This is taking too long.

[Savage Wombat]

We need new information about the game system.

We cannot, in all fairness, ask anyone to break the NDA.

So someone here's going to have to break into the playtest rooms and steal their notes. Clearly.

I mean, what do they want us to do, wait patiently?

 

[kitsune9]

We need new information about the game system.

So someone here's going to have to break into the playtest rooms and steal their notes. Clearly.

Cue the Mission Impossible music. Time to get your team together Mr. Hunt.

 

[underfoot007ct]

We need new information about the game system.

We cannot, in all fairness, ask anyone to break the NDA.

So someone here's going to have to break into the playtest rooms and steal their notes. Clearly.

I mean, what do they want us to do, wait patiently?

Or, you could attend PAXEAST, sign an NDA, then playtest 5e-Next there.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Or, you could attend PAXEAST, sign an NDA, then playtest 5e-Next there.

Yeah, but then I'd have a signed NDA and couldn't tell anyone here.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yeah, but then I'd have a signed NDA and couldn't tell anyone here.

Hmm. Multiple personalities defense?

Why not hire the same guy who stole the Diana Jones award? Hey it could be a kickstarter! "Corporate thief wanted: 1st level of support...$10 buys our corporate thief lunch while they're staking out security from the minivan."

 

[Mark CMG]

We need new information about the game system.

We cannot, in all fairness, ask anyone to break the NDA.

So someone here's going to have to break into the playtest rooms and steal their notes. Clearly.

I mean, what do they want us to do, wait patiently?

I cannot condone such activity nor request that those notes be posted in this thread which I will bookmark.

 

[Kaodi]

Does anyone remember what the timeline from annoucement to the release of some hard data was for 3e and 4E?

 

[M.L. Martin]

Does anyone remember what the timeline from annoucement to the release of some hard data was for 3e and 4E?

3E was a GenCon announcement for release at next GenCon, but the history of information release is skewed by the fact that a few playtesters on Usenet treated the announcement as undoing the NDA for a while, and were being quite free with the information. Still, solid tidbits on mechanics--if nothing extensive--were released in Dragon in September and October, and on a continual stream until release, along with other sources.

4E was announced at GenCon for release the next May, and a few mechanical tidbits were released there, more as the year went on, and we started getting real solid concept and design info with the release of the Wizards Presents volumes in December and January.

If the pattern were to hold, we'd be getting a few tidbits now and start to see real solid information around May. However, the impression even at announcement was that while they were fine-tuning details, the games were more or less finished. Right now, I can't shake the impression that 5E is still somewhere around 'throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks' or 'find out what people want D&D to feel like, then try to reverse-engineer the basic game from that'.

 

[Umbran]

So someone here's going to have to break into the playtest rooms and steal their notes. Clearly.

Problem is, the people who do it are now all absorbed with their game of Leverage, and never get around to actually getting the goods

 

[D'karr]

Honestly, I don't think it's taking long enough. The game really needs good solid tweaking before it is ready for an OPEN playtest. The worst thing WotC could do is publish a "seat of the pants" document for OPEN playtest.

They would get lambasted, and this time for good reason. I even think that it might not be a bad idea to have several rounds of Friends and Family testing before the OPEN Playtest. That way changes can be incorporated, and actually tested.