kenmarable
Hero
It is complicated, and I don't envy WotC trying to find a balance, but as far as anecdotal evidence goes (which isn't far), out of the group of 13 year olds that I have introduced to 5e, many of them are wanting more crunch as well - especially more class options. I tried to keep them out of sight, but a couple of them saw my 3.x and Pathfinder books and are wanting to convert stuff over from those because there are so many more fun options available to them in those books (but they like the streamlined 5e system).Fair enough. I don’t want it, and I think it would be a mistake in terms of attracting new players and a new audience to the game if it is seen to have rules bloat. In my view, the game cannot afford to keep appealing to an ever ageing, existing fan base anymore - so even if these fans tend to prefer to buy crunchy books, the game developers still need to look at the bigger, long term picture.
Among that one group of brand new gamers, they run the gamut from the kid who just borrows someone else's book for a few minutes whenever he needs to level his fighter and doesn't ever want to take his sheet with him, to the ones who hope for PC death because they have a different character idea every other week and full on hack the system wondering how they can add new class options to fit their latest crazy ideas. I don't know how typical this group is, but perhaps even the new players have as much variety as us old timers. *shrug*
However, as much as I liked the PHB X series of books, I realize that is a really bad way to go since that offers new options in a way that feels like they are essential core books. It may just be a branding difference, but giving more options but making them appear as optional as possible might be the best way to address both sides. Something like the Adventurer's Handbook might be a good balance.
But however it goes, the one thing I am really happy about is that this group of 13 year olds is really geeked about D&D, and that's pretty awesome to see first hand.