D&D 5E You know what? I'm frustrated at how long 5e is gonna take.

[mkill]

I hope they put out a playable alpha version soon. I don't mind if it's incomplete and buggy, but I don't want to read any more speculation from people who take a throwaway comment from twitter and then reconstruct a grand unified theory why WotC will leave them behind unloved and how they already know they will never buy any of their products again.

Once the alpha is out, I want them to iterate iterate iterate. Give each playtest rules version a name (Aasimar, Bahamut, Cuthbert...) and put out a new one every month. Continue this until you hit the magic formula, even if it takes all the way to Zhentarim. Only then start layouting the final book.

When I have the printed book in my hands, I want it to be perfect, even if that takes until 2015.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

It's a long time, but that basically means that they'll have a year of public playtesting before launch, which can be a very good thing. We might be able to avoid a D&D 5.5 or similar.

Besides, if the playtest is truly open, we'll be playing it fairly soon.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Wizards announced 4th edition at Gencon 2007 (August), and it was released June 2008.

So, not quite a year, but pretty close.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the correction. Maybe it was Christmas 2007 before I heard about 4e lol . . .

 

[Mokona]

Publicly release the full rules in playtest version ASAP. Release the final, well-tested, rules much later.

 

[Sunseeker]

I think a year is a pretty good amount of time to get out the basics of 5e. Too many companies rush products these days and result in boring, buggy, flash-in-the-pan type things.

 

[am181d]

The smart money (i.e. mine) says 5e will launch at GenCon 2013, which is about 18 months from now. In the meantime, there'll be the playtest, although I don't think that even WotC really understand how that'll be implemented.

My guess is that we WON'T see the kind of open playtest with free downloads that Pathfinder had. My instinct is that to participate in the 5e playtest, you'll need a DDI subscription and you'll need to sign an NDA. But we'll see!

 

[Consonant Dude]

I can't wait to see what the final version of 5e looks like but I'd rather they don't rush it.

I would gladly pay for a physical beta-playtest copy, however. Something similar to what Pathfinder did.

 

[Hassassin]

We only have to speculate for a couple months. Then the open playtest begins. It may be a year-plus before we get the fancy hardcovers with the Word From On High, but we'll know the general shape of the rules quite soon.

Except hopefully even the general shape of the rules has the potential to change if it doesn't playtest well.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

It's not like 5e will be a complete mystery until the release date. We'll all be able to see it and play it in developmental stages. Then through the lens of public forums the entire elephant will be put together.

 

[grimslade]

I think Gencon 2013 might be the Essentials or Basic release, but the full game will debut for the 40th Anniversary in 2014. You can get a nice stable well rounded rules set for the first half of levels by GenCon '13. High end play and a lot of the options modules are going to need longer play testing to get right. Remember the final round of playtests would have to be done Q4 2012 - Q1 2013 to e ready for August publication.