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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8633612" data-attributes="member: 59082">A comment in another thread got me thinking about the nature of edition changes and how they are received. I wanted to tease out a specific element that I haven't heard discussed before, or at least not recently.If we count major revisions (e.g. 3.5 but not 2E Skills & Powers), the AD&D line, starting in 1977, has had edition changes after 12 years (1989), 11 years (2000), 3 years (2003), 5 years (2008) and 6 years (2014), and possibly another 10 years (2024). The first two, 2E and 3E, were--as far as I remember--widely accepted and even embraced. 1989 had no internet except for a few folks on Usenet, so is hard to compare to the others. But I don't remember any 1Ever folks running around, although I assume there were some. And of course 3E was met with tons of excitement and generally rave reviews, and of course is how some of us discovered site, in the old red-and-black Eric Noah's Third Edition News page.I do remember a bit of commotion when 3.5 came out, but most seemed to be happy with it. And of course the 4E thing. 5E was also met with general positivity, in a somewhat similar manner to 3E (although less of a "finally, D&D enters the modern era" and more "we're back, baby!").Which brings me to my point. In every edition change of the past, at least going back to 2E, the D&D community was comparatively small compared to today, and mostly made up of long-term fans. By 1989, the D&D Boom of the early 80s had faded, and those of us who remained were in it for the long-haul. There were still new people coming in, but there was no boom. Even the 2000 boom was relatively small, and much of it was people coming back to the game. Similarly with 2014. But now we're in uncharted waters. The player base is allegedly north of 30 million worldwide and growing, most of whom started playing within the last five years or so. Meaning, most of those folks never experienced an edition change, and have only ever known 5E - and all that entails, perhaps most especially the relatively small number of products - far closer to the sparse release schedule of 1E than the glut of 2/3/4E.Or to compare 5E to 2E, assuming no more products than already announced, through 2022--the ninth year of 5E--by my counting, there have been 44 unique products published - counting only books and box-sets, but not DM screens and other accessories. Those 44 products break down as follows:Core rule books: 3Starter sets (including licensed): 5Splat books: 7Setting books: 8Adventure books: 18Luxury products/other: 3 Note: I'm making a couple judgment calls in terms of categorization--e.g. considering Acquisitions a splat--but that is really beside the point; the total count is more important)44 products in 5 years is a bit less than 5 products a year.Now consider that at the height of 2E, there were more distinct products published every year. The first few years, 1989-91, had a bit less than that, from about 25 (give or take) in '89 to 35ish in '90 and over 40 in '91. But from 1992-96, there were over 50 products published each year, peaking at about 70 in 1995.Now granted, many of those products were much smaller (and cheaper) than your typical 5E tome. That includes modules, setting supplements, and other products - a wide range of stuff. And during 2E era, TSR essentially had different product lines within the overall umbrella of D&D, centered around the settings. For instance, in 1995--the year of the 2E revised books, in addition to about 15 core non-setting specific products, there were products published for the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Planescape, Birthright, Dark Sun, Lankhmar, and even a 2E product for Mystara (by that point, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Spelljammer were fallow) - and as many as 13 different books just for the one setting, in this case, the Realms.3E and 4E also had a ton of products published, but rather than 60+ of all types, they focused mostly on hardcovers. 3E peaked in 2006 with over two dozen products, and 4E in 2010 with about the same - but the products tended to be longer and more expensive.So even if we just compare 5E to the previous two editions, we're talking about a fraction of products. 2019 saw the most products published with 8, although three of those were "non-essential" licensed starter sets and the Tyranny of Dragons re-packaging; in actuality, 2022 is the peak so far, with 7 distinct products, or 6 if you don't count the Dragonlance battle game (and that's assuming there's no surprises). I elaborate all of this because an edition change means something different now than it did in previous eras, for two main reasons:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The player base is different - much larger, younger, and generally more casual.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">There are far few products in 5E than in previous editions at a similar point, at least going back to 2E.</li> </ol>So my question, or rather open-ended speculation, is how will WotC handle an edition change/revision differently from in the past, and how will the player base respond? Of course we can't know either for certain, although we can speculate. And as to the first, there are signs of gradual rolling out and transition, from the Monsters of the Multiverse book, to various things like the stuff they publish on their website to new rules additions or revisions in books like Tasha's.And of course they've said that the 50th anniversary will be backwards compatible, but not only have we heard that one before, but that means different things to different people. Some feel that everything before Tasha's isn't compatible, while others say that the entire 50 years of D&D products is still essentially compatible - or at least usable. So given all the above, and the various factors that make this era unique or different from previous eras, how do you see WotC handling edition changes and revisions going forward, and how do you think the player base will respond? (With the caveat that all of this, to some extent, assumes that the player base will remain large and casual, rather than shrink back down to a small core of diehards - which only time will tell).While I'm specifically asking about the above, and thus mostly focused on 5.5 and whatever comes after that, feel free to speculate about how you think the player base might change - if you think this is another boom with an eventual contraction, or whether you think we're in an era of continual expansion. Of course with technological and global considerations, it is hard to think about where we might be in a couple decades, but at least we an speculate on the 2024 revision, and perhaps whatever comes down the pike 5-10 years after.Alright, enough words from me <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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