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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 7993853" data-attributes="member: 59082">I've seen several posters say something to the effect, "We'll get 6E when the broken parts--the crunch--of 5E accumulate to the point that a new edition is warranted, and given a variety of factors, that could be closer than we think." No one is putting it in quite those words, but the emphasis is on the word crunch and its potential impact on the timing of a new edition.Folks, we live in a new paradigm. D&D is now a cultural phenomenon, with an estimated 14-15 million or more players--most of whom are not excessively focused on mechanics or crunch, but the story and play experience itself. From that perspective, there will never be a point--in the foreseeable future, at least--where a new edition is warranted, at least based on "crunch disgruntlement." Crunch will not be the deciding factor, or pleasing the minority of D&D fans who focus on the finer points of crunch. WotC will design 6E when they feel like it is financially warranted. It is really that simple. That has always been the case, of course, but whereas in the past, the number of people unhappy with the rules were a larger percentage of the fan base, now they are a smaller percentage.How do I know this? I don't, but it is a hunch based upon a variety of factors. For one, long-term players tend to be more concerned with the finer points of crunch than newer fans, and we do know that the current fan-base has a much higher percentage of new players than in previous editions (that is, new to the game via the current edition). Secondly, there are far fewer disgruntled fans of the current edition than there were, say, of the previous one. Couple the smaller number of disgruntled fans with the larger number of total players, and the "vocal minority" is a much smaller percentage.WotC will ride this wave, and try to build it, for as long as they can. The last thing they want to do is create a new edition with crunchier rules just to appease a small minority, while potentially turning off the millions of new (mostly young) fans who are enjoying the play experience of the relatively simple 5E rules. As I've already said, I do think an anniversary revision is a good possibility, but it is highly unlikely that we'll see more than "errata plus"--the plus being added bells and whistles, maybe some revised classes and sub-systems, monster tweaks, new art, etc. Say, something like "5.2" at most. But the 5E rules set is here to stay -- or at least until the game's popularity tanks, and there's no sign of that happening anytime soon.</blockquote>

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