D&D 5E I believe a slow and light product release can cause more harm in the long run.

[Harry Dresden]

I should have used the title as my opening but here goes anyway.

I believe releasing products lightly and slowly is going to cause a lot of people to become extremely critical, angry, and a bit selfish.

Let's think about it for a moment. Let's say you buy the three corebooks and you want to continue from there. Well the next product comes out and it's not something you are interested in. Okay no bother. I will just wait for the next one. Well next one comes out a few months later and it's not something you are interested in. Okay, keep calm and just be patient. Possibly one other product comes out that year! Still not somthing I am interested in. A whole year has gone by and nothing else I am interested in has come out and I am starting to get a bit annoyed. I begin really hanging on every word from Wizards because I am product starved. I hear they are doing great and yet I'm left with only the core three I started with. I hear they are only planning to release maybe two products a year and I'm left feeling like I bought into a product that isn't going to see much support. I hear about an MMO but I don't have time to play it and with what little free time I have, I would rather spend that playing some D&D at the table with my mates. Then I hear about this new Alice in Wonderland setting and I get start to get angry and feel a bit of selfishness come on because I hear they are on a limited release plan and instead of getting a setting I want, they are doing a setting I don't want which leaves me waiting even longer. I start to feel this strong urge to get what "I" want and not care of anyone else gets what they want. By this time I am hanging off a cliff here and I could go at any time. A few web articles come out and while they may put a little taste in my mouth, they are hardly enough to satisfy my hunger. Eventually I may get something two years later but by that time I am probably likely to have packed up and moved on to another system.

 

[Shiroiken]

You are welcome to your opinion, but you are in the minority. WotC did numerous surveys of players, and the overwhelming response was for a slower release schedule. While they've not announced anything far in advance, they still released about 1 product a month last year, and have released 2 products in 4 months this year. I suspect that 1 product every 2-3 months is going to be the standard, and I feel that's a perfect amount.

 

[Harry Dresden]

You are welcome to your opinion, but you are in the minority. WotC did numerous surveys of players, and the overwhelming response was for a slower release schedule. While they've not announced anything far in advance, they still released about 1 product a month last year, and have released 2 products in 4 months this year. I suspect that 1 product every 2-3 months is going to be the standard, and I feel that's a perfect amount.

Citation please?

Also I would like some data you have that places me in the minority.

Thanks.

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

I believe releasing products lightly and slowly is going to cause a lot of people to become extremely critical, angry, and a bit selfish.

Except for the term "a lot", I completely agree with this sentence. In fact several of those people are already critical, angry and a bit selfish.

Nevertheless I find the current pace of releases fine.

 

[DM Howard]

I completely understand and agree with where Harry Dresden is coming from, however WotC is too afraid to put a lot of capital into waves and waves of publishing products like they did with 4E. No, I don't have any proof of this, but dealing with marketing in real life I feel like this is true from my experience.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Citation please?

Also I would like some data you have that places me in the minority.

Thanks.

Well, here's a datum: I feel the release schedule is fine. I'll admit that I'm very happy to have FrogGod's Fifth Edition Foes and Book of Lost Spells, but that's more about the quality of the extra content than the pace. I'd rather have one Frog God-made Fifth Edition Foes than five WotC Tyranny of Dragons products. (I've only glanced at Elemental Evil though, so can't compare.)

 

[HobbitFan]

Some things to consider about the release schedule: a) how much is motivated by a desire to avoid bloat? WOTC has sadi this pretty consitantly so I think we have to take them at their word.
b) how much is a function of their small staff?
c) how much of when and what comes out is partially determined by license partners like videogame developers?
d) we don't know what plan, restrictions, guidelines, etc. the D&D team are working under from WOTC and HASBRO leadership.

 

[Jester David]

I remember playing 3e for a couple years after 4e was announced.
We started the campaign in December 2007, after the final 3e book was released. The DM wanted to focus on the core experience of the game and was burnt out from power creep, so very little beyond the core rulebook was permitted into the game. A couple feats here and there, a couple flavourful prestige classes, etc.


Zero future support. No new content. Limited use of the content we already had.


The game went fine.


Lots of books are irrelevant to the play of the game. They're nice but not necessary. And, by leading to power creep and rules bloat, they invariably do more harm to the game system than good.
People don't play the game because there's a new book out. Gaming sessions are not scheduled around release dates.
The only real reason to release new books is because people want to read them. Books for the sake of books. Content for its own sake.

You don't expect Pandemic or Settlers of Catan to have new rules expansions every month. Big MMOs that ask for monthly fees seldom have regular content, having smaller updates every 3-4 months. And video games that release waves of regular DLC tend to receive complaints over that content.

Then I hear about this new Alice in Wonderland setting and I get start to get angry and feel a bit of selfishness come on because I hear they are on a limited release plan and instead of getting a setting I want, they are doing a setting I don't want which leaves me waiting even longer.

The "Alice in Wonderland" comments refer back to vague tweets from Chris Perkins, where he was talking about how the next storyline would have an Alice in Wonderland vibe. What that means is unknown. There are guesses it might be harkening back to the old 1e adventure Dungeonland or be a story where the PCs are strangers in a strange land, but we're uncertain as WotC only really announces things a couple months before release.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I remember playing 3e for a couple years after 4e was announced.
We started the campaign in December 2007, after the final 3e book was released. The DM wanted to focus on the core experience of the game and was burnt out from power creep, so very little beyond the core rulebook was permitted into the game. A couple feats here and there, a couple flavourful prestige classes, etc.


Zero future support. No new content. Limited use of the content we already had.


The game went fine.


Lots of books are irrelevant to the play of the game. They're nice but not necessary. And, by leading to power creep and rules bloat, they invariably do more harm to the game system than good.
People don't play the game because there's a new book out. Gaming sessions are not scheduled around release dates.
The only real reason to release new books is because people want to read them. Books for the sake of books. Content for its own sake.

You don't expect Pandemic or Settlers of Catan to have new rules expansions every month. Big MMOs that ask for monthly fees seldom have regular content, having smaller updates every 3-4 months. And video games that release waves of regular DLC tend to receive complaints over that content.


The "Alice in Wonderland" comments refer back to vague tweets from Chris Perkins, where he was talking about how the next storyline would have an Alice in Wonderland vibe. What that means is unknown. There are guesses it might be harkening back to the old 1e adventure Dungeonland or be a story where the PCs are strangers in a strange land, but we're uncertain as WotC only really announces things a couple months before release.

I'm not interested in the game being playable with just the core three. While my group and I like the 5th edition ruleset, we mainly play it because it's the edition that is currently supported. The 2nd edition rules are our favourite so if it was down to the minimum I need to "play" the game, then we would go back to that edition.

Also, when ever I post something about the product release not being enough, you come back with the 4th edition schedule? You are comparing gluttony to famine. I have been around for all editions so I know what "bloat" is.

 

[delericho]

I believe a slow and light product release can cause more harm in the long run.

You might well be right. Actually, even WotC don't know that their current slow and light approach will work.

But they do know that the previous fast release schedule doesn't work (see Mearls' tweet to that effect). They know that it's okay for a year or two, but then the game saturates and it's time for 3.5e/Essentials/whatever. So, having discovered what doesn't work, they're now trying something else. That may not work either... but at least there's a chance.

And, FWIW, like you I would prefer a rather quicker release schedule, or rather I'd like some sort of content more regularly. Though, for me, a single measure could fix an awful lot: bring back the e-magazines. They don't even need to fill them with stuff that I would use forever and ever (Dragon was unusual amongst magazines in doing that), but some sort of regular issue of stuff would be ideal. IMO, of course.