D&D 5E Why Do Higher Levels Get Less Play?

[Daraniya]

the higher the level, the more options players have "do I use one of the 15 wands I have, or the boots of smiting, or or or or...

every player doing this makes it tedious and painful...

 

[bloodtide]

I am going to be honest: based on your history of posts about players, I do not believe this is how it went down. I am.NOT saying you are lying, but you have consistently demonstrated a anti-player bias here, and so I assume you probably shut them down over and over.

NOTHING in D&D limits the idea of making it "out to an island." Only a GM can do that.

My advice? Lighten up. Listen to your players. Realize they want to enjoy the game too. Failing that, equip them with neuralink so they can figure out what narrow solution you had in mind from the beginning.

I'm not a 'shut down' GM, but I'm also not a fan of the players/characters and I'm not a Buddy DM.

For example, then they players get stuck....like they can't figure out how to get there characters to an island....I don't do anything. I'm not for the idea of playing the game for the players by making a suggestion or giving a hint.

Such as the last game (last week) the players did find the goblin's riverside dock with boats...and did kill the couple of goblins found there. But, of course, that was "last week", so none of the players remembered that information.

And this was just a simple mundane problem. Anything more then this is beyond impossible for many players.

 

[Maxperson]

Straight from WOTC'S mouth.
Most 5e fans Did not play D&D before 5e.
They did not exist.
They straight up did not participate in the DNDN Playtest.
Most people who currently play 5e today did not fill out a D&D Next survey.

Once again, participation by them is irrelevant as there were enough young people who DID participate to give a good enough sample size. The sample is sufficient to indicate what the fans who did not participate would want.

 

[tetrasodium]

They didn't make drastic enough changes to change who it was aimed at. 5.5e is aimed at the same audience as 5e was.

The dndnext play testing that created 5e started 13 years ago in 2012.. a 25 year old today would have been in middle school at the time... Are you claiming the next play test was significantly shaped by grade schoolers?

 

[Maxperson]

The dndnext play testing that created 5e started 13 years ago in 2012.. a 25 year old today would have been in middle school at the time... Are you claiming the next play test was significantly shaped by grade schoolers?

13 years ago they would have been 12. I started at 13, but only because my father wouldn't let me start playing at 12. A 30 year old would have been 17 during the playtest. Plenty of youngsters around then that could and did play D&D.

 

[tetrasodium]

13 years ago they would have been 12. I started at 13, but only because my father wouldn't let me start playing at 12. A 30 year old would have been 17 during the playtest. Plenty of youngsters around then that could and did play D&D.

Being alive "during" the dndnext play test and participating so they could contribute to it are very different things. Once again you are talking about something entirely different than the post you are responding to.

 

[Maxperson]

Being alive "during" the dndnext play test and participating so they could contribute to it are very different things. Once again you are talking about something entirely different than the post you are responding to.

I didn't say they were toddlers. They were of age to be playing D&D, and undoubtedly there were plenty of people in the 12-25 range in the playtest for WotC to have a good sample size.

 

[tetrasodium]

I didn't say they were toddlers. They were of age to be playing D&D, and undoubtedly there were plenty of people in the 12-25 range in the playtest for WotC to have a good sample size.

The point was about participating in the play test. That would have involved the play test forums wotc ran and associated surveys on play test packets.

 

[Maxperson]

The point was about participating in the play test. That would have involved the play test forums wotc ran and associated surveys on play test packets.

Yep. 12-17 year old kids undoubtedly participated. Enough to be a good sample size, even if not a majority of testers.

 

[Minigiant]

Yep. 12-17 year old kids undoubtedly participated. Enough to be a good sample size, even if not a majority of testers.

The point is they weren't a focus on the design.

Look at the 4 elements Monk.

It was a clear attempt to copy the hype of ATLA to pull in younger fans.
But it was soooo bad it wasn't a serious attempt.

And that's the point

1. 2014 Ranger
2. 2014 Monk
3. 2014 Sorcerer
4. 2014 Druid
5. 2014 Barbarian
6. 2014 Fighter
7. 2014 Dwarf
8. Basic post level 12 design
9. Pages of Plane lore in the DMG
10. Unbalanced high level spells
11. Unbalanced variant rules
12. Sack of HP monsters
13. Low offense monsters

That was all for 3e, 2e, and 1e fans. The same fans who mostly don't run high levels because their preferred game didn't run it and focus on low level play.