Spell slots forces you to use a variety of spell.
Spell slots, unless you MUST specifically prepare every spellslot (which no longer exists in D&D), absolutely does not force more variety compared to mana. You can do the same spell over and over with spellslots, using higher level slots to upcast it. DC20's "upcast" system is far more sophisticated than D&D's, and using mana as the system plays into facilitating a wider amount of variety, since there's more possibility of changing your spells depending on how much mana you want to spend.
IME, that just leads to spamming the same thing over and over.
Action variety forces you to use a variety of actions.
Wrong. DC20 has penalties for trying to do certain things over and over, and the flexibility of the action economy already promotes more variety on its own. D&D does not encourage variety. It encourages building around cheesing your bonus action as much as you can.
I'd say its popularity shows that it cannot be that mediocre, or everything it beat was predominantly bad....
LOL!!! That is not how the world works. Mediocre products "beat" superior ones all the time because of
visibility and
conditioning.
they played for fewer years than many here, and a single game at that
They've played many, and the mechanics being formulated shows great expertise and more consideration than an average player. Trying to measure art or the quality of a product based on age or resume is a mistake in the first place.
If my group wants to play… uhm… FATE (which I don’t like), I can either play FATE or not play.
Yeah you can choose to not play...which means you are no longer getting to participate. People only get to play what is available to them. When D&D is the driving force of the genre, that's what millions of people have to do if they want to engage. Hence, if the masses buy D&D 2024 and nothing else, if that's all they even
know about, then everything will be centered around it.
A singular dominant force in a market can be good it's an objectively great, benevolent product. Like if some pill existed that cured a variety of ills with no side effects, with an ethical production method. But this is frequently not the case.
Which is to say - do not buy D&D 2024. It is not the ambassador the genre deserves. Limit its spread as much as possible. Uplift non-D&D options. The end goal: a favorable evolution of the genre as a whole, resulting in better games and more players.
Uhm… No. The exact problem is people who DON’T consume it as a “tasty treat” and, instead, “consume it regularly.” A treat is not something that is consumed regularly.
Any consumption of an unnecessary toxic product, like modern raised cow meat, is detrimental to humanity. It fuels the demand for production, which causes negative environmental effects, and there are immediate negative health effects. Modern processed food is engineered to be addictive and sits in your intestines for prolonged periods, and a single McD's quality hamburger carries the risk of disease. Things like McDonalds, thanks to ease of mass production and access, are able to price and locate themselves favorably compared to other options; they literally force other options out of the market. Their marketing also warps minds, continuing to place them in a seat of dominance, which they can use to literally impact the laws of the country regarding food production.
Comparing to electricity is a fallacy. That's a necessity to modern life and something that benefits humanity as a whole (assuming the world doesn't nuke itself). There are of course cleaner and more sustainable ways to generate electricity, which is a separate issue.
