D&D 5E Am I no longer WoTC's target audience?

[generic]

Is that a question or a promise?

A promise.

 

[Fenris-77]

A promise.

My my, is Friday already? Jump on in, the water's warm.

 

[generic]

My my, is Friday already? Jump on in, the water's warm.

Oh Torm, forgive me for this trespass.

 

[Haffrung]

Do you regard any of them as professional? Is WotC the only company putting out 5E content that meets your standards?

IMHO, WotC and Paizo (and until recently FFG), along with a handful of smaller publishers like Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, are the only professional outfits publishing RPG books. Basically, employing professional full-time staff to edit, design, and lay out your books is the hallmark of a professional publisher.

 

[jayoungr]

IMHO, WotC and Paizo (and until recently FFG), along with a handful of smaller publishers like Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, are the only professional outfits publishing RPG books.

If that's your entire list, then yeah, you're out of luck for 5E content.

 

[Reynard]

IMHO, WotC and Paizo (and until recently FFG), along with a handful of smaller publishers like Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, are the only professional outfits publishing RPG books. Basically, employing professional full-time staff to edit, design, and lay out your books is the hallmark of a professional publisher.

It's no wonder you are unhappy with the available 5E material when you ignore the vast majority of it. And that's fine. But it seems a little strange to then get upset that you don't have stuff to buy. WotC's business model explicitly includes those 3rd party publisher's you so easily dismiss.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I just thought I would point out that I played a 7+ year 4e campaign with a group all but one of whom first played D&D in the early 80s. And for some of us the last extended D&D campaigns we were involved in were AD&D.

Most of, or at least many of, the people on these boards who post about their 4e play have pretty extensive play histories.

I know there were plenty of people who didn't like 4e and felt affronted by its existence, but I don't think old players is the right description.

It absolutely is. I started in 2e, but I am the only person in my group who really got into 4e, if we wanna talk anecdotes. But beyond the anecdotes, 4e was ridiculed (unfairly) for how different it seemed, how it “killed sacred cows”, etc. Complaints that a new player basically couldn’t make.

The fact that some of us olds loved it doesn’t change the fact that more olds didn’t even ever give it a chance because of its marketing and presentation.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I know there were plenty of people who didn't like 4e and felt affronted by its existence, but I don't think old players is the right description.

There certainly weren't any new players having that reaction. Some of 'em may have started with 3e, and been less old, but the negative "not really D&D" reaction was entirely in the established player base.
WotC has been trying to widen it's target audience for a long time, 4e erred on the side of accessibility to new players and offended some existing ones, with dire consequences; 5e struck the right balance between gatekeeping to protect the essence of D&D & openness to new players for growth.
All "Managing Brand Identity," really.
(I know 3e was a WotC ed, too, but it seemed like 3e/d20 was more about re-capturing leadership in the existing hobby.)

 

[hawkeyefan]

IMHO, WotC and Paizo (and until recently FFG), along with a handful of smaller publishers like Cubicle 7 and Chaosium, are the only professional outfits publishing RPG books. Basically, employing professional full-time staff to edit, design, and lay out your books is the hallmark of a professional publisher.

There are a lot more than that. I think the number of professional RPG publishers is likely at a high. Many are not producing D&D material, but they still publish quality products.

If you're looking specifically for 5E compatible products, then yeah, that list will shrink quite a bit. But then you also have DMs Guild to help supplement. Yes, there's a lot of garbage on there, but there are also some very well done products.

 

[Haffrung]

It's no wonder you are unhappy with the available 5E material when you ignore the vast majority of it. And that's fine. But it seems a little strange to then get upset that you don't have stuff to buy. WotC's business model explicitly includes those 3rd party publisher's you so easily dismiss.

Not really upset. I would buy more WotC books if they published more of them, that's all. It just seems odd that even though D&D is more popular than ever, the license-holders publish far less content to support it than they did 10 or 12 years ago. I get the move away from splat books, but as a DM I had much more support in the 4E era than I do today.