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When Did 5E Peak Quality Wise?
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<blockquote data-quote="Burnside" data-source="post: 9012379" data-attributes="member: 6910340"><p>I've been trying to determine whether I think there really has been a definitive "peak" for 5E and I don't think there really has been. </p><p></p><p>Imo there have been excellent AND weak official offerings throughout the run from the very first year. For instance, if you believe there has been a recent decline in hardcover adventure books in recent years, you may be viewing stuff like Horde of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, and Out of the Abyss through rose colored glasses. </p><p></p><p>If you want try to do it by year:</p><p></p><p>2014</p><p>Starter Set - excellent</p><p>PHB - excellent</p><p>Horde of the Dragon Queen - okay</p><p>Monster Manual - excellent </p><p>Rise of Tiamat - okay</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide - okay</p><p></p><p>2015</p><p>Princes of the Apocalypse - kinda bad</p><p>Out of the Abyss - mixed bag, but overall I'd say bad adventure with some great ideas and set pieces</p><p>Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide - okay</p><p></p><p>2016</p><p>Curse of Strahd - excellent</p><p>Storm King's Thunder - very bad</p><p>Volo's Guide to Monsters - excellent</p><p></p><p>2017</p><p>Tales from the Yawning Portal - okay</p><p>Tomb of Annihilation - excellent</p><p>Xanathar's Guide to Everything - excellent</p><p></p><p>2018</p><p>Mordenkainen's Tomb of Foes - okay</p><p>Waterdeep: Dragon Heist - terrible</p><p>Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage - good</p><p>Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica - good</p><p></p><p>2019</p><p>Essentials Kit - good</p><p>Ghosts of Saltmarsh - good</p><p>Acquisitions Inc - good</p><p>Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus - kinda bad</p><p>Eberron: Rising from the Last War - good</p><p></p><p>2020</p><p>Explorer's Guide to Wildemount - good</p><p>Mythic Odysseys of Theros - good</p><p>Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden - excellent</p><p>Tasha's Cauldron of Everything - very good</p><p></p><p>2021</p><p>Van Richten's Guide to Raveloft - good</p><p>Candlekeep Mysteries - okay to good</p><p>The Wild Beyond the Witchlight - good</p><p>Fizban's Treasury of Dragons - bad</p><p>Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos - very bad</p><p></p><p>2022</p><p>Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep - kinda bad</p><p>Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse - okay to good</p><p>Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel - very good</p><p>Spelljammer: Adventures in Space - mixed bag, but overall I'd say more good than bad with clear flaws</p><p>Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - good</p><p>Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - okay</p><p></p><p>2023</p><p>Keys from the Golden Vault - very good</p><p></p><p>I'm hard pressed to discern a clear "peak" there.</p><p></p><p><strong>2014</strong> was great but with the core books all in there it has advantages. It has arguably the best Starter Set in the history of D&D pulling a lot of weight, and 2/3 core books are excellent. Strong case here.</p><p></p><p><strong>2015</strong> has to be viewed in retrospect as an inarguable down year which makes 2014 look even more like a peak. </p><p></p><p><strong>2016 </strong>has imo the best 5E adventure in Curse of Strahd and also the really strong Volo's, but if you have only 3 books released in a year and one of them is the terrible Storm King's Thunder is that really a "peak" year?</p><p></p><p><strong>2017</strong> feels like the peak for me personally because it's the year that I returned to the game after a 20+ year absence. It also happens to have 2 excellent books and no bad ones. But Tomb of Annihilation, while excellent, isn't the "best" adventure book and Xanathar's, also excellent, isn't the "best" sourcebook either. </p><p></p><p>After 2017, the release schedule becomes increasingly aggressive by year. So yes, you start getting MORE misses, but not proportionately more really. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in 2018 I really thought was shockingly bad, and it made me worried about the quality control situation at WotC in a way that I hadn't been previously in this era. So you could argue that it "peaked" before that release? But it's not like it was all downhill from that point at all. </p><p></p><p><strong>2020 </strong>imo is an underrated year for 5E books. It helps that I personally love the admittedly divisive Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Tasha's introduced some much-needed reform to races and classes, along with a couple of badly unbalanced subclasses and pretty bad puzzles. Folks who ignore setting books, or non-FR setting books, missed two really, really good ones in Wildemount and Theros. </p><p></p><p>There is a rough patch starting in mid-2021 (Fizban's) through early 2022 (Call of the Netherdeep) that I can believe turned off some folks and made them think the best of the edition was behind us. But honestly I think there has been some strong stuff since then, and I think Keys of the Golden Vault is the best adventure product in a few years.