D&D 5E Why I believe these survey's are worthless but not useless?

[Parmandur]

Yeah, the lack if announcing upcoming products allows them to retool: they can't cancel something they did not announce.

 

[Jester David]

Majority of gamers where? You keep saying this like it's some undisputed fact.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/october-survey-recap

In terms of product, setting books and monster books proved the most popular. We were also happy to see that many of you had played in our published campaign worlds or wanted to try them out. We also saw plenty of support for new character options, with a consensus that most players are happy with our current pace of “slow but steady.”​

In the absence of other hard data, we have to go with that.
If you have another mass poll answered by thousands or even hundreds of people feel free to share it.

Look at it this way. They had their team downsized before they really asked the question about a release schedule. Their plans were already in motion before they asked for our input which says to me that no matter what we said different, they were going to stick with it. Why not officially pitch the question, see what people really want, and then downsize your team accordingly?

I doubt they had any choice. The WotC management says "cut overhead and staffing" and the D&D team has to make it work. It's not like Mearls could have said "No! We're keeping the staff; the fans want more books."

If they really wanted to release more books, they could just hire more freelancers, tap more studios, and contract temporary work in-house. There are several they haven't worked with, and if they threw enough money at the others they might come back. Heck, they could release books faster than before, since they could have independent teams working at the same time.

 

[Orlax]

Yeah that's a great plan. Let's get all this feedback from our users about what they want from our products. Then we can completely ignore that feedback and hand them whatever crap we want, when we want, and how frequently we want to. Who cares that they will stop buying our products and therefore paying our salaries. That's a good plan.

 

[JediGamemaster]

Yeah that's a great plan. Let's get all this feedback from our users about what they want from our products. Then we can completely ignore that feedback and hand them whatever crap we want, when we want, and how frequently we want to. Who cares that they will stop buying our products and therefore paying our salaries. That's a good plan.

don't forget the part were you pay an outside vender to run the surveys you are totally going to lie about anyway

 

[Orlax]

don't forget the part were you pay an outside vender to run the surveys you are totally going to lie about anyway

I know right. If we're going to entirely ruin our company, our careers, and a product line that's been bringing joy to ours and our friends lives, as well as millions of others for decades, we better make sure we pay to do it.

 

[Corpsetaker]

If they really wanted to release more books, they could just hire more freelancers, tap more studios, and contract temporary work in-house. There are several they haven't worked with, and if they threw enough money at the others they might come back. Heck, they could release books faster than before, since they could have independent teams working at the same time.

Hiring people to freelance is one thing but you still have to pay to have the product printed. Looks to me like the companies they are hiring have their own products to put out. I seriously doubt they can ring up Sasquatch and book a product.

 

[Corpsetaker]

Yeah that's a great plan. Let's get all this feedback from our users about what they want from our products. Then we can completely ignore that feedback and hand them whatever crap we want, when we want, and how frequently we want to. Who cares that they will stop buying our products and therefore paying our salaries. That's a good plan.

You think it's just that simple but it's not. They are spending so little money right now that they don't need to sell loads of their AP's to make money.

Their plan was already in motion and was going to stay in that same direction no matter what.

 

[JediGamemaster]

You think it's just that simple but it's not. They are spending so little money right now that they don't need to sell loads of their AP's to make money.

Their plan was already in motion and was going to stay in that same direction no matter what.

then why hire a company to run the survey (costing some of that profit) when they could run int entirely internerly if they are going to just ignor the result and report lies...

 

[Wik]

This thread amuses the hell out of me. Gotta love the baseless paranoia. Oh dear.

Feedback IS great for PR. You know what else is great? Actually responding to customer feedback. I don't know about who your friend in "the business" is, but he's feeding you bollocks. You ask for feedback because you WANT feedback. Because it lets you know what customers actually want, and maybe - if you're lucky - they'll give you ideas on how to go forward.

Remember, 5e was founded on the idea of customer feedback and playtest feedback shaping the final product.

Not to mention, customer feedback surveys have been going back to the 2e days. And are in other entertainment fields. While I have no doubt that "positive PR" is a part of the survey process, it's not the main point. The main point is exactly what they say it is - to get feedback on what the majority of fans like and hate about their games, and to shape upcoming releases.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

You know what I love the most about D&D conspiracy theories?

The grassy gnoll.