D&D 5E Mike Mearls - Reddit AMA

[Parmandur]

Personally, I'm a little disappointed that nothing posted (didn't read the AMA) went into bigger-picture stuff. These were all just minor, nit-picky details and opinions. Like most AMAs, nothing was actually said. And after a year of nearly no news, the lack of additional news is really disheartening.

In my mind, D&D has sort of dropped off a cliff with 5.0. Since the 3.0 revival, there were constant drips of new products and new geekery to keep people interested and coming back. But since 5.0 dropped, we've had nearly nothing. We just had one additional "core-ish" book published - the reaction to which, at least according to this forum, seems to show an extreme pent-up demand for more books. But overall it feels like maybe 4.0 was such a disappointment (sales-wise/concept-wise/whatever) that Hasbro/WotC/parent company X stopped putting any eggs in the D&D basket and re-regulated the market to "niche." Despite all the talk of a movie and video games and bigger tie-ins and everything, D&D feels like it was a much bigger brand 10 years ago or even 5 years ago than it is today, and a big part of that is the lack of content. I was looking the other day and I have dozens of 3.5 books, about a dozen 4.0 books, and exactly four 5.0 books. I'm obviously giving far more weight to splat books than adventures, but I don't think that's the only thing missing here. They've also stopped making minis and add-on products (I'm also disregarding random packs entirely) which, while I'm guessing they must not have been profitable, increased brand awareness. And to have nothing said of future plans just leads me back to the conclusion that there are no future plans. The idea that they have no short-term plans for the ranger, for example? What in the world? After months and months of feedback and design and presumed attention they have NO plans that will come together any time soon? So... there's just no plan, then?

It makes me feel like there are basically 3 or 4 people working on D&D anymore, and they plan to release about a book a year, with some adventures on the side, until... we all grow old and die, I guess? I suppose at this point I'm just waiting for parent company X to finally sell off the brand (or one of their crazy ideas to actually work - like a new movie that doesn't horribly suck for some reason) to finally get some new money and new energy injected into the brand, because right now it feels like there's nothing. The old guard seems to have been broken up and dispersed - and maybe they don't get along too well anymore anyway - and we need new people to lead the charge.

They are releasing three new books a year, and more people are playing than five or ten years ago. Look to Twitch if you want evidence of life, not book bloat.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[evilbob]

They are releasing three new books a year, and more people are playing than five or ten years ago. Look to Twitch if you want evidence of life, not book bloat.

There's a huge difference between "book bloat" and "basically 1 book a year." 3 books must include adventures because otherwise I've seen nothing. You can't just claim the other extreme is bad and pretend you've made a point. I still feel like they must have a reduced staff and reduced presence, which in turn leads to fewer things to talk about and less press. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

As for "more people are playing" I'd have to see evidence to believe it, but it's a fair point that I have no interest in Twitch and so I've no idea what is on offer there. My points of reference are gaming stores and online 1st-party presence, both of which have seen marked declines since 5.0.

 

[pukunui]

WotC is focusing on getting more people playing. Putting out lots of books is actually detrimental to growing the fanbase. And yes, live streaming games is the Next Big Thing. I don't personally see the appeal but apparently watching other people play D&D has become extremely popular.

Also, [MENTION=9789]evilbob[/MENTION]: There are still minis. They've just outsourced the making of them to WhizKids, who suck at marketing. The minis themselves are decent, if a bit more fragile than the old WotC ones. So far there have been about seven sets of D&D minis.

I'd say if you truly think there's nothing happening with D&D right now, then you must be looking in the wrong place. New books are not the be all and end all of D&D.

Lastly, while the D&D department is much smaller than it used to be, I'm pretty sure Mearls recently mentioned that they were looking at expanding.

 

[Parmandur]

There's a huge difference between "book bloat" and "basically 1 book a year." 3 books must include adventures because otherwise I've seen nothing. You can't just claim the other extreme is bad and pretend you've made a point. I still feel like they must have a reduced staff and reduced presence, which in turn leads to fewer things to talk about and less press. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

As for "more people are playing" I'd have to see evidence to believe it, but it's a fair point that I have no interest in Twitch and so I've no idea what is on offer there. My points of reference are gaming stores and online 1st-party presence, both of which have seen marked declines since 5.0.