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Burnside, post: 9012379, member: 6910340"] I've been trying to determine whether I think there really has been a definitive "peak" for 5E and I don't think there really has been. Imo there have been excellent AND weak official offerings throughout the run from the very first year. For instance, if you believe there has been a recent decline in hardcover adventure books in recent years, you may be viewing stuff like Horde of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, and Out of the Abyss through rose colored glasses. If you want try to do it by year: 2014 Starter Set - excellent PHB - excellent Horde of the Dragon Queen - okay Monster Manual - excellent Rise of Tiamat - okay Dungeon Master's Guide - okay 2015 Princes of the Apocalypse - kinda bad Out of the Abyss - mixed bag, but overall I'd say bad adventure with some great ideas and set pieces Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide - okay 2016 Curse of Strahd - excellent Storm King's Thunder - very bad Volo's Guide to Monsters - excellent 2017 Tales from the Yawning Portal - okay Tomb of Annihilation - excellent Xanathar's Guide to Everything - excellent 2018 Mordenkainen's Tomb of Foes - okay Waterdeep: Dragon Heist - terrible Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage - good Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica - good 2019 Essentials Kit - good Ghosts of Saltmarsh - good Acquisitions Inc - good Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus - kinda bad Eberron: Rising from the Last War - good 2020 Explorer's Guide to Wildemount - good Mythic Odysseys of Theros - good Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden - excellent Tasha's Cauldron of Everything - very good 2021 Van Richten's Guide to Raveloft - good Candlekeep Mysteries - okay to good The Wild Beyond the Witchlight - good Fizban's Treasury of Dragons - bad Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos - very bad 2022 Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep - kinda bad Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse - okay to good Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel - very good Spelljammer: Adventures in Space - mixed bag, but overall I'd say more good than bad with clear flaws Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - good Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen - okay 2023 Keys from the Golden Vault - very good I'm hard pressed to discern a clear "peak" there. [B]2014[/B] was great but with the core books all in there it has advantages. It has arguably the best Starter Set in the history of D&D pulling a lot of weight, and 2/3 core books are excellent. Strong case here. [B]2015[/B] has to be viewed in retrospect as an inarguable down year which makes 2014 look even more like a peak. [B]2016 [/B]has imo the best 5E adventure in Curse of Strahd and also the really strong Volo's, but if you have only 3 books released in a year and one of them is the terrible Storm King's Thunder is that really a "peak" year? [B]2017[/B] feels like the peak for me personally because it's the year that I returned to the game after a 20+ year absence. It also happens to have 2 excellent books and no bad ones. But Tomb of Annihilation, while excellent, isn't the "best" adventure book and Xanathar's, also excellent, isn't the "best" sourcebook either. After 2017, the release schedule becomes increasingly aggressive by year. So yes, you start getting MORE misses, but not proportionately more really. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in 2018 I really thought was shockingly bad, and it made me worried about the quality control situation at WotC in a way that I hadn't been previously in this era. So you could argue that it "peaked" before that release? But it's not like it was all downhill from that point at all. [B]2020 [/B]imo is an underrated year for 5E books. It helps that I personally love the admittedly divisive Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Tasha's introduced some much-needed reform to races and classes, along with a couple of badly unbalanced subclasses and pretty bad puzzles. Folks who ignore setting books, or non-FR setting books, missed two really, really good ones in Wildemount and Theros. There is a rough patch starting in mid-2021 (Fizban's) through early 2022 (Call of the Netherdeep) that I can believe turned off some folks and made them think the best of the edition was behind us. But honestly I think there has been some strong stuff since then, and I think Keys of the Golden Vault is the best adventure product in a few years. [/QUOTE]
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