Any news out of PAX East?

[UngeheuerLich]

Hmmh... i am not sure if they are really only number 2 overall...

but number 2 in an important department.

And right now they are not missing a date. Did I miss one?

 

[jeffh]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't WotC said that they will start thr open playtest sometime in the spring? we are currently less than a month into spring so I don't understand what's all the fuss about, the open playtest haven't even started.

Warder

Well, that's a whole different debate - how exactly you define the seasons, that is. It's not like there's some central authority that has the power to define that. But if there's one thing everyone could agree on, I would hope it would be that whatever the correct definitions are, or would be if any existed, they are NOT the ones American calendar makers appear to use. A look out one's window, about as many days as not, should be sufficient to refute those, but the coup de grace is that the date they claim summer begins on, the summer solstice, is traditionally known as MIDsummer... so those dates have neither history nor common sense going for them. Late June is not "spring" by any sensible definition.

To everyone, not just Blackwarder:

Perhaps I am overreacting, but I also feel I'm being slightly misunderstood. To be clear, the disappointment is (a) that they're running the same playtest as before, even though internally, I would hope they've moved on from there, there are several ways to interpret that but none of them are good; and (b) not merely that they have not started the open playtest but they don't know when they'll be able to (which IME, pretty much always means "don't hold your breath"). Even if they are giving themselves until late June, that's getting to be a pretty tight timeline, don't you think?

Anyway, I wouldn't be so frustrated about this if this weren't a project I'm excited about and want to see in some form. But also, given past WotC behaviour, I'm starting to worry that the longer we have to wait, the more likely the payoff will prove disappointing. Part of that's psychological of course, but part of it is also the objective reality of WotC's track record.

 

[YRUSirius]

Then just chill out.

-YRUSirius

 

[Ratinyourwalls]

We're going back to Ravnica!!! YES!!!!!!

 

[GX.Sigma]

they're running the same playtest as before, even though internally, I would hope they've moved on from there, there are several ways to interpret that but none of them are good

What evidence do you have that it's the same playtest as before? Something Piratecat thinks he heard? A PAX visitor tweeted: "They play tested it last night. NDAs and such. People said they were VERY happy with the changes."

That, plus the "what happened to Turn Undead" question at the panel, suggest that it was a different version.

not merely that they have not started the open playtest but they don't know when they'll be able to

I think it would be weird if they did know. If you were writing a novel, would you know, while you're writing chapter one, when you'll have a full draft? Of course not; there's no way of knowing. To put an arbitrary deadline on it would only make the work worse. That's what 4e did, as you may remember. They set a date, clearly couldn't make it in time, and the core books were rushed and incomplete. Granted, this is only a playtest, but the principle stands: the document must be complete in some sense, or else the feedback they get won't mean anything.

I'm not a WotC-defender or stubborn optimist or anything; I just think we have to wait for something bad to happen before we get angry at them. What's happened so far is industry standard.

Edit:

We're going back to Ravnica!!! YES!!!!!!

Wait, WHAT??!?! SOURCE!

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, but how long do you really need to write a playtest?

For the 13th Age playtest I slapped together a conversion for a class that wasn't in there (can't say which). Took me two evenings, it got played today, and the player had a lot of fun with it. If I can write a class in 2 afternoons, how long would it take a Monte Cook or Mike Mearls to write one?

I guess the problem is that in a place like WotC the game has naturally be designed by committee, which takes forever and makes noone happy because for every really good inspired idea there is someone to shoot it down.

I, for one, have no interest in playtesting an ill-thought-out system slapped together in a couple of evenings. What's the point in that? Nothing, or close to it, from such a random shotgun of ideas will make it through the playtesting process. Give me something that at least has the kernel of the final product in it rather than a pre-alpha crap blast.

 

[Ratinyourwalls]

Edit:
Wait, WHAT??!?! SOURCE!

It got spoiled yesterday at PAX east. Fall set will be Return To Ravnica.

 

[Morrus]

The full video from the PAx East "Future of D&D" seminar is now live.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/news/321128-future-d-d-seminar-full-video-pax-east.html

 

[Roland55]

Well, that's a whole different debate - how exactly you define the seasons, that is. It's not like there's some central authority that has the power to define that. But if there's one thing everyone could agree on, I would hope it would be that whatever the correct definitions are, or would be if any existed, they are NOT the ones American calendar makers appear to use. A look out one's window, about as many days as not, should be sufficient to refute those, but the coup de grace is that the date they claim summer begins on, the summer solstice, is traditionally known as MIDsummer... so those dates have neither history nor common sense going for them. Late June is not "spring" by any sensible definition.

To everyone, not just Blackwarder:

Perhaps I am overreacting, but I also feel I'm being slightly misunderstood. To be clear, the disappointment is (a) that they're running the same playtest as before, even though internally, I would hope they've moved on from there, there are several ways to interpret that but none of them are good; and (b) not merely that they have not started the open playtest but they don't know when they'll be able to (which IME, pretty much always means "don't hold your breath"). Even if they are giving themselves until late June, that's getting to be a pretty tight timeline, don't you think?

Anyway, I wouldn't be so frustrated about this if this weren't a project I'm excited about and want to see in some form. But also, given past WotC behaviour, I'm starting to worry that the longer we have to wait, the more likely the payoff will prove disappointing. Part of that's psychological of course, but part of it is also the objective reality of WotC's track record.

I understand your position and I certainly sympathize.

Personally, I want to give them all the time they need to do this right. Maybe it's a function of my age, but I'm willing to wait them out and even help them out ... even when the timescale seems (already) to be shifting to the right.

Would be nice to have an Edition that hung around for a good, long time.

 

[Sunseeker]

Would be nice to have an Edition that hung around for a good, long time.

That depends on us as much as it depends on them.

For their part, they must produce content of quality high enough that we want to continue purchasing it. For our part, we have to actually be purchasing the product and to a degree, selling it to our friends(every game as an obvious Tupperware Party element to it). Stores need to reliably carry the product, Wizards can't have this "Oh, they have to personally apologize to me before I carry their product because clearly Wizards is out to get my little LGS!"(this is actually the exact attitude of my local LGS). Product needs to be affordable enough so that the price isn't a deterrent to entering the hobby, product needs to be accessible enough so that you can't only find it at specialty stores.

It will take everyone to make an edition that lasts. And presumably, any edition will last as long as Wizards is making a reliable income off of it.