And in 2014?

[delericho]

A couple of years ago, perhaps?

Tempus fugit, and all that.

It certainly does!

That said, it didn't sound right, so I had a look back. The newest discussion of e-Dragon I found was this thread:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?342091-Dragon-427-posted-and-Upcoming-Hiatus

Though, of course, the thread seemed mostly concerned with the hiatus. Still, there have been threads before that (most months, I think). IIRC, that's about as much as the print Dragon got - one thread a month on its contents, and then an explosion when it was announced it was ending.

 

[TerraDave]

Amazon in the US only has novels, comic books, and a Dungeon (the board game) reprint.

This may be unprecedented.

 

[TerraDave]

Several of you probably also got this email:

Until the next edition of the D&D tabletop roleplaying game officially releases, you can continue to play D&D Next adventures at home and at stores participating in D&D Encounters™. Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle™ is available now for purchase on www.dndclassics.com, and coming early next year are two more D&D Next adventures. These Sundering-themed adventures include the supplementary rules material from the D&D Next Playtest necessary for play. Visit DungeonsandDragons.com for more information.

 

[Gundark]

The pulling of the playtest materials from their website smells like there may be an announced release soon. It seems like corporate think to pull the free game when you're close to releasing the game for sale.

 

[Cybit]

The pulling of the playtest materials from their website smells like there may be an announced release soon. It seems like corporate think to pull the free game when you're close to releasing the game for sale.

Where is everyone getting that from? I've seen hints of it on twitter, but nothing official from anywhere?

 

[Gundark]

Where is everyone getting that from? I've seen hints of it on twitter, but nothing official from anywhere?

There is an email that went out today stating that December 15th was going to be the last day to download the playtest materials. After that they are gone for good.

 

[Jester David]

Yeah, I suspect that they will wait until mid-January to early February to update their release schedule. I think at first it is going to be very bare. This isn't the first time they've failed to update the schedule for the next year in time for the end of December. Same thing happened at the end of 3.5e. 4e came out in June of that year..

Actually, we knew the 2008 release schedule after GenCon 2007. There was never really a failure to update the schedule.

They've been slow to update the schedule since 2010 when they cancelled a bunch of books.

 

[Cybit]

The pulling of the playtest materials from their website smells like there may be an announced release soon. It seems like corporate think to pull the free game when you're close to releasing the game for sale.

I would be surprised they are close to releasing - we're still getting a ton of big things to test (I think I can say I'm in the closed playtest? Read through the NDA, nothing about saying whether you're in it or not...)

Honestly, some of the classes have changed enough to the point it might not be a good idea keeping the original packet out there; just because it might confuse folks when the game does release.

 

[fjw70]

Seems like the pulling of the playtest material is just the last official step in ending the public playtesting phase. But I still expect some kind of announcement about he Next in early to mid January.

 

[jodyjohnson]

If Chris Perkins can make good on his intentions, I expect the next solid information to be in Dungeon 221 - Editorial "Waiting for 222"

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/TOC.aspx?x=dnd/4new/dutoc/221

In the September Issue (Dragon 427), Chris wrote, "The magazines will continue on their present trajectories for the next few months, during which time we will answer questions such as the following: when will Dragon and Dungeon return, what form(s) will the magazines take, how much D&D content will the magazines publish, and how does one submit pitches for articles?"

I think the answer to the "return" question will indicate the timeline better than shutting off the Playtest a month after they finished the surveys and no longer serving its primary purpose.