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Message: <blockquote data-quote="El Mahdi" data-source="post: 5962106" data-attributes="member: 59506">I understand what you're saying, and from a strictly playtest perspective this is correct. But it's not the whole story. WotC has made a point of talking about and showing how they are doing things different this time around...and that's a good thing.  But one of those things they've highlighted is "Look at us now.  This time around we're doing it right, learning from our mistakes, and taking a page from our most successful competitors playbook by conducting an open public playtest and seeking feedback (and listening to said feedback) for the next edition of D&D." Whether intended as such or not, that is marketing.  And that makes the public playtest a defacto marketing tool for the next edition. Marketing, as I'm sure you well know, is a tricky business.  Too much, and you overload portions of your target audience to the point they lose interest...too little, and you bore portions of your target audience to the point they lose interest.  It requires a balance...and doing so is as much art and luck as it is skill. So whether the playtest was intended as a marketing tool or not, it now is one.  And purposely ignoring that aspect is foolish. However, I have no idea if they are ignoring the playtest as marketing aspect or not.  And I have no idea if they are striking the right balance or not.  Even in a perfectly balanced approach, there are going to be those at both ends of the spectrum...those that think there isn't enough releases or an insufficient pace of releases; and those that think there's too much or they're too fast. But, I think threads or posts on both sides of this (whether too slow or too fast) are valuable feedback for WotC...and that's also a good thing. So, although I think your statement is mostly correct, at the same time it's not.  Whether intended or not, the playtest is now an aspect of the next editions marketing and buzz machine.  And that's something that can't be ignored. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" /></blockquote>

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