WotC How much does Hasbro / WotC impact your feelings towards D&D?

[Parmandur]

To me it is more important that I like the product, but they have not exactly been hitting it out of the park with that one for a while. The direction they are taking the game in is not one I am very interested in

Thinking over the pre-Core releases of 2023-2024, for me I count 4 solid A books and 2 B books. They have been on a roll, for my tastes.

 

[Parmandur]

The people in leadership positions at the company could be better at leading the company.

They could be worse, trust me, bit at best I wouldn't expect much.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm pretty sure they mean leadership of a company or business, not leadership of a community.

I wouldn't expect much from that front in any company.

Actual leadership in a company is extraordinary.

 

[Osgood]

If I had to base my purchasing decisions--much less my feelings about any given product--around any corporation, at best I'd be living in the woods scavenging for food and shelter... at worst, I'd be dead, because I'm on medication!

 

[BookTenTiger]

I wouldn't expect much from that front in any company.

Actual leadership in a company is extraordinary.

I'm not defending WotC or Hasbro, I was just clarifying Kyron45's post.

 

[mamba]

Not only is it the scandals, the corporate mindset has taken over design and product development.
"We're never going to change the game. There's never going to be a new edition. You're just going to get 5e for the rest of your life. We're not going to put in design twists that will cause trouble for the VTT or character designer.

D&D is honestly just boring to me. It was already a backwards-facing product in 2014. It feels dated and bland moreso in 2024.

I guess I ascribe most of that to the game rather than to corporate blunders. You can not care about the blunders and still not like D&D.

To me you fall more in the unhappy with D&D’ than the ‘would play D&D if not for the corporate shenanigans’ category based on what you wrote. Seems we are interpreting the pole / reasons for unhappiness with D&D differently

 

[BookTenTiger]

I guess I ascribe most of that to the game rather than to corporate blunders. You can not care about the blunders and still not like D&D.

To me you fall more in the unhappy with D&D’ than the ‘would play D&D if not for the corporate shenanigans’ category based on what you wrote. Seems we are interpreting the pole / reasons for unhappiness with D&D differently

Just to clarify, I very much made this poll vague on purpose. There's really no one way to define a company's influence on our enjoyment of its product, so I'm happy with folks interpreting it however they want.

Even with votes for 1 we see a lot of different interpretations.

 

[Nikosandros]

Don't look to a toy-seller for "leadership".

Heck, I barely look at politicians for leadership. Normally, I content myself with honest competence (and even that is quite hard to come by). In any case, toy-sellers are right out...

 

[EthanSental]

It's a "1" for me as well. WotC/Hasbro decisions might impact what I purchase, but my feelings about the game are not affected at all.

Sums up my feelings as well.

 

[Retreater]

To me you fall more in the unhappy with D&D’ than the ‘would play D&D if not for the corporate shenanigans’ category based on what you wrote. Seems we are interpreting the pole / reasons for unhappiness with D&D differently

I didn't restate the controversies and anti-fan, anti-employee, and anti-industry issues they've created over the past year and a half. All that stuff makes Hasbro a pretty nasty company to my ethical barometer. So not only is it all that (OGL, Pinkertons, Christmas firings, AI policies, monetization statements, racism in Spelljammer, misprinted Deck of Many Things, etc), it's also the very real effect that corporatism has when it invades design.
From a creative standpoint, 5e seems like Rise of Skywalker and Marvel Phase 4. I'm sure the designers would love to do actual design work. I'm sure the writers would love to have the freedom to create engaging adventures instead of shoehorning IP cameos into the stories like in the Vecna adventure.
Hasbro has made the game worse since they've been more directly involved.
Has anything of at least average quality been produced in the last 5 years?