WotC WotC Winter 2026 D&D Community Survey

[Remathilis]

Im not saying let the community design it. Im saying let the community PLAYTEST it and provide feedback. For 5e they released D&D Next as a playable game and fans gave feedback.

The designers still need to seperate the good feedback from the bad feedback. But if you want to build trust and a better game ask for it. D&D Next was an attempt to win back fans after 4e. They forgot the lesson when they made 5.5.

Stealth makes you Invisible is not a concept that I believe survives a full scale playtest.

Yes lots of people have dumb ideas and and you need someone to hold true to the vision, but a public playtest of the rules builds trust and finds the bugs before the game is released.

D&D is notoriously hard to playtest for. A video game can offer a slice of concept as a beta to let the devs get feedback on what they are looking for specifically (lag, design issues, balance problems). D&D can't. Some people will white room design. Some will min max. Some will roll up a character and play. And what gets played, the DM involved and the other players all factor.

If you wanted highly usable feedback, you'd have to include a specific scenario and pregens to determine if the rule works in a consistent method across multiple tables. You'd also have to have players willing to only test what's given and DMs willing to only use RAW interpretations of the rules. But they aren't looking for that feedback because short of taping your session and sending it to them, there is no way of them controlling for outside influences. Which is why they only use UA for vibes checks and not serious feedback.

 

[bedir than]

So he doesn't think that D&D was putting the community front and center under the direction that Crawford and Perkins were taking it?

No, they removed themselves from participatory social media about D&D
Plus their bosses closed the forums, made unkept promises, started a community outreach program, stopped a community outreach program and then closed off the most fan-facing platform WotC controlled. Additionally they stopped doing fan-centered live reveals, their convention participation is minimal and they stopped backing actual plays.

The last several years of the D&D community has nearly completely been fans talking to fans, which is fine. But it's not the company putting it front and center.

 

[Sulicius]

DM is not allowed to interact with the Bastion or its inhabitants in any way, except rolling a restrictive random table if a player hasn't been there for a week and didn't send a message with orders. It means it doesn't exist in the world and is just a video game feature that breaks immersion. It spits in the face of the idea of player actions having consequences.

Let's say a player wants to hire noble LG Paladins to be his Bastion's army - he does, it's his thing.
Then that player proceeds to slaughter Village of Women and Children, Edmonton, pee on the king and kidnapps his daughter, then runs off to hide in the bastion.
Here is what happens now. I, the DM, am explicit forbidden by the RAW to say noble knights are disgusted and appaled by his actions - they are part of the Bastion, DM is not allowed to interact with the Bastion. I am also forbidden by RAW from having king lay siege to the bastion to free his daughter - DM is not allowed to interact with the Bastion. In fact, since she is now held prisoner at the Bastion, I no longer am allowed to roleplay the kidnapped princess and the player decides how she acts - she is now part of the Bastion, DM is not allowed to interact with the Bastion. Any work to roleplay setting where consequences matter and characters have consistent personalities flew out of the window into the trash can in favor of making the game more like Skyrim, where consequences never matter, NPCs' core personality is "fold over to the player", and Universe bends over backwards to let player do whatever it wants.

Bard is alongside Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric and Druid among most powerful classes in the game. College of Dance gives it very few things Monk could do but Bard had no easy way of doing. As such without any multiclassing, Bard can now easily use its magic to become superior to Monk in every way. It's a subclass that exists to give Bard players excuse to bully Monk players - your master of martial arts who trained whole life to be good at one thing is now and always will be outdone at it by a jerk who took dance classes. On my table they are mutually exclusive - if any player takes one, the other is automatically banned.

Well, those bastion protections didn't stop me in my current campaign. Still, I can see your point. That doesn't mean it's "DM Hostile". After all, it's the DM's decision to add the system or not. You're really making a big exaggeration of a story that just tells me you would be fine in your campaign doing whatever you like.

But this dance bard issue you have, good lord. I get that they make an unarmed strike every once in a while, but they're nowhere close to a monk.

What do dance bards get?

• Unarmored defense (which monks and other classes get)
• Dex unarmed strikes, sometimes an additional one when they use bardic inspiration. (Similar to monk)
• Use a reaction an bardic inspiration to make yourself and an ally move.
• give allies a bonus to initiative
• Evasion in a 5ft. aura at level 14.

