D&D 5E Anyone else feeling "meh" about recent 5e releases?

[Hussar]

"Many of us" can mean me and many others. It doesn't mean the same as "everyone." I made no statement indicating your opinion was invalid. You are the one trying to say I'm the only person with an issue and trying to invalidate my complaint.

Conversely, you're trying to say that your personal tastes are widespread and thus, carry more weight. Both are wrong. It's much better to simply speak for one's self and avoid the whole issue.

You find big holes in 5e. But, you then point to some very, very niche products - mass combat rules? These were never a big part of the D&D experience in any edition. Psionics? Seems to be popular, but, again, they were always something that came a fair bit later down the road in any edition other that 1e. And, you complain about the lack of module support, but, again, there are some thousand modules for 5e on DM's Guild. Of various lengths and level support.

I mean, there are 344 3rd tier 5e modules (levels 11-16). I'm pretty sure you can find a dozen adventures to run at those levels if you wanted.

 

[Eric V]

Many of us? Or just you?

Because I feel fine with the D&D experience right now. Granted, I'm a bit of a newbie to the whole thing, but that doesn't, and shouldn't mean that my opinion is invalid.

It's not just him.

 

[Mistwell]

Nah. It's similar enough. My fiancee (who was the player who has been through CoS before) and I were asked to sit in as guests in another friend's Strahd game this weekend.
Here's the basics of the conversation before the game:
"Do you remember when x happened?
Yes, then y showed up.
So how did the party deal with that?
They did the A.
Ooh. My group did the B. Are we at the P now?
Yes. And they're getting ready to find out M."

It's a fairly randomized adventure based on the cards the players draw at the beginning of the game, with huge swaths that go unused depending on what the players do, and a series of important NPCs which can have interconnecting allies and adversity depending on what direction the DM wants it to go. There is very little that matches what you just described, except a few fixed cut scenes. Is it possible you're exaggerating a tad for effect? Have you read the adventure yourself?

 

[Retreater]

It's a fairly randomized adventure based on the cards the players draw at the beginning of the game, with huge swaths that go unused depending on what the players do. There is very little that matches what you just described, except a few fixed cut scenes. Is it possible you're exaggerating a tad for effect?

I'm not exaggerating the exchange. However, I've never read the book because several players in our group have read/played it, so I don't know how pivotal the scenes are or what. Just saying that two different groups in different states had the same sequences of events at 5th level. And that my fiancee, without knowing the background of what that group had done in their last session, was able to piece together what had happened based on what her group had played nearly two years ago.
If you want to know the specifics of the exchange and don't care if I post spoilers in this thread, let me know. Again, I don't know how important these events are to the main story because I haven't read the adventure.

 

[Parmandur]

Do you see what I mean? I feel like we're still missing some of what many of us would describe as the "core D&D experience" for 5e.
But yet we're getting bizarre setting books none of us would've asked for, parody/comedy books, etc.
I think the idea that everything has to be a major roll out of a 200+ page hardcover with multimedia tie-ins, etc., has really hamstringed what WotC has been able to offer this edition.
We could have a softbound psionics primer. Really. It would be okay.

How is making a book for the most popular setting in one of the most popular fantasy properties of all time (Ravnica) or one of the most popular D&D settings in the game's history (Eberron) "bizarre," or capable of being construed as something nobody would ask for? People were clamoring for Magic the Gathering in D&D for decades. Also, making a book for a hugely successful cornerstone of the gaming community like Acq, Inc. is a straight up no-brainer. Psionics and mass combat are more niche than these products.

 

[Zardnaar]

How is making a book for the most popular setting in one of the most popular fantasy properties of all time (Ravnica) or one of the most popular D&D settings in the game's history (Eberron) "bizarre," or capable of being construed as something nobody would ask for? People were clamoring for Magic the Gathering in D&D for decades. Also, making a book for a hugely successful cornerstone of the gaming community like Acq, Inc. is a straight up no-brainer. Psionics and mass combat are more niche than these products.

There was also people clamouring for MtG and D&D to stay separate. There were articles in 1997 about it.

Personally I don't mind as long as they don't over do it.

 

[Parmandur]

There was also people clamouring for MtG and D&D to stay separate. There were articles in 1997 about it.

Personally I don't mind as long as they don't over do it.

I doubt they will: Guildmasters Guide seems a one and done deal, aside from opening Planeshift as a DMsGuild option for the community.

 

[Retreater]

How is making a book for the most popular setting in one of the most popular fantasy properties of all time (Ravnica) or one of the most popular D&D settings in the game's history (Eberron) "bizarre," or capable of being construed as something nobody would ask for? People were clamoring for Magic the Gathering in D&D for decades. Also, making a book for a hugely successful cornerstone of the gaming community like Acq, Inc. is a straight up no-brainer. Psionics and mass combat are more niche than these products.

I guess I'm just not with it. I'd never heard of Ravnica or Acquisitions Inc before the books' announcements. Eberron always seemed as a strange, off-beat setting. I didn't know people who played it, didn't see a lot of resources for it released.

 

[Parmandur]

I guess I'm just not with it. I'd never heard of Ravnica or Acquisitions Inc before the books' announcements. Eberron always seemed as a strange, off-beat setting. I didn't know people who played it, didn't see a lot of resources for it released.

Ravnica is far and away M:tG most popular setting, getting multiple set visits before last year. It's the flagship for the franchise. I don't watch AI, but hundreds of thousands of gamers do.

Eberron is one of the top tier settings in popularity, up with Dark Sun and Planescape. Next to FR, it's one of the pillars of the game, and has gotten material for 3.5, 4E and 5E.

WotC is making products that people want: a criticism could ba laid at their feet of pandering to D&D players, but not making obscure material.

 

[Green Onceler]

I guess I'm just not with it. I'd never heard of Ravnica or Acquisitions Inc before the books' announcements.

Neither had I. The Ravnica book seems okay, except for those preposterous elephant men. The Acquisitions Inc. I'm a bit more suspicious of. The real clunkers, though, are the Stranger Things and, especially, the Rick and Morty box sets. They just seem like obviously avaricious cash ins which lower the tone of the entire franchise.