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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5339728" data-attributes="member: 59082">It could be that WotC will pretend that there will not be a 5E, that  with DDI, Essentials, and other such products, they can continue  indefinitely with only minor adjustments. However, eventually the product treadmill will run dry and eventually the minor adjustments will accumulate to such a degree that "revised" version of the core books will not suffice (we'll probably see that in 2012, would be my guess). The bottom line is that eventually it will come to a point that the best way for WotC to create a significant windfall is to publish a new edition. In some ways, if you are looking at it from a business perspective, the best time to release a new edition is as soon as lots of people will buy it. The time is obviously not yet, and WotC can probably generate enough steady revenue with DDI and the product treadmill for a few more years, but in another couple years they're going to start serious plans for a new edition, which would probably be released sometime between 2014 and 2016. 2014 seems rather soon - only six years after the release of 4E - but it is hard to imagine four more years of 4E without WotC coming up with something seriously new.Now if WotC markets it right, they could come out with 5E sooner than they normally would feel good about, especially if they market it as a kind of unitive edition that integrates the best of all previous editions and will appeal to Old and New School alike. It will have to be shiny but authentic, innovative but classic. And, as I said, it will need to be able to accommodate everyone's version of D&D.A tall order, I know. But I think it is possible! Which is why I advocate a simple basic game with modular advanced options. Imagine a game in which you could play a True20 style rules-lite game and a tactics-heavy wargame, just by adopting easily ported rules packages. A future version of D&D Insider would well support this; it could easily convert from one option to another, sort of like those old atlases with the clear plastic sheets you could lay over a base map to see climate or population or currents, etc.On the other hand they would have to make it so that all modular variants still felt like the same game. Part of the appeal of D&D versus other games is the large community, the feeling that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of others are playing D&D. Sure, you get community with Savage Worlds but how many are playing it at any one time? Maybe a couple thousand? Less?D&D is, and will always be, the RPG. But what can, will and does vary is how much of the extended fanbase is focused on purchasing new material. My guess is that a historically small percentage of D&D players are buying new product that WotC is producing. Pathfinder will never come close to threatening 4E for pre-eminency but it is denting its profitability, not only by providing a quality alternative but because it gives all of the 3.x hold-outs another reason not to move to 4E. So whatever 5E eventually looks like, it must appeal to three groups: those "lost" to older editions, fans of the current edition, and potential new players. Good luck, WotC <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />.</blockquote>

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