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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 9108672" data-attributes="member: 467">Except it appears they have backed off most of the changes for fear of... something. Mostly internet grousing, I surmise.Here is the thing that is relevant: WotC has two choices. One option is to pretty much do what they have been doing with maybe some minor tweaks, but it has been working for them and that's great. But maintaining that strategy is them assuming that the market will remain the same, that the same strategies will produce the same results. In the modern consumer world, that seems unwise. The other option is to innovate, which has the potential to alienate existing fans. New fans won't care, except insofar as how the broader "influencer" community discusses those innovations.My gut says that WotC is fundamentally conservative in a creative sense. The "lesson" they took from 4E is that innovation leads to fracturing the community -- especially with 5E "in the wild" via Creative Commons. So in order to protect their market share and growth, they are going to do... essentially nothing of note. It will be another ten years of the same vanilla D&D-isms with a couple bright spots here and there. But that doesn't guarantee success because their audience is weened on a wide variety of pretty innovative media. You can't keep kids who grew up with Stephen Universe and Adventure Time happy with The Forgotten Realms.Who is WotC trying to sell the 2024 set to? Many folks in this thread have suggested that they essentially aren't. Or, rather, the 2024 set is just for people that join the community anew or those that replace their PHBs over time. And that makes some sense, but it suggests that the trade dress, art direction and general tone of the writing of 2024 5E is going to have to change significantly in order to appeal to a demographic a whole consumer generation different from the ones that bought 5E the last time around. i don't think we have seen evidence that WotC is capable of making those kinds of leaps.D&D has a Kleenex problem that is just going to get worse over time. Any RPG is going to be D&D to those entering the hobby now. Avatar made nearly $10 million -- a stupid amount. Many of those who backed that game very likely assumed that it was some version of "D&D" because "D&D" doesn't mean anything specific to people just entering the hobby. If they ask their older cousin to run D&D for them, they won't know or care if that game is Savage Worlds or DCC or Dungeon World. In order to capture that cohort, WotC must come up with a strategy beyond "We make D&D." Which it doesn't feel like they are.Except DnD Beyond. That, I think, is where WotC is focusing their attention. They know that the rules are onerous. They know that paperwork isn't fun. So by providing the most complete digital support for a generation that assumes that a) everything gets digital support and b) you pay a subscription for everything, WotC can capture those potential customers where other companies  -- companies that produce games that are as good or better than D&D for what that cohort actually wants to experience -- can't compete with.</blockquote>

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