D&D 5E So what exactly is Wizards working on?

[Trickster Spirit]

I agree: you could likely produce one rulesy hardcover a year for 5E and that would be plenty for rules support. But then you could add an annual setting hardcover (FR one year, then Eberron, then Planescape, etc...) and quarterly setting gazetteers. Throw in bimonthly self contained modules and a monthly periodical ( print or digital) and it would be just about right. Bloat only happens with rules, and only then if they are incorporated into the larger publishing strategy. Everything else is an option.

Has it occurred to anyone that they have looked at survey feedback, private focus groups and sales figures from 3.5 and 4E and just decided that campaign setting books won't sell terribly well?

They didn't do quarterly campaign gazetteers in 4E when they did release a lot more product, why would they for 5E when they're deliberately releasing a lot less?

 

[Reynard]

They may be small but they aren't newbies.

I don't know what you do for a living but in any industry where you deal with subs, you do a lot more than rubber stamp their work. I am also guessing based on your tone that you have never done any game design or writing on a professional level. I gave (and am). It is a lot of work not just for the writer/designer but the editor and developer, too. Just because Kobold is doing the work does not mean there is not a full time job getting that work to press.

I want to be clear: I am frustrated by the thin release schedule too, but blaming the development team is misplaced and uncharitable and as [MENTION=6788547]bmfrosty[/MENTION] said, more than a little insulting. The fault lies with whoever makes decisions at the corporate level, not the development team.

 

[Reynard]

Has it occurred to anyone that they have looked at survey feedback, private focus groups and sales figures from 3.5 and 4E and just decided that campaign setting books won't sell terribly well?

They didn't do quarterly campaign gazetteers in 4E when they did release a lot more product, why would they for 5E when they're deliberately releasing a lot less?

I actually conceded this but now I can't remember if it was in this thread or another. It's like the Wild West in here.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Has it occurred to anyone that they have looked at survey feedback, private focus groups and sales figures from 3.5 and 4E and just decided that campaign setting books won't sell terribly well?

They didn't do quarterly campaign gazetteers in 4E when they did release a lot more product, why would they for 5E when they're deliberately releasing a lot less?

Relying too much on the survey feedback can be misleading. There were a lot of gamers who didn't take the survey, and product release was not included in any if them.

Campaign setting books do sell well. Dark Sun during 4th edition sold well, FR didn't and we all know why.

FR and Eberron both sold well during 3rd edition and currently the Golarion stuff for a Pathfinder sells really well.

When they focus too much on their supposed "data", that's like someone relying too heavily on their sat nav, it can be very misleading.

 

[SkidAce]

This thread has finally convinced me to stop reading ENWorld discussions for a while.

Once again, the same people saying the same things over and over and over. Just the front page for me.

I find quite a few conversations to still be good here. But your are correct about this one.

I'm outta this thread too.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I find quite a few conversations to still be good here. But your are correct about this one.

I'm outta this thread too.

Why did you have to announce it?

Game forums are there for all conversations and topics with regards to gaming. There are tons of other threads to read and nobody forces you to click on this one and read it. I mean the person stating this thread has convinced him to stop reading Enworld all together is just trolling to be honest and the site would be better off with their absence.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Some (not all) gaming forums have an expectation of rationality. Or at least a common line of shared knowledge everyone can agree is true.

With this thread we don't have that.

When this happens, conversations devolve into repetitive "yes it is, no it isn't" slugfests, where several people claim to be the authority and none of them know what they are talking about.

This town needs a better class of criminal.

 

[Reynard]

Some (not all) gaming forums have an expectation of rationality. Or at least a common line of shared knowledge everyone can agree is true.

With this thread we don't have that.

When this happens, conversations devolve into repetitive "yes it is, no it isn't" slugfests, where several people claim to be the authority and none of them know what they are talking about.

This town needs a better class of criminal.

There's some of that but there are also a lot of people expressing rational yet differing opinions. When you get frustrated and just scroll past post after post, though, it is easy to fall into confirmation bias and assume everyone is being an ass.

 

[Jester David]

It does matter when Wizards doesn't actually do them. When the design team isn't the ones working on it and they just slap the D&D logo on it, you have to wonder what they are doing. Once again, AP's aren't something a lot of people use so I wouldn't call them support.

Work on Elemental Evil would have started months ago when the D&D team was still working on the DMG and other core rules.
And I'd call an AP support, especially when it likely contains the races and spells in the free PDF.

 

[Jester David]

It won't last 10 years with a slow release schedule. People will have either moved on to something better supported or gone back to older editions and retroclones.

It has a better chance than if they bloat the game.
They're making money on other products so the a RPG doesn't need to pull in as much money every quarter.