Warpiglet-7
Lord of the depths
This is a business move. But they may also make some changes that are also popular and well received too.It's interesting that you say this. I'm not calling out WotC for wanting money or doing a new edition. I think that the 50th anniversary makes for a great time for a new set of books and a new edition. I think people have been talking about that for years. I think it really makes sense. I had expected there to be changes akin to previous editions with the goal of addressing some of the common complaints in the game. I really think it makes sense to put out a new edition that showcases where the game comes from along its long history.
I don't think the new edition comes from a dissatisfied customer base, but it can work in conjunction with it, to clean up issues that have come up. I think that the biggest problem we're experiencing with all of the playtests is how many people who are playing D&D right now are largely satisfied with the game, so when you survey ideas for changes, you're going to have a large part of responses that don't want any changes.
I'd say that most people who are playing 5E don't like something about it, but there isn't that magical consensus on what specifically needs to change. And that's the problem to my mind about relying on surveys to design with. I very much prefer the strong vision of a designer, even though it might make a game I'm not interested in. And I suppose that's exactly the reason the design is coming from survey results and not from the mind of a designer: 4E was a strong vision and quite different, and that split the hobby.
I fault no business for making money…