D&D 5E Mearl's Book Design Philosophy

[Maxperson]

Except that New Coke is a horrible analogy for 5E because they are in no way similar.

It's an analogy of bad decisions, not an implication that you can drink the PHB

The correct analogy would be that New Coke = 4E. A direct and quite substantial movement away from the standard thing of the past in hopes of attracting new customers. However, that new item... while happily accepted and judged superior by some, was rejected out of hand by a huge swathe of the population as being too different. It just wasn't what they thought of as that thing.

That's a better one. However, there are many business decisions that turn out bad in the long term.

Thus... the proper analogy for 5E is that it is Coca-Cola Classic. A return back to the popular form of the past that made most of the customer base very happy and which actually bumped sales. But that there were still some who felt that this "new old" version just wasn't the same as the actual old version, and thus refused to go with it. But they were so few in number that the company saw the sales data and realized what they were doing was going so well that they were completely okay with leaving those few others behind.

This ALSO a bad analogy. They did not return to Classic at all, since Classic D&D offered splat books in EVERY edition, even 1e had them, though they were so few in number that 1e failed anyway. The popularity of splat books in every edition also is a strong indication that your "so few in number" notion is wrong.

 

[wedgeski]

Heathen! Were you actually one of those who LIKED New Coke?!?

No...it is just a very old, tired trope in threads like this.

 

[Parmandur]

Except that New Coke is a horrible analogy for 5E because they are in no way similar.



The correct analogy would be that New Coke = 4E. A direct and quite substantial movement away from the standard thing of the past in hopes of attracting new customers. However, that new item... while happily accepted and judged superior by some, was rejected out of hand by a huge swathe of the population as being too different. It just wasn't what they thought of as that thing.



Thus... the proper analogy for 5E is that it is Coca-Cola Classic. A return back to the popular form of the past that made most of the customer base very happy and which actually bumped sales. But that there were still some who felt that this "new old" version just wasn't the same as the actual old version, and thus refused to go with it. But they were so few in number that the company saw the sales data and realized what they were doing was going so well that they were completely okay with leaving those few others behind.

I was going to say the same thing!

 

[Maxperson]

No...it is just a very old, tired trope in threads like this.

Heh. Okay. Do you have a better corporate blunder to use?

 

[wedgeski]

Heh. Okay. Do you have a better corporate blunder to use?

Well...I would have to agree with you to provide you that bullet. Which I don't.

 

[Parmandur]

So, I checked out of 4E fairly quickly and started ignoring the RPG industry in ~2009, so O just checked: by this point in it's lifecycle, it looks like the Essentials were already released and everything was basically over??

Wow. :-o

 

[Maxperson]

Well...I would have to agree with you to provide you that bullet. Which I don't.

Can't blame a man for trying.

 

[Maxperson]

So, I checked out of 4E fairly quickly and started ignoring the RPG industry in ~2009, so O just checked: by this point in it's lifecycle, it looks like the Essentials were already released and everything was basically over??

Wow. :-o

4e released waaaaaaay too much on top of the drastic game changes it brought to the table. Nobody is asking the the insane release rate of 3e and 4e.

 

[Parmandur]

4e released waaaaaaay too much on top of the drastic game changes it brought to the table. Nobody is asking the the insane release rate of 3e and 4e.

Granted, and I get the desire for products you will use, I am lucky in that I want and use what they are providing, and have a hard time keeping up with their relaxes schedule. However, we don't have enough info to guess at what a happy medium would be: WotC has way way more data, to make an educated guess. And ironically, the "New Coke" failure of 3E may have given the D&D team the freedom to make the right decisions, with less corporate-y influence.



You cite the success of splat in previous editions, but that splat was never so successful as to save TSR from bankruptcy or the crash and burn of edition change: indeed, the community ga e the derivative name of "*-book" to mock the model itself. What Mearls seems to be saying is that they want to avoid falling into the "Complete Handbook of * Power" trap, and make each title multifunctional.

 

[pkt77242]

So if an 8 year run is a "short term success" then what do we call a 2 year run?

Or am I the only one to remember the last "ever-green" product that WotC produced?

Well 5E isn't done yet, so your point doesn't really make sense, of course it is only a 2 year run so far. Also the 8 years you cite really included "2" editions, 3 and 3.5. Third edition really only last 3 years before they had to reboot it. Then 3.5 lasted for about 5, and then 4th edition lasted for 2, which then gave us essentials, etc. They are trying to stop the edition treadmill (or at least really slow it down). That is good for the brand.

Also the strategies are different, if you can't tell that they are trying to keep 5E around for a long time that is on you. Now it may not work, but from a brand management standpoint it is a significantly better strategy.