D&D 5E Xanathar's Poll

[Mistwell]

Sure, but isnt it really the case we should consider people giving opinions with reasons as being more valuable and useful to the community than a click on the poll?

No. Not at all. Not even sure what the logic is there? If you complain disproportionate to the actual average opinion on something, that's more valuable? All it does is create an atmosphere of negativity surrounding something which is actually felt to be positive by most, giving a false impression to readers. I mean, if you were at a party, and everyone was having a good time, and then some guy starts loudly complaining about the party, is his "contribution" more valuable to the party than the people just having a good time there?

Now if the people complaining also praised the things they like when those things came up then one can fairly argue the contribution is worthwhile overall. But that's not the case. Consistently, people complain about what they don't like, and remain more silent about things they like, on average. Which creates a reputation that message boards are not a valuable way of getting accurate average feedback on things, which leads to a bit of a feedback loop where a skewed impression of the average reaction to things is created.

Now the exception I thin is a complaint which has some level of deeper insight that others had not considered. But, most complaints are not that - most just repeat some more generic complaint others have made like "higher page count" or "price too high". Which...isn't that useful after the first person says it.

So no, not more valuable, most of the time.

 

[Azzy]

Well, my group is about to start its next campaign, and all of the players (including me) opted to use the Life Events section just because. Hilarity ensured as some of the backstories just wrote themselves, and the party already has enemies before we even started playing. It's certainly not a necessary feature, but the Life Event section is really fun and I'd suggest it to anyone who's struggling with a concept, doesn't already have concept in mind, needs to come up with something fast, or just wants to see where random dice rolls will take you.

I also decided to go with a Shadow Magic Sorcerer as it looked fun. I even used one of the Tiefling names from the much reviled Random Name section.

 

[Raith5]

No. Not at all. Not even sure what the logic is there? If you complain disproportionate to the actual average opinion on something, that's more valuable? All it does is create an atmosphere of negativity surrounding something which is actually felt to be positive by most, giving a false impression to readers. I mean, if you were at a party, and everyone was having a good time, and then some guy starts loudly complaining about the party, is his "contribution" more valuable to the party than the people just having a good time there?

I am here to learn a bit more about the book/game/hobby and I like the cut and thrust of criticism and forthright commentary. I have had limited time with the book in question. The fact that 80% of the poll thinks the book is great, but logically doesn't automatically mean that I have to/am going to like it, or that the book is useful to me. From the comments in this thread (especially the post above by schnee) I have a greater sense of who the book is useful and who it is not. My point is that that I find the comments useful and interesting - negative or not.

 

[Mistwell]

I am here to learn a bit more about the book/game/hobby and I like the cut and thrust of criticism and forthright commentary. I have had limited time with the book in question. The fact that 80% of the poll thinks the book is great, but logically doesn't automatically mean that I have to/am going to like it, or that the book is useful to me. From the comments in this thread (especially the post above by schnee) I have a greater sense of who the book is useful and who it is not. My point is that that I find the comments useful and interesting - negative or not.

You find "Yeah I agree it's 10 bucks too much!" or "I know right, it needs more pages!" for the fourth and fifth time in the same thread to be insightful and helpful to gaining a deeper understanding as to whether or not the book will be useful to you?

 

[Raith5]

You find "Yeah I agree it's 10 bucks too much!" or "I know right, it needs more pages!" for the fourth and fifth time in the same thread to be insightful and helpful to gaining a deeper understanding as to whether or not the book will be useful to you?

More specifically I find the thread interesting in terms of things like the name generator, PC origins and the minor magic items not being useful to some people. They are not things my table is crying out for. But I equally get it (thanks to this thread) that these would be super useful for other people, especially for a newish player or DM. I dont find this negative or problematic but I can understand that you are weary of it.

 

[Horwath]

I like it.

But it is a bit light. Or the price is a bit heavy.

There was a lot more UA material that could have been polished for this publication.

it is missing 100-150 pages for that price tag.

 

[Aldarc]

Overall, I am happy with it. It could have used additional polish, and some of my problems that I have with the materials stem from how some of the said material (e.g., hexblade) is used as a lazy "patch" fix in the absence of any foreseeable balance revision or rewrite of the core rules.