D&D 5E Are you buying less 5e Material?

[Steampunkette]

These days I'm mostly buying A5e content...

But even before now, I was buying less 5e content, official or 3PP, than I did for 3e or 2e.

Mainly because there just -isn't- as much. Yeah, both 3e and 2e had issues with Glut. Where there was just too much material to buy and read and use without being in a -very- healthy middle class position... but the variety meant I could buy stuff I liked, not buy stuff I wasn't interested in, and enjoy my various purchases.

Now? When something comes out that I'm not particularly interested in, like Wildemount and Strixhaven, it's months upon months before something I -am- interested in comes out. And the more of these projects that don't interest me come out back to back... it can be frustrating.

I think they should put out more books in the year, with a wider variety of contents. But that's just me.

 

[Parmandur]

I've bought every book so far other than Acquisitions Incorporated, and will buy everything announced coming later this year. So, since they are releasing more, guesstimate I am buying more.

Getting the Call of Cthulu Second Edition box in the mail later this week, my wife got me Vaesen as a gift recently, and Avatar the Last Airbender should arrive later this year, so there is some non-WotC action going on.

 

[TheSword]

65% of people on ENWorld in this thread. ENWorld skews old and traditional.

Honestly the biggest factor has been the end of the pandemic.

Of course I wouldn’t count 60 a good sample in any case. Though it is all relative. The question is do you buy less. So those old and traditional folks are still buying less stuff.

A big part of that is that if you keep endlessly producing the same stuff the well will eventually run dry - and you'll sell the new stuff to fewer and fewer people.

I think this would apply if WOC had even scratched the surface. This comes back to the ‘tyranny of novelty’ debate a while back. WOC could spend a bit less time being groundbreaking and a bit more time building on ground they’ve already broken.

Agreed about Dark Sun - and I think it is a definite possibility because there's no other D&D setting that does the embattled area the way it does and none with its aesthetics. And this is what WotC are looking for in new setting books?

Fingers crossed.

And this is part of the problem with splatbooks. Either (a) they have to get steadily weirder as time goes on or (b) they have to be more and more niche as time goes on because they weren't either mainstream enough or strong enough concepts to get in the previous book.

Yes I agree. 3e definitely suffered from this, as did Paizo. That said I was pleasantly surprised by both Xanathar and Tasha. Both of which felt on the money for me so I will hold out hope.

 

[Shardstone]

I bought few products before and buy few products now. Maybe one (or best-case-scenario two) books in a calendar year might compel me.

I guess it really depends on whether we are counting the core three in this equation? That was getting three books within a three/four month span, plus I picked up Hoard of the Dragon Queen too. So if those are counted then yes I'm buying less, because I've never (and will never) duplicate that feat of four books almost all at once. Every year after that initial purchase would be less.

I think that your worldview is the healthiest one can have.

I do think that the collector side of our hobby quite often gets upset when they can't maximize the use of everything they collect. Despite this, they continue to collect, even when told well in advance that the thing they are getting is not the thing that they really want. I think the desire to continue collecting, and the desire to get the most out of your money, is really making people at odds with themselves.

In reality, you shouldn't buy every WotC product unless you earnestly enjoy them. There are many WotC products that I don't own because I've never been interested in them or the promise they made.

This is separate from the other issue, which is that sometimes WotC oversells. Descent Into Avernus, for example, was marketed to me as Mad Max in Avernus, and while I got that, I got it in a delayed way that wasn't really feasible for a good group to use, and was a failed attempt at mimicking the "Fury Road" with the Demon/Devil Roads in Avernus. This particular argument is one about whether WotC is aware that they miss the mark before they sell the book, or if they just miss the mark naturally (which I think is the more the case). Regardless, its irrelevant to this thread.

If people just bought what interested them and didn't fret so much about having to buy everything, and about everything WotC producing being for their game, I think there'd be a lot less negative feelings about 5E overall and we could have more honest constructive criticisms of the game that go beyond the boundaries of "I don't like this, and I don't like that you like it either!"

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

So based on this poll it seems like a 2024 refresh might be just what the witch-doctor ordered.

 

[Shardstone]

So based on this poll it seems like a 2024 refresh might be just what the witch-doctor ordered.

There's a reason its coming! Growth is plateauing, people are grumbling about the system, and we need a way to get people excited again. Update the books! New edition but "backwards compatible!" Its a pretty smart move, tbh. Glad they did it.

 

[Mercurius]

Out-nerding you all. I took my 5E product chart, and color-coded it based upon my ownership:

Anyhow, as you can see, the more recent years, the more purple (haven't/won't buy) - but there's quite a few upcoming products that I'm interested in.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

The last book I bought was Fizban's. As others have written, I'm not thrilled about the direction 5e is going. I will buy Spelljammer, and might get Dragonlance depending on the quality and amount of setting material. Other than that, I'll see what settings shows up next year.

 

[JEB]

And this is part of the problem with splatbooks. Either (a) they have to get steadily weirder as time goes on or (b) they have to be more and more niche as time goes on because they weren't either mainstream enough or strong enough concepts to get in the previous book.

Eh, seems to me there are plenty of less niche character concepts that have yet to appear in 5E. Elemental-focused spellcasters being the most baffling omission (I guess they must have been discouraged by the reception to the relevant UAs).

It's probably true that Wizards believes they have to get more niche, though. That certainly tallies with some of the Tasha's options.

 

[JEB]

So based on this poll it seems like a 2024 refresh might be just what the witch-doctor ordered.

Or it might be the thing that ends some folks' dwindling interest in official D&D altogether, depending on how it turns out. We'll see!