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

[mamba]

I love the fact that WotC gave gamers the exact game that gamers insisted they wanted in 2014, and continued giving gamers what gamers said they wanted - clearly wanted mind you - but it somehow is all about maximizing profit and making a crap game.

I don't think that you can argue that it is not all about profit. It obviously is not about making a crap game, that is not the intent, that is at most a side effect, and even that I would dispute. Whether you think it is crap or not is personal opinion, not a measurable objective fact.

 

[Hussar]

Yes.

And that’s perfectly fair. But I was more talking to the folks who endlessly bitch about how 5e has lost its way. Or it’s all about the profits. The ones that dislike 5e, yet feel compelled to talk about it and how it’s a terrible game and blame their dislike on corporate greed.

 

[mamba]

Fair. But the point is that WotC gets criticized for everything it does but when other rpg companies do the same or worse, there’s a minor rumble never to be heard again.

Beats me why that is, I am sure that has nothing to do with the size of the respective fan base at all

 

[Hussar]

Beats me why that is, I am sure that has nothing to do with the size of the respective fan base at all

True I suppose. When it’s only a tiny slice of the fanbase who feels the need to tuck in other people’s yum constantly, that number gets boosted by the online platform.

Something to keep in mind.

 

[payn]

And that’s perfectly fair. But I was more talking to the folks who endlessly bitch about how 5e has lost its way. Or it’s all about the profits. The ones that dislike 5e, yet feel compelled to talk about it and how it’s a terrible game and blame their dislike on corporate greed.

Oh yeah I don’t quite get that conspired ideology. The game is made for common gamer and seems to have worked out. It’s fine to not like that, but it ain’t personal or some grand scheme to screw people.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Beats me why that is, I am sure that has nothing to do with the size of the respective fan base at all

WotC especially gets criticized for every single thing they do because there are so many people who are mad that they want to play something other than DnD 5e (which is totally fine) but they can't find other players to play with since DnD 5e dominates the TTRPG player base.

Normally when people are overly dissatisfied with a company or a product, they just go have fun spending their time and money elsewhere on something they do like instead of spending their time being miserable and complaining about the thing they don't like. But when the company/product they're upset about is so dominant that it prevents them from exploring other options, you end up with people complaining constantly in hope they'll convince others to join their side

 

[TiQuinn]

It's discouraging to me to see that 65% of respondents are cool with what we've seen from WotC/Hasbro.

Define cool.

 

[TheSword]

The same way every RPG company has, including Wizards.

Sorry, there is no argument possible that the best funded RPG company can't make another edition. We have so much prior evidence.

Also, please don't try to twist the issue into "is this best for Wizards" as that has nothing to do with this thread. This thread is "how much does Hasbro/Wizards impact your view of D&D", and everything is in that context. It's about what I want, and "is it best for Hasbro" is at best irrelevant and at worst trying to move the goalposts.


That's not the specific change I want, just an example that shows it can be done. I do want rebalance, and many d20 and OGL system have it, so it's absolutely possible. Even 4e balance the adventuring day.


Yes an no. If you want an RV, you can tweak the heck out of a sport car and make it 100% better - as a sports car - without ever addressing the needs of the person who wants the RV.

The changes are for the good. It's just that after 10 years the cracks bother me, and they require a fundamental change to deal with all of them.


Like I said, the changes are nice. If I wasn't fed up with 5e, this would be great.

But I am. And to my surprise, so is every DM that I play with.

They changed at point of failure - not point of massive success. Previously editions were struggling. Not the case here. This thread is also about what is reasonable. Of course it is ‘possible’ to throw out 5e and radically change the game. But it isn’t reasonable. You can’t expect people to act against their own interest to make you happy.

If you want an RV go and find someone who makes RVs. Complaining that the sports car maker is a mean person and doesn’t make RVs is a bit silly when they’re doing really well making sports cars.

That’s ok. There’s plenty of other games out there. If your expectations are reasonable surely one of them will fit you.

 

[AnotherGuy]

It would be interesting to see how many of those of us who are frustrated with 5e and would prefer a greater revision of the game have played/focused more on the higher tier levels which require more DM tinkering of the game for it to work well.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I love the fact that WotC gave gamers the exact game that gamers insisted they wanted in 2014, and continued giving gamers what gamers said they wanted - clearly wanted mind you - but it somehow is all about maximizing profit and making a crap game.

You folks are the ones who crucified WotC for not listening. Now you got exactly what you demanded - a WotC that constantly canvasses the fandom to see what they want.

Aren’t you glad you won?

Take a deep breath sir. Hasbro is a megacorp and will always strive for optimizing profit, otherwise they will get sued and heads will roll, it's just a big corp fact and the big corp way in a hyper capitalistic society. But I have never called any edition of D&D a crap game.

What I have done on a few occasions is pointing out a few specific flaws, in my personal opinion, in 5e as reasons for me choosing other games. But that is kind of what we do in this forum right, discussing the pros and cons of game systems, how we use them and ways to improve them?

As to "You folks" - I can't see anything I've written that put me in a mob with pitchforks and torches. I've never written or stated opinions about WotC not listening, their HR and personnel situation, the OGL debacle, etc etc.

Do I wish current D&D was something else? Probably. But I have other elf games to play with. Qualities and flaws of 5e and D&D2024 doesn't make me lose sleep.