When will D&D 5e be published?

[Wicht]

I can appreciate brand loyalty to a point. I've been a Coca-cola fan forever, but I still thought New Coke sucked.

Vanilla Coke on the other hand is ambrosia. Its going to take something pretty special to change my current drink of choice.

 

[Azgulor]

The few ways I can see WotC publishing a 5E D&D in 2011 or 2012 are:

1 - A 5E D&D with a new design has already been in development for several years in secret (ie. since 2007 or earlier).
2 - A corrected and updated version of 3.5E D&D is released as "5E D&D".

An updated corrected version of 3.5E D&D, would be competing head on directly with Pathfinder.

While #2 is an interesting scenario, I think it highly unlikely for the following reasons:

1. Unless they also release corrected versionso fo 1E & 2E, they're effectively stating that 4E was a mistake by going backwards, a scenario I see as highly unlikely.

2. A "corrected" 3E would likely be unable to deviate far enough from 3.5 to invalidate OGL 3rd-party content, thereby opening the possibility (albeit slim - I think the ship's sailed) of renewed 3PP of "competitng" content.

3. While a re-released 3E could be issued to compete with Pathfinder, it again implies WotC made a misstep, something that would not be a wise move. It carries the additional risk that they might lose - unless market research IDs that brand loyalty trumps play experience for the majority of gamers.

4. In order to avoid #2 above, the "corrected" 3E might contain unnecessary change for the sole reason of breaking backwards compatability.


I really don't see any of the above scenarios as like - they don't make business sense. I expect 5e to be an even greater departure/evolution from 4E than 4E was from 3rd -- perhaps more along the line of the 3E WHFRP.

 

[BryonD]

"Whenever they announce it, 4e critics will crow that it's shorter than (insert edition here) thus proving the failure that was 4e" regardless of any other factors.

Hussar! Throwing the first edition war bomb!




If 4E meets expectations, there will be no reason to go to 5E soon.
If 4E fails to meet expectations, there will be reason not to invest in a new edition.

 

[Fifth Element]

I truly don't understand this mindset. You're a fan of the brand and the game doesn't matter?

If you feel that the game has gotten better with each edition (which some people do), then the mindset makes a lot of sense.

 

[ggroy]

they're effectively stating that 4E was a mistake by going backwards, a scenario I see as highly unlikely.

This would probably be the biggest reason I suspect that 5E D&D will not be an update of 3.5E D&D. It would completely invalidate what they've been doing for the last few years. The present management really doesn't want to have to "save face".

If WotC decides to go ahead and release 5E D&D as a corrected updated version of 3.5 D&D anyways for whatever reasons, I suspect most likely there will be a complete regime change in management at WotC beforehand. A completely new management regime which has no previous experience or history with D&D, may have no qualms about releasing 5E D&D as a corrected updated version of 3.5 D&D.

For that matter, if such a new management regime was completely clueless about D&D other than reading through past sales figures, they could be led to falsely believing that releasing "5E D&D" as an unabridged version of 1E AD&D could make it an "evergreen" product, hoping (and praying) that history will repeat itself.

 

[carmachu]

Yes I know nobody has a clue, but what is your best guess? Your gut feeling?

When the 4e market is flooded to the point that no one is buying players handbook #5 or 6

 

[Imaro]

Actually...I don't think this is true about 4e....

3.x core setting was never really expanded upon, but 4e is a lot similar to 1e in that many of the books such as Hammerfast and even PH2 expand on the default setting.

It's actually kind of cool to have to "construct" the setting from the tidbits released so far....

I don't find this aspect of 4e cool at all. It's a little irritating to have to scour through numerous books to find the information you want. It's interesting that many claim the rulebooks have been set up as reference books as opposed to books that are fun to read, yet IMO the inherent boringness of reading most 4e books along with the information being scattered across multiple books has caused me to grow less and less interested in 4e's default setting.

I wonder if new players will find this a good thing. I (as much as we talk of simplifying the rules), would think a streamlined and clear setting would also be a priority for attracting and retaining new players. In fact with the vague and scattershot way 4e's setting has been presented so far, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few new gamers didn't find it confusing.

 

[drothgery]

The few ways I can see WotC publishing a 5E D&D in 2011 or 2012 are:

1 - A 5E D&D with a new design has already been in development for several years in secret (ie. since 2007 or earlier).
2 - A corrected and updated version of 3.5E D&D is released as "5E D&D".

An updated corrected version of 3.5E D&D, would be competing head on directly with Pathfinder.

Well, the other possibility -- which is, I think, by far the most likely candidate for an 'early 5e' would be '4.5' branded as 5th Edition; math fixes, minor tweaks (ditch v-shaped classes, for one), and redo the race and class mix and implied setting in PH1 for nostalgia appeal (use PH3-style race mechanics so you only need one elf, dragonborn and tieflings are out, gnomes and half-orcs are in, warlords and warlocks are out, bards and and druids are in).

 

[Azgulor]

If you feel that the game has gotten better with each edition (which some people do), then the mindset makes a lot of sense.

Had the post read "If their development trend continues to imrove with each edition, they'll have my money," I'd agree. When it says that money will be spent pretty much regardless of what they do, that seems like blind brand loyalty. If it works for someone, that's cool, I just don't understand it.

 

[malraux]

I don't find this aspect of 4e cool at all. It's a little irritating to have to scour through numerous books to find the information you want. It's interesting that many claim the rulebooks have been set up as reference books as opposed to books that are fun to read, yet IMO the inherent boringness of reading most 4e books along with the information being scattered across multiple books has caused me to grow less and less interested in 4e's default setting.

Personally, I've found a lot of the 4e setting books to be pretty awesome. Yeah, most 4e books are pretty boring to read (Power books, I'm looking at you). But the the actual setting books I've found to be dripping with finger licking flavor.

Had the post read "If their development trend continues to imrove with each edition, they'll have my money," I'd agree. When it says that money will be spent pretty much regardless of what they do, that seems like blind brand loyalty. If it works for someone, that's cool, I just don't understand it.

Personally, unless the next edition is unbelievably horrid, it'll probably have my money. For something like DnD, I find newness to be a positive in its own right. Plus, I expect that the next edition will almost certainly have better electronic integration, which is also something I value highly. Since I think its also pretty unlikely that the next edition will suck horribly, its pretty much certain that I'll end up buying whatever get labeled as 5e.