Is it time for 5E?

[Treebore]

I feel no need for another edition of D&D ever again. I am finally perfectly happy where I am, and that is where I will be staying.

Business wise WOTC is going to HAVE to do 5E sooner or later, and only they have the sales data, etc... to say when that will be.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

5E in 2011 would be a 400-page, $50 hardcover corporate suicide note.

 

[samursus]

A few quick thoughts on the topic.

I agree, with the conspicuous silence from wotc, this seems to indicate change. Whether this is due to a shake-up of company direction is unknowable. Only Wizards knows how profitable their current situation is.

Also, I would suggest that if things aren't going well enough with the D&D property, Wizards will be wanting to figure out how to maximize their customer base. This may mean figuring out how to bring back in more of the ex-patriots (which has had some success with Essentials) or metamorphisizing the brand even more so into something more mainstream.

 

[TheYeti1775]

...begin snip...
Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised if 5E didn't have printed books. It makes total sense to go completely online and drop the cost of printing book completely (which is not insignificant). We're not at the point in our culture where ebooks are as readily accepted yet, but we will be. In about 3-5 years.
...end snip...

Good lord no.
What grognards they didn't lose with 4E, they would surely lose with a complete digital, subscribe to see your stuff method.

If and when 5E comes, I'll look at it, if I like it, I'll buy it, if not, I won't. Simple as that. It's the same thing as with I did with 4E.

Far as a timeline goes, I would wager late 2012 - 2013 being the year of 5E announcements and releases.

But back to the electronic thing, I'm a huge fan of having electronic tools. But if you require them to play the game itself, I most likely won't take part in that edition.

Personally I rather see them turn out some serious fluff pieces vice crunch of rules.

 

[Stormonu]

And like others have said, Wizards really needs to nail down all of its online tools to be completely working and not merely in development before announcing 5E. For that tablet PCs need to be the popular standard. Android is already dominating the market much more than iPad is, but android still doesn't have that "if you want to make a program you make it for android" feel of it yet. Right now it still has the feel of, "I want an iPhone, but I don't want AT&T, so I guess I'll get Android," feel. Android is going to win, but it doesn't have the "go-to"-ness about it yet, much like Windows didn't have that go-to-ness about it until Win95 came along.

Truth be told, I wouldn't be surprised if 5E didn't have printed books. It makes total sense to go completely online and drop the cost of printing book completely (which is not insignificant). We're not at the point in our culture where ebooks are as readily accepted yet, but we will be. In about 3-5 years.

The sense I am getting from Wizards right now (and frankly, most of the industry) is we're in the later days of the print => electronic transition. Print is shrinking, but it ain't dead yet. The majority of the major company's profits are from print. But if everyone had a TabletPC, that would probably flip overnight. Wizards is probably planning to hold off on 5E until that becomes true. And frankly they should. It would be the perfect time to launch a new edition and if they have their electronic tools ready to go, they can reclaim their place as a major industry juggernaut. All it takes is timing, planning, coordination, and money.

We know Wizards has the money. I don't know enough about Wizards' internal working enough to even guess if they have the timing, planning or coordination thing down. I hope they do. It really would be nice to see Wizards lead the gaming industry charge into the electronic market in ways we have yet to see.

One of the things that seems to be notorious for the makers of D&D (whether TSR or WotC, and certainly not WotC overall) is that they tend to lag - if not drag - behind on the electronic side of things. TSR was way late in putting out its first computer games of D&D (years after Ultima, Zork and many others had been out) and even tools for using D&D electronically (the e-tools fiasco followed an edition later by the initial launch of DDI, and now the issues with the relaunched character generator). Practically all the other RPG companies offer their books in e-format now, whilst D&D has pulled theirs. Then we have the virtual table being pushed out now - which Maptools has been doing for years. It's almost like the D&D staff are a bunch of luddites at times, only going forward into the realm of technology when they have no other choice. Electronic concerns seem to be after-the-fact consideration, if considered at all.

Yes, eventually WotC seems to get their stuff to a (semi) polished shape, but it's generally after many frustrating months and many years after others has well established themselves in the field; the electronic D&D offerings build off existing technology, but fail to push that technology. Don't expect to see them lead on the electronic front, but simply to present a spit-shined version of what others have already developed and pioneered.

Thus when 5E finally shows up, expect it to follow whatever is mainstream electonically; if printed books are still in fashion, so will go 5E. If the likes of Kindle books and tablet pcs have taken over (which I think it won't yet), so will go 5E. Just don't expect 5E to exploit fringe technology until it's mainstream (as in you can even find it in 3rd world countries).

Sorry for the rant, but D&D's sloooooooooow adoption of technology has always gotten my goat.

 

[Gryph]

...
Far as a timeline goes, I would wager late 2012 - 2013 being the year of 5E announcements and releases...

This seems about right.

I think OP is correct, actually, that in a lot of ways Essentials feels like WoTC learning from some of the design mistakes of 4E's launch.

Honestly, I hope 5e has the same sort of iterative feel from 4e that 2e had to 1e. I think 4e is pretty close to "right" and some system refinement and, at this point, system trimming will make it a "finished" system.

Value based words in quotes should be recognized as opinions not facts .

 

[Stoat]

I predict that WotC never releases a product called "Fifth Edition". Instead, I predict WotC will do one of the two following things:

1. Elaborate on the underlying framework of 4E with products similar to Essentials. A combination of errata, rules revisions and new splats gradually changes the game, but no new edition is ever announced and there is never any clear break in rules continuity. I'm not a Magic fan, but I'm under the impression that this is how MtG has developed.

2. WotC abandons the tradition of sequentially numbering the new editions. It puts out a new edition, but simply calls it "Dungeons and Dragons."

In no case do I think 5E is coming anytime soon. Isn't the VTT supposed to be a 4E product? At a minimum I'd expect WotC to get that up and running before they put out a new edition.

 

[noffham]

Right, no 5E just reworked D&D. They've already started with the Ravenloft and Gamma World games and will move more and more towards boardgame based design either in print or on-line or both.

Then they will release D&D Classic Edition with pdfs and reprints of OD&D/AD&D.

This must be true because the dog in the next yard tells me so.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

2. WotC abandons the tradition of sequentially numbering the new editions. It puts out a new edition, but simply calls it "Dungeons and Dragons."

Kind of like this?

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Sorry for the double-post. Been awhile since I've been here.
***
Most of the numbering is done by fans. Most of the editions were simply called "D&D" (or AD&D, as the case may be).

As I recall, 2nd edition AD&D and "3.5" were the only two editions in the game's history to actually use the version number in their titles.