D&D General Is DnD being mothballed?

[Parmandur]

Technically, Xanathar's is both a PHB 2 and a DMG 2. But named much better

 

[Maxperson]

so DMs are smarter than players?

What, you didn't know that? I thought everyone knew that.

 

[Maxperson]

Even if they pick up a MM 2, all they loose out on is the entries in MM 1. Totally different from picking up a PHB 2 with just additional classes and features and expecting it to tell you how to play the game.

Sure, but all they need is the same kind of wording board game expansions use, but instead of, "You need the base X game to use this expansion," it would be, "You need the PHB to use the PHB2" or something similar.

 

[mamba]

By what metric?

More opinion than metric, but looking at the sales curves of 3e, 4e and 5e, that is what I assume

What is your opinion on what the right release schedule is?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

OK, now I’m going to say something possibly on the edge. The new book release rate is also a test. If you want it to be higher, buy them all.

That was my tactic with settings, I bought them all, and I kind of got part of my wish, with a strong hint the final part is coming soon. What a Monkey's Paw wish that was.

See the early setting stuff like Exandria, Ravnica, Eberron, and Theros was largely great, not flawless, but great. Although the SCAG was too small to do FR right and had major mechanical issues. So I wanted more settings for it. Then came VRGtR, which had serious flaws and made very unneeded Lore changes, but I still enjoyed it. Then came Spelljammer, Strixhaven, and DL, and I was horrified by the drop in quality. But then I learned that Planescape was bigger. Then I learned that a huge part was just the adventure. Then I got the D&D Beyond version and saw they made the horrible choice to hide (not really remove, because they can't, they are too baked into setting, and indirect reference exist in the product) the RL Gods. A huge insult to both Pagans IMHO and to general fans intelligence.

So for those who want more releases, the D&D studio struggles with what they have when they don't contract out products, which half the stuff they try and make ending up in the trash bin.

I think WotC and Hasbro would long to release more content, they just don't want to invest enough into it to attach top talent like the Jeff Grubbs and enlarge the D&D dev team properly, so the Studios isn't capable of releasing more.

 

[Micah Sweet]

More opinion than metric, but looking at the sales curves of 3e, 4e and 5e, that is what I assume

What is your opinion on what the right release schedule is?

3e was good for me. If I wanted a D&D product, there was likely one available that interested me. 2e was even better,, because it provided the same wide options to a variety of tastes. That being said, I wanted that prior to 2020, when the game's design philosophy switched from making a game they love even better to maximizing profit. I don't much care what they make anymore. I have other avenues of product.

 

[Velderan]

3e was good for me. If I wanted a D&D product, there was likely one available that interested me. 2e was even better,, because it provided the same wide options to a variety of tastes. That being said, I wanted that prior to 2020, when the game's design philosophy switched from making a game they love even better to maximizing profit. I don't much care what they make anymore. I have other avenues of product.

I’ll let you in on an extremely poorly kept secret: maximizing profit was the strategy from 2014 on, which is why they kept releasing material slowly. I forget which interview but Chris Perkins flat out said they were intentionally releasing material slowly because they found it performed better that way. They’ve slowly upped the release rate every couple years while likely carefully watching how the books sell to make sure they’re still making whatever profit margin they want from a book I’d guess. Good, bad, or indifferent 5e has been all about carefully maximizing profit basically since day 1.

(Goes without saying they’re obviously also watching other factors like customer satisfaction surveys to make sure the game stays healthy. Someone will read what I wrote above and think I’m saying they only care about profits and while I’m sure there are execs that are short sighted and only care about that, I don’t think the design team making the products are laser focused on squeezing revenue out of the game.)

 

[Parmandur]

I think WotC and Hasbro would long to release more content, they just don't want to invest enough into it to attach top talent like the Jeff Grubbs and enlarge the D&D dev team properly, so the Studios isn't capable of releasing more.

What do you mean, WotC is the top paying gig in the industry, and gave been on a hiring streak.. ?

 

[Micah Sweet]

That was my tactic with settings, I bought them all, and I kind of got part of my wish, with a strong hint the final part is coming soon. What a Monkey's Paw wish that was.

See the early setting stuff like Exandria, Ravnica, Eberron, and Theros was largely great, not flawless, but great. Although the SCAG was too small to do FR right and had major mechanical issues. So I wanted more settings for it. Then came VRGtR, which had serious flaws and made very unneeded Lore changes, but I still enjoyed it. Then came Spelljammer, Strixhaven, and DL, and I was horrified by the drop in quality. But then I learned that Planescape was bigger. Then I learned that a huge part was just the adventure. Then I got the D&D Beyond version and saw they made the horrible choice to hide (not really remove, because they can't, they are too baked into setting, and indirect reference exist in the product) the RL Gods. A huge insult to both Pagans IMHO and to general fans intelligence.

So for those who want more releases, the D&D studio struggles with what they have when they don't contract out products, which half the stuff they try and make ending up in the trash bin.

I think WotC and Hasbro would long to release more content, they just don't want to invest enough into it to attach top talent like the Jeff Grubbs and enlarge the D&D dev team properly, so the Studios isn't capable of releasing more.

I have recently been informed in no uncertain terms that my faith in the ability of the public to understand math and that a sequel is in addition to and not the replacement for the original is misplaced.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’ll let you in on an extremely poorly kept secret: maximizing profit was the strategy from 2014 on, which is why they kept releasing material slowly. I forget which interview but Chris Perkins flat out said they were intentionally releasing material slowly because they found it performed better that way. They’ve slowly upped the release rate every couple years while likely carefully watching how the books sell to make sure they’re still making whatever profit margin they want from a book I’d guess. Good, bad, or indifferent 5e has been all about carefully maximizing profit basically since day 1.

(Goes without saying they’re obviously also watching other factors like customer satisfaction surveys to make sure the game stays healthy. Someone will read what I wrote above and think I’m saying they only care about profits and while I’m sure there are execs that are short sighted and only care about that, I don’t think the design team making the products are laser focused on squeezing revenue out of the game.)

What a wonderful world you live in. I think it was different prior to Tasha's, but the current team has shown me no evidence they actually want to make a better game, just one that makes more money.