D&D 5E Light release schedule: More harm than good?

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I feel the same way, but the way I see it is this - the intention is for there to never need to be a 6E, or at least not for a very long time.

So we'll eventually see the full range of 100+ books they put out for, say 3.5, but on a 20 year timescale rather than a 4 year one.

I don' think WotC will pass up the chance to put out a 50th anniversary edition in 2024.

 

[Jester David]

I don' think WotC will pass up the chance to put out a 50th anniversary edition in 2024.

They resisted the urge for a 40th anniversary issue.

But I'd be happy with a revision in 2024.

 

[graves3141]

I don' think WotC will pass up the chance to put out a 50th anniversary edition in 2024.

That's a good point. That would give 5th edition a ten year life cycle, which sounds about right even with their light release schedule strategy.

Or, they might just release a 5th Edition Anniversary version of D&D with new covers or something. I guess it all depends on what happens between now and then.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

They'll definitely leverage the 50th Anniversary somehow, but that doesn't necessarily mean a 6E, or even a 5.5. Depends how they handle the "living ruleset" over the next few years, really.

 

[Nellisir]

Sorry, but, where did I say two books per year?

I'm guessing that WOTC is banking on the idea that two big releases per year (the adventure paths that they are banging out) will do the trick.
Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...dule-More-harm-than-good/page40#ixzz3SRcIWI8Y

I have to enter some text so this will post. :/

 

[Hussar]

I have to enter some text so this will post. :/

Well, lookee there. I guess I did say that. Of course, I did say "guess" in my post as well, so, it's not like I was quoting WOTC. But, hey, you got me there. I did say two.

And just for extra pedantic points - I said two big releases, not necessarily 2 books. After all, the Princes of Apocalypse thing was supposed to be two books right? It got trimmed down to one plus a free release, so, technically it's still two books, although that's stretching things a lot.

What they're going to do for the next one I have no idea because they haven't said. But, maybe it will be two books. Maybe one. Maybe three? Who knows?

What we do have a pretty good idea of is that there will be two big releases per year based around a honking big module. At least, that's what the signs point to.

 

[Staffan]

Perhaps they will look to Magic for a good model. Magic has two large set releases per year (historically, the Core Set in summer and the first set for the new expansion block in fall - going forward, they'll be doing two expansions per year, replacing the core set), two small set releases (smaller expansions), and a few odds-and-ends (usuallya multi-player-focused product, two Duel Decks and one From the Vault, plus a slot for "whatever"). That's a total of nine releases, across various tiers of attention-getting from both the company and the public.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Perhaps they will look to Magic for a good model. Magic has two large set releases per year (historically, the Core Set in summer and the first set for the new expansion block in fall - going forward, they'll be doing two expansions per year, replacing the core set), two small set releases (smaller expansions), and a few odds-and-ends (usuallya multi-player-focused product, two Duel Decks and one From the Vault, plus a slot for "whatever"). That's a total of nine releases, across various tiers of attention-getting from both the company and the public.

When you have a product that makes the amount of money that Magic does then this would work fine, but D&D is not Magic or any other card game for that matter.

 

[Hussar]

When you have a product that makes the amount of money that Magic does then this would work fine, but D&D is not Magic or any other card game for that matter.

What is the difference here though? No one talks about how a slower release rate hurts Magic. Why should D&D have to release faster than Magic?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

As my attention slowly turns elsewhere, what I find disappointing is that, if WotC ends up releasing something that might interest me, I may not even be aware of it.