Yes, the three books a year would indeed include all three books being released a year. The unstated assumption here is that WotC hasn't gone for the happy medium with 5E releases, which they say their market research indicates to be...about three books a year. Their sales have been robust, and they are continuing the strategy after three and a half years. WotC has stated continually that they are not limited to three books because of resources, but that it is a conscious strategy.

Twitch and Twitter are where first party presence us to be found: and it is there in plentitude.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[Valetudo]

There's a huge difference between "book bloat" and "basically 1 book a year." 3 books must include adventures because otherwise I've seen nothing. You can't just claim the other extreme is bad and pretend you've made a point. I still feel like they must have a reduced staff and reduced presence, which in turn leads to fewer things to talk about and less press. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

As for "more people are playing" I'd have to see evidence to believe it, but it's a fair point that I have no interest in Twitch and so I've no idea what is on offer there. My points of reference are gaming stores and online 1st-party presence, both of which have seen marked declines since 5.0.

Yes they have a small staff now. Yes their release schedule is slower. You know what hasnt happened? The cancellation of dnd and mass firings that happened because of 4ths failure.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, when you ignore 3/4 of the products they are regularly producing, it sure looks like they’re not producing much.

3 books a year. Randomized packs of painted minis. Non-randomized unpainted minis. Spellbook cards. Board games. Packs of printed character sheets. DM screens. Officially-branded dice. There is plenty of D&D branded product being produced and sold,, just because they’re not the products you personally are interested in doesn’t mean they’re floundering. It just means their strategy has changed. Which is good, because the strategy they employed in the 90s would not work today.

 

[robus]

WotC is focusing on getting more people playing. Putting out lots of books is actually detrimental to growing the fanbase. And yes, live streaming games is the Next Big Thing. I don't personally see the appeal but apparently watching other people play D&D has become extremely popular.

Once you become more familiar with the game the appeal lessens (especially if you’re actively involved with a game), but for the D&D-curious, like myself a couple of years ago, it’s an incredible tool for eliminating a huge barrier to entry, which is: how does the game even work? I think it’s also an excellent tool for exploring a few different DMing approaches and provides a mechanism for upping everyone’s game as we get to see experts “do it live”

 

[robus]

There's a huge difference between "book bloat" and "basically 1 book a year." 3 books must include adventures because otherwise I've seen nothing. You can't just claim the other extreme is bad and pretend you've made a point. I still feel like they must have a reduced staff and reduced presence, which in turn leads to fewer things to talk about and less press. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

My theory is the losses with 4e piled so high that the powers that be said “make sure D&D 5e turns the ship around!” The best way to do that: cut costs and maximize sales. They cut costs by cutting staff to the bone and trimming the publication schedule (a necessary result of cutting staff) and maximized sales by effectively going back to the future, bringing back the classic feel with a modern polish. I don’t think they had any idea of the hit they had on their hands, but the buzz around 5e made to my ears and I’d not thought about it since the 80s! I dont think they can really believe their luck and they probably pinch themselves with every quarterly earnings report.

But of course now that they have the goose that’s laying the golden eggs they really dont want to kill it. I see them continue to slowly experiment with new options to ensure they don’t screw it up.

As for "more people are playing" I'd have to see evidence to believe it, but it's a fair point that I have no interest in Twitch and so I've no idea what is on offer there. My points of reference are gaming stores and online 1st-party presence, both of which have seen marked declines since 5.0.

It’s my understanding that Hasbro singled out D&D growth as a highlight in at least one of the quarterly earnings reports last year. Gaming stores are weird, I’m sorry to report. My local one has a gaming room and I have zero interest in stepping into it. D&D is now a phenomenon and it doesn’t needing game stores to support it. Amazon has all the dice and books and the internet has easy ways to meet people with similar interests. I formed my group out of some folks from a board game Meetup for example.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don’t think they had any idea of the hit they had on their hands, but the buzz around 5e made to my ears and I’d not thought about it since the 80s! I dont think they can really believe their luck and they probably pinch themselves with every quarterly earnings report.

Haha. No, they knew exactly what they had on their hands. They spent a full year doing an open alpha, which served as a combination mass advertising campaign and focus test. The idea that they would be surprised at the edition’s success after that is nonsense.

 

[Staffan]

Haha. No, they knew exactly what they had on their hands. They spent a full year doing an open alpha, which served as a combination mass advertising campaign and focus test. The idea that they would be surprised at the edition’s success after that is nonsense.

IIRC, the good folks at Wizards have said things to the effect of "We knew it was going to be a hit, but not that it was going to be this big a hit."