D&D 5E The Printers Can't Handle WotC's One D&D Print Runs!

One of the reasons why the three new core rulebooks next year will not be released together is because D&D is such a juggernaut that the printers can't actually handle the size of the print runs!

Jeremy Crawford told Polygon "Our print runs are pretty darn big and printers are telling us you can’t give us these three books at the same time.” And Chris Perkins added that "The print runs we’re talking about are massive. That’s been not only true of the core books, but also Tasha’s Cauldron. It’s what we call a high-end problem."

 

[DEFCON 1]

Huh? Good point.

I now wonder why?

Because no one can agree on what "baseline D&D" is supposed to be. You've read the threads... you see exactly all the discussions about how D&D is "too easy" while at the same time being "too complicated" for new players. For every person that think baseline D&D should be balanced like Level Up is... there are others that want to strip the game down to its bones.

At least WotC's internal alpha testers go into the job knowing that they aren't balancing how THEY think it should be... they are balancing based upon the foundations WotC has told them they are going with.

 

[Velderan]

You're putting a lot of faith in the design team at WotC as being better than anyone else.

Better than anyone else? Debatable. Better than the general public? Absolutely.

 

[DEFCON 1]

You're putting a lot of faith in the design team at WotC as being better than anyone else.

They are the best at producing the D&D game THEY want to produce. At the balance point THEY think it should be.

Who else is going to do it? You? If you had your way, D&D would be balanced around all the extra stuff in Level Up you go on and on about. But WotC isn't producing their version of Level Up, so all of your beliefs and comments about the game would be useless to them.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Could anyone here on these boards in good faith do balance testing under the parameters WotC gave you? For the game they were trying to produce? Or would you constantly be sending back reports saying that everything was horrible because you thought the game should be harder, or that the game should be easier, or that the game they wanted to make was not the game you wanted to play?

I've seen the types of D&D games a lot of you seem to want, LOL! I wouldn't trust any of you to produce a baseline D&D that was good for the masses.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because no one can agree on what "baseline D&D" is supposed to be. You've read the threads... you see exactly all the discussions about how D&D is "too easy" while at the same time being "too complicated" for new players. For every person that think baseline D&D should be balanced like Level Up is... there are others that want to strip the game down to its bones.

At least WotC's internal alpha testers go into the job knowing that they aren't balancing how THEY think it should be... they are balancing based upon the foundations WotC has told them they are going with.

I really, really wonder what those foundations are.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Could anyone here on these boards in good faith do balance testing under the parameters WotC gave you? For the game they were trying to produce? Or would you constantly be sending back reports saying that everything was horrible because you thought the game should be harder, or that the game should be easier, or that the game they wanted to make was not the game you wanted to play?

I've seen the types of D&D games a lot of you seem to want, LOL! I wouldn't trust any of you to produce a baseline D&D that was good for the masses.

That's true. I have no interest in the masses.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I really, really wonder what those foundations are.

You've seen the game. You're a smart dude. You know what the foundations are.

They aren't your speed, obviously, but WotC hasn't been shy about putting the game out there that they want to make.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You've seen the game. You're a smart dude. You know what the foundations are.

They aren't your speed, obviously, but WotC hasn't been shy about putting the game out there that they want to make.

I was thinking specifics, but yeah, you're right.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Because none of us general public people could do useful and accurate game balancing if our lives depended on it.

You could've stopped at 'general public cannot be trusted to design your game for you'. Talking about how no individual in that mass could do a better job than that average, seems an awful lot like 'no-one could design a more nutritious hamburger than McD, because they're big!'

 

[Micah Sweet]

You could've stopped at 'general public cannot be trusted to design your game for you'. Talking about how no individual in that mass could do a better job than that average, seems an awful lot like 'no-one could design a more nutritious hamburger than McD, because they're big!'

I'm sure that wasn't what @DEFCON 1 meant, but it really does sounds like that.