D&D 5E Live Q&A with D&D R&D

[Agamon]

Assuming the questions for the Q&A will be gathered by Trevor and given to the developers (like what happened on their last Q&A they had to do because two of their Live Game players couldn't make it)... they'll probably be given selected questions that Trevor knows they can answer. Probably going further into some of the class information they've already given, follow-up info on stuff like dragon lairs, and other stuff they've talked about in all their columns.

It's a live Q&A, not a podcast video. Come prepared with your questions is different than send us your questions.

I personally don't think they need to answer these questions yet, necessarily, I just question the wisdom of an open Q&A when people are clamouring for these answers that have yet to be given.

 

[D'karr]

I wonder if we'll get answers to the questions everyone is actually asking (format/pricing/release date)? It would be an odd way to announce such things....

Even before 5e at every single con where they've had a Q&A they've always started with - "We can't discuss product schedule, etc."

I wouldn't expect this to be any different. This is the design team so they'll probably concentrate on design questions.

 

[Jester David]

At this point, this might be the earliest they're ready to announce things for sure, having missed the deadlines of GAMA and PAX, and are unwilling to wait until the next big con, if there's even one noteworthy enough prior to GenCon.

Or they might just be trying to fill the dead space between now and the delayed announcement.

I just find the timing unfortunate. 11am PST on a Friday. I imagine a LOT of people are going to be at work and unable to participate.

 

[Agamon]

At this point, this might be the earliest they're ready to announce things for sure, having missed the deadlines of GAMA and PAX, and are unwilling to wait until the next big con, if there's even one noteworthy enough prior to GenCon.

Or they might just be trying to fill the dead space between now and the delayed announcement.

I just find the timing unfortunate. 11am PST on a Friday. I imagine a LOT of people are going to be at work and unable to participate.

Lunchtime for us, though, Jester.

 

[Jester David]

Lunchtime for us, though, Jester.

Yeah, I am seriously weighing the pros and cons of biking home to watch this.

 

[Mistwell]

At this point, this might be the earliest they're ready to announce things for sure, having missed the deadlines of GAMA and PAX, and are unwilling to wait until the next big con, if there's even one noteworthy enough prior to GenCon.

Or they might just be trying to fill the dead space between now and the delayed announcement.

I just find the timing unfortunate. 11am PST on a Friday. I imagine a LOT of people are going to be at work and unable to participate.

Where are you finding evidence to support your claim there is a delay at all? I know you want them to announce more earlier, and I know you have a theory that failure to announce earlier is somehow damaging to their marketing efforts (which I and some others disagree with), but where is the hard evidence that there was some deadline that they missed?

 

[Jester David]

Where are you finding evidence to support your claim there is a delay at all? I know you want them to announce more earlier, and I know you have a theory that failure to announce earlier is somehow damaging to their marketing efforts (which I and some others disagree with), but where is the hard evidence that there was some deadline that they missed?

There's enough evidence to make an educated deduction.

1) D&D has traditionally released at GenCon with 3.0, 3.5, 4e, and Essentials premiering then (or immediately prior).
2) WotC did not confirm"release date" leaked by B&N.
3) WotC did not announcing a release date at Winter Fantasy, GAMA, or Pax East
4) The GenCon crunch for publishing companies is the first couple weeks of April. According to the Paizo editor-in-chief, for them it was the 14th to 18th this year, when they *had* to have books finished to be ready for the Convention.
5) At Pax East, April 10-13, Perkins said D&D5 was 97% done.

This strongly implies WotC was not certain the game would be ready for the desired release of GenCon, prior to this week. If anything delayed the book by even a couple days, such as a last minute rules error, the book wouldn't be out for the Con.
Which meant they were cutting it *really* close.
It's highly unlikely WotC would want to wait until the very last minute to have the game finished, so this implies delays. Repeated delays.

At this point, WotC knows for certain if they will make GenCon or not.
If it is GenCon, they can release that information now. If they can't make GenCon, they'll know it will be out shortly after, since they would have *just* missed the deadline. Likely September as they release at the end of the month. So it's safe to release that later date.

Which is also why they were suddenly hyping Tyranny of Dragons. They weren't certain D&D5 would make the cut-off date but had to do something at pre-scheduled panels and something to get gamers excited for their GenCon offerings.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I've seen no real evidence of delays.

1. They never said the game would be released at GenCon.
2. We were told the game would come out this summer.
3. If the leak we heard a few weeks ago is correct, the Starter Set would come out this summer.
4. They never said anything about all three core books, nor even just the PHB coming out this summer. Never. The closest you'll get is Barnes & Noble's dubious posting on the PHB.

I doubt they ever had a firm date set to "miss." At the time the public playtest was ending in September/October, they were probably hoping the PHB would be out at GenCon, while well aware of the high probability that it wouldn't be ready to come out until later in the year. They never told us when it would come out, because they themselves knew that they couldn't accurately predict it yet.

I'm expecting the Starter Set at GenCon, with a nice full-color flyer inside the box advertising the PHB with 12 classes, X races, feats, etc. I'm not expecting the PHB until later this year. DMG and MM either alongside, or shortly afterwards (perhaps a month delay each).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I've seen no real evidence of delays.

1. They never said the game would be released at GenCon.
2. We were told the game would come out this summer.
3. If the leak we heard a few weeks ago is correct, the Starter Set would come out this summer.
4. They never said anything about all three core books, nor even just the PHB coming out this summer. Never. The closest you'll get is Barnes & Noble's dubious posting on the PHB.

I doubt they ever had a firm date set to "miss." At the time the public playtest was ending in September/October, they were probably hoping the PHB would be out at GenCon, while well aware of the high probability that it wouldn't be ready to come out until later in the year. They never told us when it would come out, because they themselves knew that they couldn't accurately predict it yet.

I'm expecting the Starter Set at GenCon, with a nice full-color flyer inside the box advertising the PHB with 12 classes, X races, feats, etc. I'm not expecting the PHB until later this year. DMG and MM either alongside, or shortly afterwards (perhaps a month delay each).

I don´t mind if they release it at gen con. I am not there. What I would mind is an incomplete PHB, MM or DMG, or worse with as much glaring errors as the 4e core books. I waited a long time (until essentials) for a revised book. The MM math was so obviously borked, I thought: one more DAY of proof reading and a lot of errors could have been corrected... please, don´t force a release date if that means, product quality will suffer.

 

[Ichneumon]

Wizards have to live with these books for a long time after they come out, maybe up to a decade. So I'd say they will sacrifice a GenCon 2014 release if they have to.
I'll be very interested to see the live Q&A, but I doubt that any major release/product announcements will be made. Though if they are, they probably won't need question-prompting.