Put me down for Negative.........
5th edition D&D is just Wizards of the Coast in panic-mode in light of Paizo's SMASH HIT Pathfinder RPG blowing D&D out of the water in sales the last couple of months.
Leaving D&D 5th edition up to the players is one of the most historically stupid marketing moves they could have made.
Mostly because of the fact that the 4th edition players are the most aware of the move being that their edition of D&D is being shelved.
So they will be the players giving the most feedback. Thus making 5th edition probably a 4th edition clone.
If you want to re-boot D&D, my advice is:
** Take a little of what Paizo did with pathfinder rules-wise.(Meaning the minor tweaks to 3rd edition to make it cool.)
** Stick with traditional core races. (Maybe releasing variant races later on in secondary rules books.)
**REWIND THE WORLD HISTORY BACK TO WHERE IT WAS BEFORE THE FAST FOWARDING OF TIME KILLED OFF ALL THE COOL ICONIC CHARACTERS!!!
**Commission awesome RPG artists to give the game and D&D world a fresh look. NOT A CHINESE VIDEO GAME COMPANY TO DO THE ARTWORK!! ..........
IDIOTS!!
** Take the RPG Gamers advice and ideas into consideration when designing the next iteration of D&D. But in the end integrate ideas that are right for the D&D RPG gaming community as a whole. At the risk of sounding cheesy "UNITE THE 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th EDITION D&D PLAYERS".
**Put some money into more universal gaming aids. Like a universal battlemap software with both Hex and Square movement so it can be used for other RPG's. Put the money behind it to make it look awesome with an easy to use interface. The more universal you make things, the more players of other game systems will BUY YOUR PRODUCT!
** And finally, lets face it, we gamers collect things like borderline hoarders! Some refer to pre-painted plastic minis as plasti-crack. Theres money out there to be made on D&D minis. Just need to fill the needs of the players. I gotta say, Pathfinder minis are definitly on the right track with the distribution system, Price, and QUALITY of their minis. I'll say it again, Q U A L I T Y of their minis. The only complaint I would have is that Pathfinder minis are too pastel and could stand to be a little more dark in color.
To sum up.......Good luck Wizards. Because all the spurned employees you let go went to Paizo with all their good concepts and their making a killing!!