WotC WotC Winter 2026 D&D Community Survey

[Parmandur]

You will either need to make 6e just 5.75

I actually expect future versions to be less radical than 2024. More art refreshes with some bits and bobs moved around.

 

[Zardnaar]

The issue is the minute you announce the playtest for 6e, 5/5.5 is a lame duck. You will sell NOTHING but either edition-neutral products or short adventures. You announce the playtest on December 31st, 2029 and D&D 5e dies January 1st, 2030. Your sales drop off the cliff. You D&D Beyond Subscriptions start to expire. One D&D only was able to survive the playtest sales slump on the promise of Backwards Compatiblity calmed nerves. That trick isn't gonna work twice. You will either need to make 6e just 5.75 OR you will have to be willing you are starting from scratch on building the fanbase. I imagine WotC will want to do that later rather than sooner.

One would assume 5.5 sales have already tanked.

Eventually they will. The when is the million dollar question.

 

[mamba]

I actually expect future versions to be less radical than 2024. More art refreshes with some bits and bobs moved around.

If they change less than 2024 did, then they might as well just update the art and layout every once in a while. Makes it easy for me, I can then ignore any crunch WotC puts out

 

[Maxperson]

I disagree. The D&D audience is deeply fractured and most have a Dunning-Krueger like view of their own abilities. Outsourcing ANY design to the fandom would result in a near useless collection of contradictory rules and suggestions that ranged from simple "roll a die for success or fail" to complex and fiddily subsystems that require multiple steps to complete a single task.

Yep. There's a reason Designed by Committee exists as a negative term.

 

[Maxperson]

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.

There are a number of rules and decisions in 5.5e that as written leave me underwhelmed by the ability of said "professionals." The hide mechanics and the organization of the MM to name two off the top of my head.

I think fewer of us would think we could do as good a job or better if they took time to put out clean, well thought out rules and decisions.

 

[Maxperson]

They also made huge class changes like the fighter without any testing after the last playtest.


So yes the playtest was a marketing stunt to increase people wanting 5e, but it was also far from real playtesting because much of the actual 5e system was never playtested.


Also many people are really bad at playtesting as well, because many D&D players are bad at tactical playing and or think that certain classes need to be better than others.

You can also tell that it's just a marketing ploy by the amount of "playtest" time they give. The questionnaire comes out like a week or two after the document is released, which isn't anywhere near enough time to have any kind of quality playtest for the class(levels 1-20), subclasses, and whatever else they put into the document.

 

[Remathilis]

One would assume 5.5 sales have already tanked.

Eventually they will. The when is the million dollar question.

I agree. I don't think that will be in three years.

 

[Tigris]

You can also tell that it's just a marketing ploy by the amount of "playtest" time they give. The questionnaire comes out like a week or two after the document is released, which isn't anywhere near enough time to have any kind of quality playtest for the class(levels 1-20), subclasses, and whatever else they put into the document.

Ah I was only spesking about 5e playtedt. 5.5 I would not even consider playteat because as you said 2 weeks is just a vibe check nothing more.


I overall like the 5.5 improvements, especially for the fighter, but yeah some things look unprofessional and the gamedesign is inconsistent.


And I fear it will get worse with the next release like the UA monk subclass.


Monks were (completely opposite to rangers) made with only a small power budget in the subclass. They even added a huge power spike level 10 in the mainclass to not need a level 11 power spike in the subclass.


So knowing that and then releasing a 3rd caster subclass with typical cantrip + extra attack just looks silly. This is the same as fighter subclass and fighter have big power budget for subclasses... So I fear that all classes with small power budget in subclasses will in the end get strong subclasses creating more unbalance.

 

[Parmandur]

You can also tell that it's just a marketing ploy by the amount of "playtest" time they give. The questionnaire comes out like a week or two after the document is released, which isn't anywhere near enough time to have any kind of quality playtest for the class(levels 1-20), subclasses, and whatever else they put into the document.

The public portion is not a balance playtest, it is a vibe check. It is not marketing so much as marketing research, to determine what people like or dislike.