Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana March 2016 Review

[Mirtek]

I am not up on AL, but I wasn't aware you could use UA material in it. If not, I don't see where it matters what they put in UA.

The UA Material we could playtest and later buy if officially released to be used in AL.

The DMG Material we have to play to playtest and then play again for the official Version that comes out in the end

 

[MechaTarrasque]

The UA Material we could playtest and later buy if officially released to be used in AL.

The DMG Material we have to play to playtest and then play again for the official Version that comes out in the end

I don't think you understand what a playtest is. If there is no stated plan to adjust the content based on your feedback, it is NOT A PLAYTEST. You are buying a finished product on the DMG. If you bought Out of the Abyss, you are not playtesting it. It is no different if you buy something on the DMG. If something is a playtest, they will actually say "this is a playtest" or something to that affect, but they don't say that on the DMG.

You may end up buying two finished products with the same content, but that has nothing to do with playtesting.

 

[Al2O3]

I don't think you understand what a playtest is. If there is no stated plan to adjust the content based on your feedback, it is NOT A PLAYTEST. You are buying a finished product on the DMG. If you bought Out of the Abyss, you are not playtesting it. It is no different if you buy something on the DMG. If something is a playtest, they will actually say "this is a playtest" or something to that affect, but they don't say that on the DMG.

You may end up buying two finished products with the same content, but that has nothing to do with playtesting.

Since that hint at asking for feedback about DM Guild content before including it in other products it would be a de facto playtest to see if it should be included at all and if it should be changed first.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Since that hint at asking for feedback about DM Guild content before including it in other products it would be a de facto playtest to see if it should be included at all and if it should be changed first.

The actual text is:

"In addition, we’ll include this material in our future surveys where appropriate, and if the demand is there, we’ll work with creators to include some or all of their material in future products as official D&D content."

I see that as saying there will be two questions on the survey:

1) For DMG product A, did you buy it?

Yes, No

2) If you bought it, did you like it?

Yes, No

If there are enough yes, yes answers, they may appropriate the material (hopefully giving the creators some $ or swag, definitely giving credit). If question 2 has a lot of No answers, they won't buy it.

I don't see anything like "rate Blood Sorcerer feature A" or "Would you use the maw demon?" being in the survey. If you aren't being that specific, then I don't think it counts as a playtest, de facto or otherwise. If you think "Blood Sorcerer feature A" sucks, but everything else is good, I think your only option would be to make your own blood sorcerer and put it on the DMG and hope that someone at WotC finds it and likes it.

 

[Al2O3]

I took the "include some of their material" as a possible "we might make changes or only use a few features" and thus I assumed that surveys could include playtest style questions. The "work with creators" could also be "how do we use these playtest style feedback".

Something along the lines of "did you buy it? Did you like it? Is it interesting?" would not be a playtest according to me either.

 

[Dire Bare]

Is it not the truth that the blood magic material was created not by WotC, but by a DM's Guild creator? Is it not the truth that all WotC did was bring it to your attention? Is it not true that if you really were interested in seeing if there was DM's guild content for blood magic that you could have easily done a search for "blood magic" on the DM's guild site? It took me less than 2 minutes to find that product on the DM's Guild site. It's the first one that comes up when you search "blood magic" on that site.

WotC did more than just bring a product on DM's Guild to my attention. They are curating content. I had no idea that I "needed" blood magic in my campaign at home. Therefore, I didn't go searching on the DM's Guild or on any other site for products about blood magic. In fact, I don't really have the time to browse through more than the front page of the DM's Guild on any sort of regular basis.

And there are a lot of folks like me. Folks that don't know about the DM's Guild, or folks who aren't interested in poring through the already mountain-sized pile of crap to find the gems. Folks who actually like being introduced to quality content that they weren't necessarily looking for already.

Good for the author, good for me, good for WotC, good for the game.

