D&D 5E Playtest Packet soon to be removed: ooohhhh!

[mach1.9pants]

Are we going to see some movement on the announcement of 5E? Or is this just house cleaning?

Dear Dungeons & Dragons® Playtester,
Happy Holidays!

As this monumental year comes to a close, we are continuing to refine the D&D® Next rules. Your feedback has proven instrumental in shaping the future of Dungeons & Dragons, and for that, we thank you.

We want to let you know that December 15th, 2013 is the last day to access the playtest materials online. After that date, they’ll no longer be available, so we encourage you to download the latest packet if you haven’t done so already.

Until the next edition of the D&D tabletop roleplaying game officially releases, you can continue to play D&D Next adventures at home and at stores participating in D&D Encounters™. Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle™ is available now for purchase on www.dndclassics.com, and coming early next year are two more D&D Next adventures. These Sundering-themed adventures include the supplementary rules material from the D&D Next Playtest necessary for play. Visit DungeonsandDragons.com for more information.

As always, thank you for your participation in the D&D Next playtest.

Sincerely,

D&D Team

 

[Dice4Hire]

Snark

Maybe WOTC has gone broke not selling anything for 9 months.

/snark

I really have no idea what WOTC is doing now. No tiles, no maps, and only a few basic adventures for encounters use (mostly). Not 100% sure of this but novels also?

Why did they have to kill every single line to make 5E? It makes no sense to me.

 

[Falling Icicle]

This seems like a strange decision to me. Unless it's costing them a lot of money to keep the playtest available (and I don't see why that would be the case), I really don't get why they'd want to take it down until 5e is released. Shouldn't they want people to keep playing the playtest, even if just to keep them interested?

 

[Falling Icicle]

Or is this just house cleaning?

It's kind of like "cleaning the house" by taking people's dinner plates and silverware while they're still eating.

 

[delericho]

The playtest is done. Why would they not take down the materials?

 

[Kinak]

The playtest is done. Why would they not take down the materials?

That feels like all that's going on.

From what I've heard, the more recent versions for internal playtest are different enough that playing from the public playtest that leaving it posted might be misleading. That also feels like a good reason, although casts the public playtest in an interesting light.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[exile]

It seems to me that it would be a good idea to leave it up if only for new Encounters players that might wander into a store interested in the game.

 

[Morrus]

Not that I have any particular knowledge, but I assume that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is intended to fill that role for the near future.

 

[Halivar]

Not that I have any particular knowledge, but I assume that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is intended to fill that role for the near future.

Hrmm... will there be an alternative for those who would like to participate in the adventure contest, but won't have access to GoDC (it was a GenCon exclusive, no?)?

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, and did not read the OP. Good to see it's up on D&D Classics. Will definitely get a copy.

 

[Kinak]

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, and did not read the OP. Good to see it's up on D&D Classics. Will definitely get a copy.

When you do, could you mention whether the rules match the current playtest documents? The hard copy's rules are already out of date, but I don't know about the PDF.

Cheers!
Kinak