D&D 5E New Feats Survey!

[UngainlyTitan]

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

There is a vocal contingent--I've no idea the numbers, but I'm fairly sure it's a minority--that thinks all character creation choices after "I'm a human fighter with these stats" are anathema. There's no point engaging with them or discussing it, other than perhaps to say (as Li Shenron did here) "well, that's great for you, but I don't see why I should have to give up these things I really like," because there is no world where these folks will want such things. Or, as Douglas Adams sardonically put it, "In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and has widely been regarded as a bad move."

Ya know you are probably correct but the urge to point out to someone that they are wrong on the internet can be irresistible.

The triumph of hope over experience.

 

[Horwath]

many characters ended up having more feats than what they knew what to do with them.

that never, ever happened.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

that never, ever happened.

Yeah. Even Fighters, who get a ton of (combat) feats, usually wanted more. I don't think I've ever even built, let alone played, a 3e/PF character who wasn't pining for at least two more feats.

 

[TerraDave]

I love feats.
I love using and allowing feats.
I love that feats are optional on both a group and individual basis.
I hate people that dislike something being even an option and ask designers to remove it for everyone else.

If I don't like feats that doesn't mean I want to get rid of them.

It means I want them fixed.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I suspect they really don't need any more specific data on the feats in question. It's been seven years and hundreds (if not thousands) of emails, twitter responses, message board threads, blog posts and YouTube videos all making it pretty plain what are the overpowered and underpowered feats in the game. They aren't deaf and blind, it's pretty much been made abundantly clear to WotC on this front. So I don't think this survey is really meant to remind them which ones need fixing and which ones don't (and how they should be fixed)...

...but rather get a sense whether a predominant number of players actually care about the balance of the feats in question. The vocal contingent has made it known over the last seven years their problems with feats in total and specific feats in general, but WotC probably doesn't yet know if they are a vocal majority or vocal minority. This survey will give them a better idea.

I mean if half of the respondents give poor marks to Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master... they'll know exactly why this is the case, even without a box allowing the respondents to tell them. And at 50% dissatisfaction they might be more inclined to review the mechanics and perhaps change them for 2024. But if only 1 in 20 people give those feats poor marks and the rest think of them as completely fine or perhaps even liked... then they will know that the small vocal minority who are the hardcore "game balance" people do not necessarily need to be catered to if it would involve a lot of unnecessary changes that most players don't care about. After all... that minority of people have been playing the last seven years having theoretically fixed their issues with those feats (either by banning or re-working them)... and will do so again if WotC doesn't make any mass changes. I don't think WotC is looking to do a massive overhaul of the game, but rather strategic surgery... so if most people feel certain things are adequate, then they won't make major adjustments despite a smaller group thinking it's required.

So the question now is just how many players really don't like how certain feats work. And if you want any changes, you better hope you are not alone in your disgruntlement.

 

[Parmandur]

If I don't like feats that doesn't mean I want to get rid of them.

It means I want them fixed.

Yeah, that's not how WotC has always responded to negative active responses in their UA surveys. They have been willing to drop an idea wholesale.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Yeah, that's not how WotC has always responded to negative active responses in their UA surveys. They have been willing to drop an idea wholesale.

They are not going to drop feats wholesale. I firmly expect that the coming revised PHB will be additive and backward compatible with the original PHB. They will still be optional.

 

[Parmandur]

They are not going to drop feats wholesale. I firmly expect that the coming revised PHB will be additive and backward compatible with the original PHB. They will still be optional.

Well, not with thst negative attitude, they won't!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Well, not with thst negative attitude, they won't!

i also believe that ENWorld is such a minority of players these day and skews particularly old that little notice is taken of what we say.

 

[Parmandur]

i also believe that ENWorld is such a minority of players these day and skews particularly old that little notice is taken of what we say.

I'm in one of the younger cohorts, myself, just on the edge of no longer being taken seriously by Hollywood.

I think Feats will remain in the game as an option, since a sizeable minority use them, but we might see them retool the options available somewhat significantly.