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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6658048" data-attributes="member: 5834">This time WotC sifted data and learned that the caster-martial disparity was not as big an issue amongst the overall player base as previously thought. It was another example of a few loud voices causing them to make changes they didn't need to make. They lost caster players that were happy with the previous system because they didn't bother to check what kind of magic system caster players wanted. They just focused eliminating the caster-martial disparity due to the loud voices and ended up alienating a huge part of their customer base with a magic system that did not satisfy them. That is a completely different approach to 5E where they tried to make martials happy and actually took the time to find out what caster players wanted.No. They did not release 5E and tell you they didn't care. In 5E they accepted that you were an outlier on their data, apologized that the game didn't please you, and released the game that would attract the largest portion of their player base, including the caster players they lost.That was very different from 4E where they didn't do much play testing. Didn't do much data sifting. They released a game we hadn't seen much of like did 5E and told us, "Here it is." Mearls was much more careful. He sifted data for a long time and continues to do so. He ensured that the game they produced was going to hit wide. Even now Mearls and his team are sifting data for additional ways to improve the game. No, they didn't shove a new system down anyone's throat. It was a very different feel this time around. It was broken enough that I would bet money it was number two reason the D&D player base was splintered with the number one reason being the OGL. As I've stated many times, I would not release another OGL if I were WotC. It opens to many doors. I would instead create a friendly licensing agreement with particular companies to focus on aspects of the game like adventure design that a smaller company can do well and that encourages the sale of your core rules. I'd love to see how many players fled D&D solely because of the magic system. If that number is high, that is a system that failed to attract a huge part of their customer base. I get it. There is a loud minority that wanted to see casters taken down. Even I admit they needed to be taken down some from their insane 3E heights, but not as low as 4E took them. Magic is powerful. It's users should exceed the power of mundane weapon use or martial maneuvering, even if you have two demigods: one a martial, one a caster, the caster demigod should have more breadth of power even if not greater killing power. That is a major part of the fantasy genre. The nice thing about 5E is you can make casters of varying power and versatility in all areas. Or martials of varying power along the caster-martial curve. It's very versatile, even more so than 3E.</blockquote>

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