feedback to design the final draft of the bard. If it's terrible they don't have a new packet coming to reveal a second revision version of the bard to meet with people's approval.
