D&D 5E So Now We Are Paying for Early Access?

[MechaTarrasque]

I think the best way to look at it is that you are paying for very early access. I am sure the devs would like to think that the final version will be around sooner than later, but that hasn't been the case for a lot of things in 5e. To be fair the time from the second to last version and last version tends to be pretty quick, but the third to last version to second to last version can be very long, and unfortunately, unless Book X is got a release date, it is hard to know if you have the second to last version or not.

Personally, I think I will hold off and just pick up the actual UA playtest stuff. [The fact that I have a big backlog of stuff I bought on the Guild and helped fund on Kickstarter that I haven't read yet is a pretty big factor in that decision.....]

 

[LordEntrails]

One other thing to consider: This has likely been on the way for a while. They may just be impatient to get something in our hands.

Keith wrote a blog post in mid-2014 with suggestions on how to play Eberron without official supplements, and that article indicated he had not started working with WOTC yet on Eberron 5E (but he was confident there would be a 5E Eberron book). He was clearly wanting to get Eberron 'live' in 5E ASAP then.

Remember the first Eberron UA article? It was the first UA article. February 2, 2015. I'm betting they were laying foundation for this book then. In a Nerdarchy Live Chat (#13) interview with Keith Baker in March of 2017, Keith mentioned that this UA article was written with a prior version of 5E in mind - in otherwords, the alpha playtest version. He made it clear that the version in the article was not his work and he was critical of the Warforged from the article.

He also sounded like he was scheduled to work on Eberron, but it was delayed until he had time to work on it and WotC was ready. I'm betting he began earnest development on it soon after that interview.

This new book is his work, but the final Eberron book will be a team effort. For example, Keith mentioned on his site that the artificer is not something he is developing. It is coming from others (likely with his input).

What!?! You mean it takes more than a few months to develop a product from scratch? No way, I've read so many posts here from others that imply that they expect new ideas to be published within 3-6 months *G*

 

[Satyrn]

What!?! You mean it takes more than a few months to develop a product from scratch? No way, I've read so many posts here from others that imply that they expect new ideas to be published within 3-6 months *G*

Nonsense. I expect new ideas published within 3-6 weeks Nay! 3d6 days!

 

[Jester David]

They'll complement, but he does specifically say that "races, the artificer, and basic world info" would be shared between the two books. I would think that Dragonmarks would be too, so that would be everything but the Sharn information.

I think that the team probably has good intentions for this, but I can't see many ways that it doesn't end up with a lot of duplication.

The artificer is a given there. And the races are small number of pages. And by “basic world info” they likely mean 2-4 pages.
But I imagine they’d limit the rest of the reprints (nations, dragonmarks, Sharn, background, magic items, etc).

But a physical Eberron book is still likely theoretical at this point. I doubt they’ll want a book competing with Ravnica for sales for a year or two.

 

[Salthorae]

This kind of feels like complaining that studios do a digital release before they put out the Blu-ray/DVDs... ok?

I bought it immediately and my only real disappointment (that I knew before buying) was that there wasn’t going to be Psionics in it...

I love what they did with Dragonmarks for 5e. Seems elegant to me.

 

[Zardnaar]

Nonsense. I expect new ideas published within 3-6 weeks Nay! 3d6 days!

4d6 drop the lowest.

 

[Schmoe]

The thing is, UA playtest material is free. This playtest material seems to be $20. So I guess the question is, will the mechanical content be made available for free?

 

[LizardWizard00]

The thing is, UA playtest material is free. This playtest material seems to be $20. So I guess the question is, will the mechanical content be made available for free?

Wasn't this weeks UA the races from the book?

 

[CapnZapp]

I read Mearls’ statement that they will avoid reprinting. It will complement rather than replace.
I imagine if people pay for the PDF and the PoD they’ll be pissed off if asked to buy a hardcover with the same content. People complain about being asked to pay twice for digital access for Beyond, asking them to paying for it a third time for print rules would be pushing the fanbase.

They aren't shy about reprinting monsters, spells, subclasses...

 

[Zardnaar]

They aren't shy about reprinting monsters, spells, subclasses...

That's been a thing in D&D since forever.