D&D 5E Is 5E Special

[Minigiant]

You know the success of 3pp sells more PHBs, right?

You buy the PHB before you buy 3PP

 

[glass]

The error 4e made was to not pool powers of the same source together in order to save page space for missing classes.

I do not think actually making the powers the same across classes (the way that edition warrior like to pretend they are) would have helped 4e!

Regards the action economy, I felt the designers learned and refined with each edition.

Whereas I think that holds up to 4e, then the 5e version is both worse and explained in a way that make 3.0 look like a model of clarity.

4.0 Extra Action

What the what now? EDIT: Oh, did you mean Action Points?

5e wasn't designed in ignorance of what went before.

Ignorance, no. You cannot run screaming away from something, or deliberately obscure something, if you are not aware of it.

4.0 [...] 5.0

Do not exist. Neither 4e nor 5e (yet) have had any point-anything divisions that warrant specifying .0.

_
glass.

 

[Minigiant]

I think the question is... did any of these 3rd party products sell in the magnitudes that the WotC books did (IMO this is what constitutes whether "many" fans wanted it or not)? If a particular product did then it may have been worth it for WotC to publish a similar book for 5e. But if not, that product type probably wasn't published because they didn't believe there was enough of a demand to make it worthwhile.

There is a huge difference between some small 3PP publishing a product and WOTC and all the might of Hasbro with the same product.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You buy the PHB before you buy 3PP

Good lord. Believe whatever you want, bud.

 

[Imaro]

There is a huge difference between some small 3PP publishing a product and WOTC and all the might of Hasbro with the same product.

Yes and part of the reason WotC has such a huge difference is their ability to read their market and cater to it...

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I have followed this discussion carefully. At several points folks have suggested that WOTC is trying to obscure or hide things.

I get that folks prefer older editions and even can understand some have the belief that the product sells well for 10 years with a shoddy product (does not make sense to me but I am no authority).

But what I cannot get is the suggestion that 5e is purposely trying to obscure it hide known defects.

I…that sounds a little conspiratorial…not understanding.

They had a product that did not do as well as they demand. They did a big play test. The resulting product was wildly WILDLY successful. And over many years it keeps growing!

And we have a suggestion that: They are hiding things. And people were just too slow to see them and now a decade later are dissatisfied. In numbers.

And some say that other games are getting more business because of this.

Like it’s a giant misunderstanding. For a decade? Or if we have to face reality
It’s because of brand loyalty (but 4 e?). Or because of market forces. For 10 years when they have not been static.

Is perhaps the most parsimonious explanation that the game is for many people well liked and that you personally just are not that into it?

I think the OP question is whether the game has something special not if it is special to just me specifically?

All data that is not n = 1 suggests the game resonates unless we totally dismiss its longevity and wide ongoing and growing appeal. Just too big a gulf from what we see to outright dismissing the game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I get that folks prefer older editions and even can understand some have the belief that the product sells well for 10 years with a shoddy product (does not make sense to me but I am no authority).

The economic argument that something that sells well is inherently good quality is always hilarious, but my printer decided to make make the 'cleaning my jets' noise just as I read it, reminding me that there's entire industries that thrive on purposefully making shoddy products. ~goes back to playing a 9 year old 'early access' videogame on a computer designed to die early.~

 

[payn]

The economic argument that something that sells well is inherently good quality is always hilarious, but my printer decided to make make the 'cleaning my jets' noise just as I read it, reminding me that there's entire industries that thrive on purposefully making shoddy products. ~goes back to playing a 9 year old 'early access' videogame on a computer designed to die early.~

Oh man, I'm having flash backs to the "is 5E high quality" thread...

 

[Vaalingrade]

I look forward to the rest of the series:

Is 5e awesome?
Is 5e handsome?
Is 5e delicious?
Is 5e kid tested, mother approved?

 

[TwoSix]

Okay but how? I genuinely do not understand how these things could be confusing.

You know the success of 3pp sells more PHBs, right?

Like part of why 5e is bigger than any iteration of D&D ever is that they aren’t trying to compete with Kobold Press, they’re supporting them and giving them room to grow.

Exactly. It's the presence of 3pp that's keeping me within the 5e ecosystem. Since I'm still in the 5e ecosystem, I'm playing with plenty of newer players who also then buy PHBs.

I know of 5 PHBs, and a few other WotC releases, that have sold in the past 3 years that were sold because I'm playing and running 5e. And without 3pp, I wouldn't be.