Judging by the playtest and comments it’s more like a 5.1 or 5.2 edition. Less changes than 3.0 to 3.5 but enough to say it’s different-ish. If you have Tasha’s and later? Not a lot of differences to how the game is now played, but if you compare straight core to core, it will be different but compatible.
Yeah they were pretty clear it was going to be very different. People assumed and those assumptions became gospel.
To me, this was the most frustrating thing about the shift in editions.
They wisely took the GW route on communication but also, much like GW, have had to face other sorts of difficulties due to their focus.To me, this was the most frustrating thing about the shift in editions.
People weren't actually bothered by the changes 4e made. It was how those changes were presented that was the problem. @Bill91 says it straight up here. The fact that the rules are changed - the skills are gone - but that's okay. WotC didn't say mean things about someone's game, so, it's perfectly fine to make these changes. I've ran this flag up more than a few times - the changes from 4e to 5e are not substantive by and large. The only real difference between 4e and 5e is how they presented the game.
Of course, the primary lesson that WotC appears to have learned from the whole 4e thing is that they have zero interest in being up front with the fandom anymore. They will make changes, alter lots of stuff, rewrite lore, do whatever they want, and so long as they don't actually TELL people that's what they're doing, everyone seems to be perfectly fine with it. But, put out things like those two dev books from before 4e came out, or have the devs write blog posts or horror actually directly interact with fandom? That's not going to happen anymore. Why would it? If they directly say, "Hey, we're taking out these skills because they're not really useful in the game and no one seems to actually be using them" they get absolutely crucified.
But if they strip out the same material and don't tell anyone? Maybe throw the tiniest bones with a couple of throwaway lines in some backgrounds? Fandom is perfectly happy.
And people wonder why WotC refuses to actually directly engage with fans anymore.
You're 100% correct. They are substantially different games and 5e did take a lot from 4e but it is more than just the presentation that is different. The game doesn't play anything like 4e. It is intentionally less polished, detail heavy and they moved away from feat based design to subclasses more akin to prestige classes than anything in 4e. Really the game is the best of 2e approaches as a toolkit, but more focused on the D&D experience than emulating fantasy novels (the 2e approach to toolkit), and 3.x with some of the better ideas from 4e.
No. We WERE bothered by many of the changes and the fact that some of the structure and math made it through to 5e only means that there were some changes that were palatable - you really need to stop claiming what and how we felt at the time.. And 5e was pretty up front with much of what was going on and with engagement with fans. Remember all those monster surveys? And the broad public play test that put a lot of the changes out for us to see? The behavior of WotC in the run-up to 5e was very different from 4e - they had been burned by the 4e experience and went looking for more of basics that kept us in D&D in the first place. The interaction was less "we're redesigning everything" and more "what does D&D mean to you?".To me, this was the most frustrating thing about the shift in editions.
People weren't actually bothered by the changes 4e made. It was how those changes were presented that was the problem. @Bill91 says it straight up here. The fact that the rules are changed - the skills are gone - but that's okay. WotC didn't say mean things about someone's game, so, it's perfectly fine to make these changes. I've ran this flag up more than a few times - the changes from 4e to 5e are not substantive by and large. The only real difference between 4e and 5e is how they presented the game.
Of course, the primary lesson that WotC appears to have learned from the whole 4e thing is that they have zero interest in being up front with the fandom anymore. They will make changes, alter lots of stuff, rewrite lore, do whatever they want, and so long as they don't actually TELL people that's what they're doing, everyone seems to be perfectly fine with it. But, put out things like those two dev books from before 4e came out, or have the devs write blog posts or horror actually directly interact with fandom? That's not going to happen anymore. Why would it? If they directly say, "Hey, we're taking out these skills because they're not really useful in the game and no one seems to actually be using them" they get absolutely crucified.
But if they strip out the same material and don't tell anyone? Maybe throw the tiniest bones with a couple of throwaway lines in some backgrounds? Fandom is perfectly happy.
And people wonder why WotC refuses to actually directly engage with fans anymore.
Agreed.
