D&D 5E Have you moved on yet? Has Wizard's handled this properly?

[Storminator]

I was looking forward to playtesting. Until I brought it up with my group. At that point everyone else had read thru the playtest packet and between the lot of them there was not a single kind word said. The tone of the conversation was so negative I didn't even bring up the possibility of playtesting.

I'm pretty sure every person (including me) in our group thinks 4e is the best D&D ever - to the point that none of us play any other version. Not nearly enough of our 4e itch was scratched in the earlier versions of the playtest.

Other than change the basic nature of their new game, I'm not sure what WotC could have done to fix my problem.

PS

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I went to a gaming convention a few weeks ago and the three main games that were being played are Pathfinder, FATE/Dresden Files, and Warhammer/Dark Heresy. There were no D&D games present and after speaking with a lot of people there, nobody was interested in playing.

Wait, nobody was interested in playing or nobody was interested in DMing?

Anecdotally, gamers I know know that a new edition is coming...at most. I'm the only one who knows anything more than that, and I lost interest months ago for design reasons. I think most D&D gamers will buy or at least check out 5e at B&N, regardless of the play test. Because play testing isn't even in their consciousness; when a new edition comes, it comes.

It seems that WotC just can't win with the internet community: When the public play test is short, we complain that we haven't had enough opportunity to give input. When the play test is long, we complain that we've losing interest in d&d.

 

[MortalPlague]

I think the trick to it is to leave only a tiny gap between editions so you don't have people moving off to find something else while they wait.

I think that's been a problem for them in the past. For instance, there was a very short gap between 3rd and 4th edition. The result was a game that could have used a bit more polish. I like that they've come out and said that they aren't planning to release Next for another 2 years or so. The long gap will give them enough time to get things right, make things polished, and I suspect, put out a hell of a game.

In addition, maybe the gap could be good for D&D? In my group, we go in cycles. We'll play D&D for a while, then we'll run a campaign in another system; Mutants & Masterminds, Star Wars, Shadowrun, etc. After a little while away, we return to D&D, refreshed and excited to get back into it.

I went to a gaming convention a few weeks ago and the three main games that were being played are Pathfinder, FATE/Dresden Files, and Warhammer/Dark Heresy. There were no D&D games present and after speaking with a lot of people there, nobody was interested in playing.

My experience here has been different. When I was at PAX, I was running the D&D Next event as a volunteer DM. The demand was huge. We had a lineup, we had to turn people away due to a lack of space. I had a full table of 6 players, and I saw many such tables all around the hall.

 

[Stormonu]

When the first playtest packet came out, I was curious (and excited) to try it out, and didn't have any problem getting players. By the second packet, I'd lost most of my interest as had my players. It was just hitting all the wrong notes.

I was one of those who was drawn away from 2E (to Vampire) back in the 90's. 3E brought me back, I was a little hesitant to move to 3.5 and after trying 4E, I happily went to PF (also been doing Savage Worlds, New World of Darkness, Serenity/Cortex, Legends of the Five Rings and I'm about to start a 7th Seas game).

 

[On Puget Sound]

I haven't opened the most recent playtest package. Based on the previous packets and the description of what they have and haven't fixed, it doesn't make the limited-gaming-time cut. I have two D&D nights per week and they are both filled with 4e. If i had a 3rd night, I might start a Pathfinder campaign, or have a boardgaming night instead. 5e is too retro for me; it brings back things I was glad to get away from.

 

[Libramarian]

I hope there aren't too many people who are confusing a lack of interest in playtesting with a lack of interest in the game.

I've totally lost interest in playtesting but I haven't given up or "moved on" from the game. It's just that playtesting takes too long and is boring and feels kind of pointless.

They need to do some surveys that are really fast (~2 or 3 min) and don't actually require reading and playing the entire packet of material. Something in between the stupid little polls at the end of the monster/art articles and the huge complicated packet surveys.

 

[S'mon]

Right now I have gotten so intrenched in Pathfinder that it would take a lot to get me to take D&D back on as a second game.

Anyone else share my experience?

Pretty much. I had been avoiding getting into Pathfinder for several years, but the 5e announcement finally pushed me over the edge, so I now have a bunch of Pathfinder stuff. I still GM 4e, but I'm playing a Pathfinder campaign, my next campaign seems likeliest to be Pathfinder, and if not it will be 4e. I can't see any reason to try 5e knowing at the outset that I'll get burned again the way WoTC have burned me several times with 4e. Paizo seem a lot more reliable.

 

[tlantl]

It's a little early in the development of the game to say whether next will be able to attract people back to D&D.

Treating it like a fully functional gaming system is a fools errand. It's not. it's a collection of ideas and experiments that are going to shape the finished product.

If you don't want to do the work and help test these things then good for you.

We already know that no one wants to play 4e at conventions, very few people like 4e, it's understandable that no one really wants to play it. WotC already knows that their flagship is sinking and that's why they are designing this version. It might be the final gasps of a franchise that until recently ruled the roost.

So the question is why are all of you who have given up on the new system still doing here? Posting in forums about a game you hate, can't get behind, or don't care about.

I would really hope that next was more like AD&D and much less like 3e and 4e. I ain't seeing it, though. All of you 4e guys that can't see all of the suff they took from your game and dropped into next aren't really looking very closely. But it's not going to look like 4e when it's done. It's not going to play like 4e or smell or taste like it although it will use many of the things in that system that work to make D&D more fun to play.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

It's a little early in the development of the game to say whether next will be able to attract people back to D&D.

Treating it like a fully functional gaming system is a fools errand. It's not. it's a collection of ideas and experiments that are going to shape the finished product.

If you don't want to do the work and help test these things then good for you.

We already know that no one wants to play 4e at conventions, very few people like 4e, it's understandable that no one really wants to play it. WotC already knows that their flagship is sinking and that's why they are designing this version. It might be the final gasps of a franchise that until recently ruled the roost.

So the question is why are all of you who have given up on the new system still doing here? Posting in forums about a game you hate, can't get behind, or don't care about.

I would really hope that next was more like AD&D and much less like 3e and 4e. I ain't seeing it, though. All of you 4e guys that can't see all of the suff they took from your game and dropped into next aren't really looking very closely. But it's not going to look like 4e when it's done. It's not going to play like 4e or smell or taste like it although it will use many of the things in that system that work to make D&D more fun to play.

Nobody is treating Next like it's a full game, it's the exact opposite. The game is no where near being finished so people are moving elsewhere for their gaming needs and while they are off playing other games, they are becoming more and more attached to where they moved so when Next does finally come out, it's going to be that much harder to bring them back, if they even come back at all.

 

[DM Howard]

Nobody is treating Next like it's a full game, it's the exact opposite. The game is no where near being finished so people are moving elsewhere for their gaming needs and while they are off playing other games, they are becoming more and more attached to where they moved so when Next does finally come out, it's going to be that much harder to bring them back, if they even come back at all.

That's pretty much the conclusion I came to in my blog post earlier this week. Essentially on this very topic. Gamers now are seeing other systems and are enjoying those systems. That being said, I think that is why D&DN is slated for two more years of developement so that people will be ready for a new edition by that time. D&D really is still king if only in name (people call Pathfinder "My favorite D&D for instance) and as Gladriel said "Who of the Galadrim...would pass nigh and would not wish to look upon their ancient home, though it had become an abode of dragons?"