WotC Unpopular Opinion: WotC is the Bethesda of RPG Companies

[Reynard]

This is NOT a dig. I love Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.

That said, more and more I see WotC putting out buggy, slightly underwhelming material and then encouraging the fan community to patch it, expand on it and tweak it. The awesome experiences we have with D&D are actually as much the result of that fan/indie effort as they are WotC output.

The DM's Guild is the most obvious element of this, but even message boards like this one, Facebook groups and Reddit are filled with "mods" for D&D 5E. Like I said, it is a good thing IMO, but also striking.

 

[ChaosOS]

I think this is less true for the Player's Handbook - the classes work well. However, this is absolutely true for the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. MM critters tend to be boring blobs of HP and multiattack, while the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide might be the worst yet of the WotC editions (not familiar with the TSR days to comment on 2e).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I mean, Skyrim is really really good without any mods, so...good.

But also, DnD started this way. It’s part of the point of the game.

Also 5e is really good using only the phb, and I can’t think of much that has come out that I’d call buggy.

 

[Reynard]

I can’t think of much that has come out that I’d call buggy.

As an examples: the CR system in its entirety, and the associated treasure reward system (with nothing to use it for). Most of the adventures are buggy messes that require a lot of care to make useful in my experience -- I mean, there's a masive amount of material on the DMs Guild solely aimed at fixing the 5E adventures. And how many patches has the Ranger had?

 

[SkidAce]

...
That said, more and more I see WotC putting out buggy, slightly underwhelming material and then encouraging the fan community to patch it, expand on it and tweak it. The awesome experiences we have with D&D are actually as much the result of that fan/indie effort as they are WotC output.
...

I feel that we have ALWAYS patched, expanded, and tweaked, as intended.

If, however your point is the WotC is deliberately shifting the burden, I disagree. I feel they are just building the game to have the broadest appeal, which some would feel was bland, although their success so far shows that most are happy.

As far as third party, we had Dragon Magazine rules and crazy classes back in the day (albeit at a much slower pace), so I feel there is not much different, other than WotC giving permission to make money from the DM's Guild.

 

[gyor]

This is NOT a dig. I love Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.

That said, more and more I see WotC putting out buggy, slightly underwhelming material and then encouraging the fan community to patch it, expand on it and tweak it. The awesome experiences we have with D&D are actually as much the result of that fan/indie effort as they are WotC output.

The DM's Guild is the most obvious element of this, but even message boards like this one, Facebook groups and Reddit are filled with "mods" for D&D 5E. Like I said, it is a good thing IMO, but also striking.

The mechanics are mostly good I find with a few exceptions, but its increasingly the Lore that is getting bugged, look at the confusing Elves section of MTOFs. They need to start play testing major lore changes.

 

[BookBarbarian]

The mechanics are mostly good I find with a few exceptions, but its increasingly the Lore that is getting bugged, look at the confusing Elves section of MTOFs. They need to start play testing major lore changes.

That makes it the Anti Elder Scrolls then

 

[BookBarbarian]

 

[Undrave]

This is NOT a dig. I love Fallout and The Elder Scrolls.

That said, more and more I see WotC putting out buggy, slightly underwhelming material and then encouraging the fan community to patch it, expand on it and tweak it. The awesome experiences we have with D&D are actually as much the result of that fan/indie effort as they are WotC output.

The DM's Guild is the most obvious element of this, but even message boards like this one, Facebook groups and Reddit are filled with "mods" for D&D 5E. Like I said, it is a good thing IMO, but also striking.

I think they're more the GameFreak of RPG, not pushing the material as far as they could but still satisfying the vast majority enough to be successful.

(and I say that as someone who really enjoyed Pokémon Shield, BTW).

 

[Retreater]

I mean, Elder Scrolls copied and pasted a DMs Guild adventure, so I guess they were literally WotC at that instance.