Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6366908" data-attributes="member: 59082">Considering that the number of people working on D&amp;D is much reduced from previous years, it would seem that WotC's financial expectations are lower. But my sense is that they have lowered &quot;floor&quot; expectations--that is, the minimum level of financial success is lower, as evidenced by the smaller crew--but the &quot;ceiling&quot; expectations, which are more like hopes, are as high as ever, with big talk about expanding the brand.So my guess is that we'll see a couple waves or phases of D&amp;D in the years ahead. The first phase is getting the core rules out. After that supplements will trickle in, enough to keep people satisfied and interested but not the deluge of 3E and 4E. Then we'll see this supposed diversification - WotC trying out different products, licensing strategies, etc. Depending upon what sticks, they'll put more energy in that direction. But if nothing sticks, we'll probably just see a moderate roll-out of more 5E product for a few years, maybe a revision in 2017 or 2018, then a new edition some time in the 2020s.Here's where the promised modularity comes in and we'll know more when the DMG comes out. I'm guessing that you'll have one of two responses, either fans of 3.5/Pathfinder and 4E say &quot;Nope, doesn't do it for me&quot; and go back to their respective preferred editions, or people say, &quot;Cool, that allows me to customize in the way that I like&quot; and stick with 5E. My fear is that the earlier talk of modules with the flavors of specific editions was overly ambitious; I mean, I think WotC will be able to offer a lot of the qualities of 3.5E--the customization and endless options--but having a tactical combat AEDU-like module to just paste over 5E seems a bit more challenging (but certainly do-able). Anyhow, I wouldn't expect 5E to &quot;out-4E 4E.&quot; But we may see the option for 4E-like characters to play alongside the more traditional 5E characters. We shall see.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 6366908, member: 59082"] Considering that the number of people working on D&D is much reduced from previous years, it would seem that WotC's financial expectations are lower. But my sense is that they have lowered "floor" expectations--that is, the minimum level of financial success is lower, as evidenced by the smaller crew--but the "ceiling" expectations, which are more like hopes, are as high as ever, with big talk about expanding the brand. So my guess is that we'll see a couple waves or phases of D&D in the years ahead. The first phase is getting the core rules out. After that supplements will trickle in, enough to keep people satisfied and interested but not the deluge of 3E and 4E. Then we'll see this supposed diversification - WotC trying out different products, licensing strategies, etc. Depending upon what sticks, they'll put more energy in that direction. But if [I]nothing [/I]sticks, we'll probably just see a moderate roll-out of more 5E product for a few years, maybe a revision in 2017 or 2018, then a new edition some time in the 2020s. Here's where the promised modularity comes in and we'll know more when the DMG comes out. I'm guessing that you'll have one of two responses, either fans of 3.5/Pathfinder and 4E say "Nope, doesn't do it for me" and go back to their respective preferred editions, or people say, "Cool, that allows me to customize in the way that I like" and stick with 5E. My fear is that the earlier talk of modules with the flavors of specific editions was overly ambitious; I mean, I think WotC will be able to offer a lot of the qualities of 3.5E--the customization and endless options--but having a tactical combat AEDU-like module to just paste over 5E seems a bit more challenging (but certainly do-able). Anyhow, I wouldn't expect 5E to "out-4E 4E." But we may see the option for 4E-like characters to play alongside the more traditional 5E characters. We shall see. [/QUOTE]

Verification