D&D (2024) WotC On One D&D Playtest Survey Results: Nearly Everything Scored 80%+!

In a 40-minute video, WotC's Jeremy Crawford discussed the survey feedback to the 'Character Origins' playtest document. Over 40,000 engaged with the survey, and 39,000 completed it. I've summarised the content of the video below.

High Scorers

• The highest scoring thing with almost 90% was getting a first level feat in your background. This is an example of an experimental thing -- like advantage and disadvantage in the original 5E playtests.
• Almost everything also scored 80%+.

About The Scoring System

• 70% or higher is their passing grade. In the 70s is a thumbs up but tinkering need. 80% means the community wants exactly that and WotC treads carefully not to change it too much.
• In the 60s it's salvageable but it really needs reworking. Below 60% means that there's a good chance they'll drop it, and in the 40s or below it's gone. Nothing was in the 50s or below.

Low Scorers

Only 3 things dipped into the 60s --

• the d20 Test rule in the Rules Glossary (experimental, no surprise)
• the ardling
• the dragonborn

The next UA had a different version of the d20 Test rule, and they expect a very different score when those survey resuts come in.

It was surprising that the dragonborn scored lower than the ardling. The next UA will include new versions of both. The main complaints were:

• the dragonborn's breath weapon, and confusion between the relationship between that dragonborn and the one in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
• the ardling was trying to do too much (aasimar-like and beast-person).

The ardling does not replace the aasimar. The next version will have a clearer identity.

Everything else scored in the 70s or 80s.

Some more scores:

• new human 83%
• dwarf, orc, tiefling, elf tied at 80-81%
• gnome, halfling tied at 78%

Future installments of Unearthed Arcana

• The next one will have new ardling and dragonborn, a surprise 'guest', and a new cleric. It will be a shorter document than the previous ones, and the one after that is bigger again. Various class groups.
• Warrior group digs into something teased in a previous UA sidebar -- new weapon options for certain types of characters. Whole new ways to use weapons.
• New rules on managing your character's home base. A new subsystem. Create bases with NPCs connected with them, implementing downtime rules. They're calling it the "Bastion System".
• There will be a total of 48 subclasses in the playtest process.
• New encounter building rules, monster customization options.
• New versions of things which appear in the playtest after feedback.

Other Notes

• Playtests are a version of something with the assumption that if something isn't in the playtest, it's still in the game (eg eldritch blast has not been removed from the game). The mage Unearthed Arcana will feature that.
• Use an object and other actions are still as defined in the current Player's Handbook. The playtest material is stuff that has changed.
• Thief subclass's cunning action does not interact with use an object; this is intentional. Removed because the original version is a 'Mother may I?" mechanic - something that only works if the DM cooperates with you. In general mechanics which require DM permission are unsatisfying. The use an object action might go away, but that decision will be a made via the playtest process.
• The ranger's 1st-level features also relied too heavily on DM buy-in, also wild magic will be addressed.
• If you have a class feature you should be able to use it in the way you expect.
• If something is removed from the game, they will say so.
• Great Weapon Fighting and Sharpshooter were changed because the penalty to the attack roll was not big enough to justify the damage bonus, plus they want warrior classes to be able to rely on their class features (including new weapon options) for main damage output. They don't want any feats to feel mandatory to deal satisfying damage. Feats which are 'must haves' violate their design goals.
• Light Weapon property amped up by removing the bonus action requirement because requiring light weapon users to use their bonus action meant there were a lot of bad combinations with features and spells which require bonus actions. It felt like a tax on light weapon use.
• Class spell lists are still an open question. Focus on getting used to the three big spell lists. Feedback was that it would be nice to still have a class list to summarize what can be picked from the 'master lists'. For the bard that would be useful, for the cleric and wizard not necessary as they can choose from the whole divine or arcane list.

The playtest process will continue for a year.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Right, it's better to try to get your voice heard in a place where WotC is actually listening rather than just lament on random social media site (like these message boards) that WotC isn't sharing your vision.

I'm definitely not happy about all the changes, and I'm definitely letting WotC know. Will my opinions be shared by enough people, who knows, but I'm going to throw them out there nonetheless.

Of course by that argument, no one should express anything about 5e but positive stuff, since voicing your displeasure here doesn't lead to any real change.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Citation needed.

The internet.

 

[Charlaquin]

The big difference between this and the Next playtest is that last time they issued adventures to try with the rules and in some cases pregens. I wonder how many voters actually tried the rules.
I know from my own playgroup that some would just vote for a anyth that made their characters stronger

Well, with the Next playtest they were trying to offer a full vertical slice of the new rules. What they learned from that thought was that it tended to overwhelm respondents and resulted in very unfocused feedback. Since then they’ve taken to doing much more focused tests of very specific individual features.

 

[Scribe]

Their surprise seemed to be that an established race scored worse than a brand new race, since new things apparently tend to score lower than established things.

I suppose, but if someone gives me a great meal, then follows up with a clearly inferior version and asks me how to rate it, I'm not going to rate it favourable to what is still offered at the next table over.

Again, the larger questions don't seem to be open for debate.

Maybe, but feedback is feedback.

 

[Azzy]

Of course by that argument, no one should express anything about 5e but positive stuff, since voicing your displeasure here doesn't lead to any real change.

If that's your take away, you missed the point entirely.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Um, no. That's baseless and flies in the face of what we know about online activity. People are more likely to complain about something than make an effort to praise something. These boards are just one example of that.

Not really.

People are also more likely to complain in the form of a social media post than in a lengthy survey that won't be directly responded to.

This.

Good news. There are plenty of other forums on this very site you could hang out on. If you're that despondent that you feel you can't make a difference, why torture yourself here?

Even better news: I can hang out wherever I please. If you don't like what I have to say on a topic, you are also free to ignore it.

FWIW, it is no torture. I accepted it a long time ago in 3E when WotC took over.

Its still your only chance to 'officially' voice feedback. I'm taking it.

Cool, I hope you can make a difference! (I won't hold my breath, but if it is worth it to you to try, best of luck!)

Posting on these forums is highly unlikely to change the game in any significant way, fortunately they're doing surveys. Doesn't mean that any one person's opinion is going to matter of course and all surveys are going to be fundamentally flawed in various ways.

Agreed. Every statement here is 100% accurate.

Citation needed.

Where is yours?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

To be fair, the OneD&D rules are usable with existing adventures.

That, and they are releasing the classes in batches. You COULD release pregens in batches, I suppose. Maybe they'll release a party of pregens when all the classes are out.

 

[overgeeked]

The larger questions clearly aren't up for debate.

Exactly. They know what they want to do, it's only the fiddly details that might be up for grabs.

 

[Azzy]

The internet.

Thanks for not supporting your claim. That helps a lot.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, I marked that I hadn't played them. I wanted to give them my honest feedback. Things can play very differently than they read. If something read-tests poorly, but play-tests well, that could very well be an issue of presentation rather than mechanics. But sure, some people will lie. I hope people who care about the future wouldn't potentially give misleading responses.

If they think it might to getting what they want, they will. Its not like there are any consequences. I'm not responding to the survey at all, as given my preferences i see it as a waste of effort, but I can definitely see someone lying in a survey if it might push the game closer to what they want.