Mercurius
Legend
Addressing the OP only, a couple things.
One, I think you illustrated why new editions may be necessary for a game like D&D: It is an opportunity to consolidate and streamline years of new rules and books. There have been some threads lately complaining about editions, but I think they are actually a necessity for a huge, complex game like D&D. If D&D involved only a core rulebook and a few supplements, then it would be less necessary - but even a relatively sparse publication schedule like 5E involves 3-6 books a year, which add up over time. But the time 5.5 rolls out, there will have been about 40 hardcovers, half a dozen boxed sets and slip cases, plus miscellaneous and online stuff.
(And this not even touching the fact that a lot of folks like new editions - like re-learning the game all over again, in a new way. But that's tangential to my point above)
Secondly, WotC has done a good job with their starter sets, which seem to be popular and were smartly placed in Target as a gateway into the hobby. Meaning, for many it isn't just going to the hobby shop and seeing the wall of D&D books. Even there, you'll find a starter set and can start with a manageable box of rules.
And finally, related to both above, D&D tends to be a came for people who like complexity - for which the daunting nature of all the books isn't a bug in the system, but a fun new territory to explore.
Even for those for whom it is daunting in an unpleasant way, there's the tried-and-true way in which most people learn how to play: "apprenticing" with an established group. While I'm sure some people learn the game all together - a group of friends watch Stranger Things and decide to pick up Essentials and learn the game together - most people, as far as I can tell, still enter the hobby in the age-old apprenticeship model.
In summary, I don't think the unwieldy nature of the D&D product library is all that problematic, especially when you consider A) Edition updates every so many years (in this case, ten); B) the nature of most/many gamers as being at least somewhat intellectual and/or inquisitive; and C) The D&D tradition of "apprenticeship" as the main route into the hobby.
One, I think you illustrated why new editions may be necessary for a game like D&D: It is an opportunity to consolidate and streamline years of new rules and books. There have been some threads lately complaining about editions, but I think they are actually a necessity for a huge, complex game like D&D. If D&D involved only a core rulebook and a few supplements, then it would be less necessary - but even a relatively sparse publication schedule like 5E involves 3-6 books a year, which add up over time. But the time 5.5 rolls out, there will have been about 40 hardcovers, half a dozen boxed sets and slip cases, plus miscellaneous and online stuff.
(And this not even touching the fact that a lot of folks like new editions - like re-learning the game all over again, in a new way. But that's tangential to my point above)
Secondly, WotC has done a good job with their starter sets, which seem to be popular and were smartly placed in Target as a gateway into the hobby. Meaning, for many it isn't just going to the hobby shop and seeing the wall of D&D books. Even there, you'll find a starter set and can start with a manageable box of rules.
And finally, related to both above, D&D tends to be a came for people who like complexity - for which the daunting nature of all the books isn't a bug in the system, but a fun new territory to explore.
Even for those for whom it is daunting in an unpleasant way, there's the tried-and-true way in which most people learn how to play: "apprenticing" with an established group. While I'm sure some people learn the game all together - a group of friends watch Stranger Things and decide to pick up Essentials and learn the game together - most people, as far as I can tell, still enter the hobby in the age-old apprenticeship model.
In summary, I don't think the unwieldy nature of the D&D product library is all that problematic, especially when you consider A) Edition updates every so many years (in this case, ten); B) the nature of most/many gamers as being at least somewhat intellectual and/or inquisitive; and C) The D&D tradition of "apprenticeship" as the main route into the hobby.
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