Is it time for 5E?

[Stoat]

Well, anybody who imagines that 4e will stay evergreen and just get revised via online updates has their head in the clouds. Of course there will be a 5e; it's just a matter of time.

I'm not so certain. We know that developing a new edition involves a pretty hefty upfront investment in time and money. Estimates in this thread are that it takes +/- 3 years of in-house development to get a new edition off the ground. I presume a hypothetical 5E would also need online tools available soon or immediately after launch. That's an additional upfront cost.

I can imagine a scenario where WotC tries to avoid these costs by doing what it's already done: releasing products like Essentials that take less time (and presumably cost) to develop.

 

[M.L. Martin]

- Several early-released books disappeared off the radar. This included updates to the PHB (Heroes of Swd & Spl) and the Nentir Vale gaz. This can mean a lot of things: the material isn't ready (due to lack of development time), its being held to puff-out the latter half of 2011 (possibly due to other cancellations), or they are killing the products to prep a new edition (2000/2008 all over again). The last possibility is that they are winding down D&D products altogether due to lack of energetic sales. (Aka the Doomsday scenario).

I'm not convinced Class Compendium is really canceled yet; I'll want more confirmation than its absence on WotC's spottily updated site. I suspect The Nentir Vale was canceled because of overlap in target market with the forthcoming Neverwinter Campaign Setting, with Neverwinter being judged to have more probability of success. Given that Amazon is showing a $40 boxed set adventure for August, I don't think 'winding down' is likely.

 

[Stormonu]

As to the above, I did notice that on the WotC site the catalog of 4E releases looks alarmingly slim. I believe it was two 4E books listed within the Jan-June release schedule - certainly much smaller than the 1-2 book release schedule I seem to recall up through 2010.

 

[avin]

5E? No way.

Edition fatigue is already an issue. 5E would likely make it worse.

OSR fans aren't likely interested. 3.x fans have Pathfinder, 4E fans have, well, 4E!

I don't think there's very much demand for 5E at this time.

I want 5E.

4E is almost dead to me.

 

[DaveMage]

I want 5E.

4E is almost dead to me.

Well, besides you.

 

[Dice4Hire]

As to the above, I did notice that on the WotC site the catalog of 4E releases looks alarmingly slim. I believe it was two 4E books listed within the Jan-June release schedule - certainly much smaller than the 1-2 book release schedule I seem to recall up through 2010.

Is it really 'alarmingly slim'?

A lot of people have sai how WOTC puts books out too fast, and I would tend to agree withteat. Maybe WOTC is jsut slowing down?

We won't know till WOTC communicates better. I am hoping for an announcement this week or next.

 

[Shazman]

[ The 4th Edition of the rules was announced, then released. And whether you love it, hate it, or have never even played it, you cannot deny that it has been a success.]


This "success" part of this is highly debatable. I think we've all seen evidence of it not being a success.

 

[Alan Shutko]

Wizards is indeed working on releasing the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and currently has all their staff porting the good bits of 4e and upcoming products to it. Given people's concerns over number of books to get into the hobby, they'll start by releasing a single book which will contain all rules needed to run. They're also extending the cap on levels to give 6 more levels over 4e. They are releasing....

Rules Cyclopedia... the original fifth edition of D&D.

 

[kitsune9]

No. It's time for 7e. Let's just skip a couple of editions and get to lucky number 7.

I'm down for that! Hurray for 7e!

 

[ProfessorCirno]

[ The 4th Edition of the rules was announced, then released. And whether you love it, hate it, or have never even played it, you cannot deny that it has been a success.]


This "success" part of this is highly debatable. I think we've all seen evidence of it not being a success.

After hearing you say that for two years, your doomsday proclamations have lost a bit of leeway.