D&D (2024) Is the 5E player base going to split?

[Mercurius]

People will pay more. You and I might not. But people will.

As proof I will present to you the original price of just $15 USD for the 1st edition AD&D PHB.

First of all, weren't the original hardcovers 12.95 or less? Anyhow, $15 in 1978 inflates to over $60 today.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm with @Parmandur on this one. Art plays a big part in my purchases as well. As an amateur artist myself, I don't want a book with art that I could easily do myself.

See, I don't do visual art at all, so basically anything does the job for me. Words mean much more to me than pictures.

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, as with any rules update there will of course be people who don’t make the switch. But they will be a very small minority of the player base. And frankly, a lot of the people who wouldn’t make the change have already moved on from 5e.

 

[overgeeked]

By an large, D&D is the best return on investment I have ever seen in entertainment dollars.

This is always an interesting argument.

So, since game books are huge well-springs of entertainment...sometimes literally lasting decades and generations...why do people constantly push for and buy new game books? I mean, I bought a $20 PHB back in 1984 and it's still in good shape. It's perfectly serviceable and the game still plays well enough and I can hack it to my heart's content. So why, since I've already invested in the game, and it's an eternal source of entertainment...why on Earth would I bother buying a newer, more expensive version of the mostly similar game book?

 

[Parmandur]

Except that $60 back in 1986 was over double what it is today.

It's very weird that it's the absolute dollar amount that is some kind of limit and not the purchasing power of that dollar amount. $60 today is 4 people going to the movies. $60 back in 1986 would have paid for around 15 people to go to the movies. Have parents gotten cheaper about paying for their kids entertainment?

It's effective competition between the 3 platform holders keeping prices down compared to the days of the de facto Nintendo monopoly.

 

[overgeeked]

See, I don't do visual art at all, so basically anything does the job for me. Words mean much more to me than pictures.

I'm the same. Especially now with the internet and such easy access to world-class art for free. I can find better and more evocative art than WotC would ever put in a book. So why pay them for art?

 

[Parmandur]

Huh. I like art, but it really doesn't factor into my purchasing choices beyond wanting to know what something actually looks like. Even that is unnecessary if I already know.

I mean, I have to want to use it, too, but the art is a significant factor with WotC products, due to yhe high quality of art that scratches my sweet spot.

 

[overgeeked]

It's effective competition between the 3 platform holders keeping prices down compared to the days of the de facto Nintendo monopoly.

And competing against unlimited free entertainment, aka the internet.

 

[Mercurius]

If it has new art, a lot of people will buy.

That is so weird to me.

It is an aspect of collecting. Meaning, it doesn't make sense from a purely utilitarian point of view, but a lot of folks are also collectors.

You can see this in any number of niche areas. I'm into mechanical pencils and fountain pens. In the mechanical pencil world, the Rotring 600 is one of the most iconic pencils - sort of a "gateway drug" to becoming a mechanical pencil aficionado. Not only does it come in a variety of lead types (0.5, 0.7, 2mm, etc), but also many different colors - and some collector's want at least one of each.

As with watches, a cheap $2 mechanical pencil (or $10 quartz watch) will suffice, but that's not what it is about (from a collector's or aficionado's) perspective. There are mechanical pencils that cost hundreds of dollars, and don't even get me started with fountain pens, which also have a luxury/status component.

Not to mention that there's the factor of aesthetic pleasure (also, in kinesthetic pleasure - the feel of a well-made, cool looking writing instrument in your hand). I bought the Eberron alt cover for $50 at my FLGS not because I'm anti-Amazon (well, I kind of am - but sacrifice my morals for convenience and economics), but because I loved the cover art - to the point that I was willing to spend $20 more on the cover.

 

[dave2008]

See, I don't do visual art at all, so basically anything does the job for me. Words mean much more to me than pictures.

I'm a picture is worth a thousand words guy. To be honest, I pay almost no attention to the writing that is not specifically mechanics anymore. I may skim the lore, etc., but I don't really retain much of it. I use these monsters in my world - not theirs. I don't need, nor want, to be told how I should use them.