They don't have:

• deflect attacks
• fast movement
• plethora of offensive and defensive bonus actions
• stunning strikes
• force damage attacks
• wall and water walking

The list goes on.

Plus a dance bard is cool as hell.

 

[Remathilis]

stop playing favorites and making new ways for casters to clown on martials, like how College of Dance lets Bard be superior Monk to Monk in every single way.

See, it's hot takes like this one why I put zero faith in the D&D Community for playtesting anything. Even a rudimentary reading of the 24 PHB would show how the Dance Bard is the weakest bard subclass and barely does what a monk does in its sleep. It's DPS is too low to be a martial, lacks any sort of usable defense in melee, and if you are falling back on your magic to fill the gap then you already lost because you would get more out of a lore or glamour bard. You don't even get a real 2nd attack unless you are burning bardic inspiration (and your best use of it doesn't trigger you 2nd attack) and you are MAD as hell because you need Charisma for spells and Dex for combat and can't even benefit from True Strike.

Dance Bard only works when you multiclass it with monk and realize you are going to be a weak combatant and mediocre caster. Which is on point for bard.

 

[ZeshinX]

I'll never trust WotC again. Their behaviour during the OGL issue cemented that. It doesn't mean I will not purchase product I find useful, but it will only ever be in print form. I will not, ever, use DnD Beyond, or engage with any (purchase required) digital product from WotC.

Their heavy focus on digital has continued to lower what I think of WotC, and I certainly provided that feedback (in as polite a way as such can be provided). I get the direction of the game is (generally) leaving old farts like me behind (that do not want technology at the table), and I can accept that in and of itself....but books. Books that I possess. That's the only product I can trust WotC will not be able to ever deny me or potentially remove my ability to use and enjoy.

I keep my eyes on the future of D&D, and I'll always be playing it (plenty of product from all editions save 4e), but as D&D/WotC currently stand, I see very little that appeals to me (I do sincerely wish there was more). Remakes of rehashes of revisits of product I already have in its original form. Sure, update some rules...but something new would be nice. Paizo is still eating WotC's lunch there (even though I have little use for adventures, every once in a while, there might be juuuuust enough interesting stuff contained therein to tempt me to make a purchase.....Paizo's Jade Regent AP for Pathfinder 1e was one such instance).

 

[Parmandur]

Stealth makes you Invisible is not a concept that I believe survives a full scale playtest.

I mean...it did, though?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

they stopped backing actual plays.

Their question about actual plays on this survey -- including some ones I don't recognize, which I think are probably non-US-based -- suggests to me that they may be interested in reentering this arena.

 

[Zardnaar]

D&D, as part of it's DIY spirit, is full of amateurs thinking they understand the game better than the professionals. I've been looking at the 6e thread and the vast majority of suggestions that get tossed in there would collapse the game and drive away fans because they are catering to a highly specific niche (them) rather than seeing what the larger community is willing to compromise on.

If its my 6E thread notice i would be polling a lot and asking specific clear questions about things like complexity.

 

[Zardnaar]

See, it's hot takes like this one why I put zero faith in the D&D Community for playtesting anything. Even a rudimentary reading of the 24 PHB would show how the Dance Bard is the weakest bard subclass and barely does what a monk does in its sleep. It's DPS is too low to be a martial, lacks any sort of usable defense in melee, and if you are falling back on your magic to fill the gap then you already lost because you would get more out of a lore or glamour bard. You don't even get a real 2nd attack unless you are burning bardic inspiration (and your best use of it doesn't trigger you 2nd attack) and you are MAD as hell because you need Charisma for spells and Dex for combat and can't even benefit from True Strike.

Dance Bard only works when you multiclass it with monk and realize you are going to be a weak combatant and mediocre caster. Which is on point for bard.

Alot fall the people here with an axe to grind abutv5.5 are also blatantly wrong.

Mostly because theyre not playing 5.5. Im still discovering new stuff.

Thos is why you cant have a robust playtest. You would need to complete an edition, mass playtest for a year or two and then release it. But that year or two playtest would kill enthusiasm.