D&D 5E Survey Results - Tier 1-4 experience

[discosoc]

Last month I ran a survey asking 5 questions, 4 of which were related to the "tiers of play" mentioned in 5th edition. Logged in and there haven't been many more responses recently, so thought I'd share them with you guys in case anyone was curious.

 

[Hjorimir]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ccs]

Aside from that last question, these answers haven't changed in nearly 40 years.

 

[discosoc]

Aside from that last question, these answers haven't changed in nearly 40 years.

I'd say they have, considering editions before 3rd never really had an expectation of taking campaigns past level 10 or 12 or so. There were exception, of course.

Anyway, there are also some interesting bits within the data. For example, among those that are players but don't really GM, Tier 1 is twice as popular as with everyone else (14% enjoy it the most rather than 6%). And among that same group, there's a 4% higher preference for T2, 14% higher preference for T3, and an 18% *lower* preference for T4.

I say that's interesting because it seems to show that although there's a bit of an unmet demand for T4 games, the demand is mostly among GM's rather than players. The players want more T2 and T3 games.

Also, people who exclusively GM enjoy T2 more than those who play or play and GM by nearly 27% more. The question asking which tiers are the most difficult are also very different among people who exclusively GM. 50% of those find T1 the hardest to run (compared to 23% for all data). To me, that seems to indicate there's a lack of good training for new GM's; maybe it's just that the published adventures often gloss over what makes their T1 stuff balanced and work, or maybe there's a real lack of compelling challenges to throw at the party for those levels (or maybe something else entirely). Still, it's a bit of data that shows there's a lot of work to be done on Wizards' end to avoid cutting potential GM careers short by virtue of a large hurdle right out of the gate.

Anyway, just letting you know that although the survey does kind of confirm common assumptions, the details are important (to me anyway).

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'd say they have, considering editions before 3rd never really had an expectation of taking campaigns past level 10 or 12 or so. There were exception, of course..

A couple of observations. If even right now, currently, only 2.5% or so play tier 4, then I'd qualify that as an exception as well. Also, the level scale isn't like for like. I.e., a 9th level PC in AD&D was name level, and that's when you started getting into things you don't get into now until the teens. So tier 4 in AD&D starts at level 9. If you consider that, then most certainly it was played. Heck, even if you don't, it seems right to me that 2.5% of AD&D players played at levels higher than 11. Some of the most iconic modules were higher than that (GDQ series, and many had a range that high like Expedition to Barrier Peaks, etc).

I know it's only anecdotal, but I started playing in 1981 and those results seem pretty consistent from what I remember from the day I started.

 

[Horwath]

It's an expected result.

All classes get nice features at lvl 6-7 and at lvl11. Maybe the class progression could stop there and if needed just give ASI every level after without anything else(except proficiency bonus).

And characters have enough HPs to feel powerfull but not almost immortal as they do around lvl18. And one lvl6 spell is still not world shattering.

 

[JonnyP71]

Do you have a link to the survey?

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

one intersting thing is that the 17 to 20 level range isen't many peoples favorite 2.5% for players 3% for DMs.
But at the same time it is the level range most people said they want to get more experiance with 45%

 

[GreyLord]

Do you have a link to the survey?

I didn't see the survey either. If it was in the 5e forums, it's no surprise that 5e is up and above every other edition as the selected game of choice.

 

[JonnyP71]

I've now Googled it and found a link posted to it in a Subreddit for D&D 5th edition. Unless it was posted in locations frequented by similar numbers of people discussing all editions then the results for the 5th Question are essentially meaningless.

87% of people using the D&D 5th Edition subreddit prefer 5th Edition! No shock there.