And, how long did the production of this article take (or how much work was involved)? Who cares? I don't care if it took 5 seconds or several hours, the end result is still awesome! Mearls (or whomever) had to take the time to search through the DM's Guild catalog looking for potential winners (which is more work than I'm willing to put in), then purchase (or perhaps just download) a pile of products (how big was that pile? Don't know, don't care!) to review. Finally, Mearls had to decide which products were worthy of bringing to our attention and possibly being incorporated into official D&D at some later date.

That's actually some non-trivial amount of work right there.

 

[Dire Bare]

Am I pleased with the notion that we're losing half of the new playtest mechanics distributed in a year because of this? Not in the slightest.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but WotC has never "promised" to deliver new playtest content every single month. Honestly, I don't think we need that much playtest content in any given year. Has WotC actually been delivering new playtest material every single month since the first UA article? I'm totally cool with them skipping a month here and there, either altogether or by showcasing DM's Guild content instead.

And the "every couple of months" stated in this month's UA article isn't very precise language. I would not assume that means six months of playtest material and six months of DM's Guild spotlights. Although, if that's what we get, I would be totally cool with that.

And, it's very possible that in any given month we'll get BOTH, some new playtest material AND some DM's Guild spotlights. Nowhere does the article say it will be one or the other. My assumption (compared to your assumption) was that WotC simply didn't have any playtest material ready-to-go for March. And I'm cool with that, as they never made a commitment otherwise.

As usual, the sky isn't falling.

Now we're left with six months of UA articles being devoted to stuff that many people here won't be bothered to read, because of the low likelihood of any of it becoming official material.

And you know this how? I bothered to read the article, and I enjoyed and appreciated it. I will continue to read and enjoy future DM's Guild highlights in the Unearthed Arcana articles. And I think it's the perfect place for such content.

Just because there are a lot of squeaky wheels squeaking away in this thread, doesn't mean they represent the majority of fans who read Unearthed Arcana on a regular basis.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Has WotC actually been delivering new playtest material every single month since the first UA article?

Yes they have. There's even an index of every UA article released thus far that is stickied at the top of this forum.

And the "every couple of months" stated in this month's UA article isn't very precise language......And you know this how? I bothered to read the article...

I too bothered to read the article, so your ad hominem attack fails. I even have a quote direct from the article that backs up my point.

"Starting this month, and continuing every other month, we’ll dive into the Guild and highlight some of our favorite products."

Sounds like precise language to me.

 

[Dire Bare]

Yes they have. There's even an index of every UA article released thus far that is stickied at the top of this forum.

Awesome! The more the merrier! It doesn't bother me that I might not be getting as much playtest content as before at all, but I do enjoy as much as WotC is willing and able to throw at me!

I too bothered to read the article, so your ad hominem attack fails. I even have a quote direct from the article that backs up my point.

Actually, that wasn't an attack on you, ad hominem or otherwise. Obviously you read the article, otherwise commenting on it with quotes would have been difficult. However, I was challenging your assertion that "many people here won't be bothered to read, because of the low likelihood of any of it becoming official material." I beg to differ.

Sounds like precise language to me.

You're right, when you get past the first sentence that I quoted, later in the article they are more precise. I still wouldn't take that as "gospel" or a "promise", but it is likely that every month or so we'll get some more DM's Guild highlights. But again (unless I'm still missing something from the article), that doesn't necessarily mean we won't get BOTH some new playtest material AND some DM's Guild highlights in the same article. But, if your fears do come to pass, and we get six months of playtest content and six months of DM's Guild spotlights . . . sounds good to me!

I'm not bothered by folks who didn't like the article, and/or don't like the new-ish direction of the UA series. If you are really digging the new playtest material every month, I think it's reasonable to be disappointed that we might get less (although, I don't think that's clear yet). It's the anger, the vitriol that spews in this thread and others that gets me down (of which I'm interpreting your comments as a part of, but certainly not the totality of). Welcome to the internet, right?!

 

[MoonSong]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but WotC has never "promised" to deliver new playtest content every single month.

The first UA said:

Welcome to the first installment of Unearthed Arcana, a monthly workshop where D&D R&D shows off a variety of new and interesting pieces of RPG design for use at your gaming table.