WotC D&D Survey

[Geoffrey]

Perhaps the survey is a sign that WotC is looking at making 6th edition. Let's see...

3.0 edition was released in 2000.
3.5 edition was released 3 years later in 2003.
4th edition was released 5 years later in 2008.
5th edition was released 6 years later in 2014.

Now 2018 is slipping away. A 2019 release of 6th edition would be 5 years after 5th edition. It's all very sad.

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two real editions of the game:
OD&D
AD&D (nothing after Unearthed Arcana, natch)

[rogatny]

The D&D Essentials line in 2010 was sort of a stealth “.5” edition for 4th.

As far as WotC D&D is concerned, 5th Edition has gotten to be pretty long in the tooth.

[Jeff]

I took the survey. Almost all of my responses were "This isn't important for me". I have no hopes of WotC creating more content I like. 5E has been fun, but I'm tired of it already.

[thedungeondelver]

Wow...it's been 4 years since it dropped (5e). I still think of it as the new edition. Trippy.

[bobjester]

T took the survey a couple weeks ago, and 90% of my answers were in the "Not important at all." response column -- and I'm one of the few grogs* that play 5e.

I believe they're fishing for specific data that indicates the market needs a 6th edition. Surveys like this can be read any way they want them to read. They have to keep up with Pathfinder, after all.

I enjoy 5e, but only because it reminds me of my early 80's mix of B/X & AD&D rules. I can do with it as I please, and it allows me access to the local player base that I would never find if I tried to run 0e or 1e.

Yes, there are players of 0e & 1e, but many of them strangely believe that storygaming & creating massive backgrounds are the only way to go, and I just can't be bothered with those kinds of games.

[EOTB]

I don't think that those who love new editions of D&D are taxed sufficiently.

WOTC should put out a new edition every year, and only license characters whose players send WOTC money equaling the cost of their starting equipment (1 GP = $1). Without such a tax stamp, the character is ineligible for Adventurers' League tourneys.

[Terrex]

It was a slog, but I made it through. It was fun to be able to honestly answer that I've only ever played AD&D. I enjoyed eschewing the "Wizard" character class selection and checking Other and typing in "Magic-User".

I agree with others that the questions are not encouraging. It's a totally different experience, no -- a totally different game they are talking about. With respect to historical sales of D&D and recognition footprint, AD&D is the 800 lb gorilla in the room. They ought to hire a dedicated AD&D1e/Greyhawk product manager, preferably someone from this site, to reignite AD&D. This old-school option could run parallel to the next nonsensical so-called version of the game they publish. Why sell to one type of fan of the game, when you can sell to two?

[Kellri]

Terrex - that's a nice way of looking at it. I've never even seen any 5e material myself let alone play it. If they asked what's the most popular fantasy roleplaying game in your country. I could honestly say OSRIC.

Hasbro does market some of their games in Vietnam but only in the most incompetent way possible. They don't even bother to include a copy of Vietnamese rules for UNO or Monopoly - despite the fact that boardgame cafes are a newish fad here. Heck, about 50 meters from my home there's a place that's exclusively dedicated to Yu-gi-oh and looks to be packed several nights a week. If it's that popular, I don't understand why they don't at least attempt to market Magic: The Gathering.

A somewhat older fad is local publishers just straight up copying entire games like those I mentioned above and selling them with Vietnamese text. UNO in particular is so popular that you can buy copies on the street from newsstands. By comparison, Taiwan with a much smaller population enjoys complete translations. I've yet to see a copy of D&D in an Asian language, although I've heard they exist in Japanese, or did at some time.

[Chainsaw]

I'm sure 6e's already on the drawing board and, judging from the historical even/odd pattern, it'll be a huge fuck up variant of their perfectly fine 5e that they'll then have to try to fix in 7e.

[Kellri]

I'm sure 6e's already on the drawing board and, judging from the historical even/odd pattern, it'll be a huge fuck up variant of their perfectly fine 5e that they'll then have to try to fix in 7e.

Assuming neither one of them dies from a methamphetamine overdose in the meantime, ole Zak and the Pundit can be on standby until their services 'saving D&D' are once again required.

[Chamberlain]

I wonder if enough old D&D fans clicking through endless "not interested in that" options and then explaining why they wouldn't recommend current D&D to a friend will cause them to notice something, or if those will be written off as "not really about what we're trying to learn with this survey"?

I filled it out. Though to be honest I'm not really sure why. Maybe a vague hope that they'll continue selling older versions and maybe even make a new product for a previous version? Given the huge amount of retroclone enabled products though, it'll have stiff competition for my money if they do.

[Juju EyeBall]

Not doing anything to help them make their game better since they haven't done anything to make me want to play it in years.

[Kellri]

Not doing anything to help them make their game better since they haven't done anything to make me want to play it in years.

I replied to a guy yesterday who asked 'Which do you prefer 5e or Pathfinder? by asking if there were any other choices. His non-plussed response was 'I suppose you could play 1st edition AD&D - but you'd need the battlemats for it.' Obviously some people just don't understand. That's roughly like saying 'You could travel around the world, but you'd first need to buy a jet aircraft and learn to fly'

[Juju EyeBall]

Not doing anything to help them make their game better since they haven't done anything to make me want to play it in years.

I replied to a guy yesterday who asked 'Which do you prefer 5e or Pathfinder? by asking if there were any other choices. His non-plussed response was 'I suppose you could play 1st edition AD&D - but you'd need the battlemats for it.' Obviously some people just don't understand. That's roughly like saying 'You could travel around the world, but you'd first need to buy a jet aircraft and learn to fly'

What the fuck is a battlemat. Is that like needing a bib because you can't eat without getting it all over yourself?

[bobjester]

I wonder if enough old D&D fans clicking through endless "not interested in that" options and then explaining why they wouldn't recommend current D&D to a friend will cause them to notice something, or if those will be written off as "not really about what we're trying to learn with this survey"?

I filled it out. Though to be honest I'm not really sure why. Maybe a vague hope that they'll continue selling older versions and maybe even make a new product for a previous version? Given the huge amount of retroclone enabled products though, it'll have stiff competition for my money if they do.

I was surprised that the survey 'knew' that I gauged my willingness to recommend D&D to others very low, and hit me up with a follow-up question of why.

My response was, "Everyone I know is already either playing 5e, Pathfinder, or not interested because they prefer 0e/1e, or not interested in D&D at all because they're real men who watch sports and ride bulls."

Demographically, Nebraska was never a good place to sell D&D.

I'm sure 6e's already on the drawing board and, judging from the historical even/odd pattern, it'll be a huge fuck up variant of their perfectly fine 5e that they'll then have to try to fix in 7e.

...and then there's this. This was my thought as well when I first heard rumors of 6th before this survey came out. This is always going to be a problem with keeping players.

WotC's goal, like any company is to keep selling product, but unfortunately, game companies believe that new editions are always necessary to increased sales. They don't care about the players who still love the older games - who want to keep playing the older games because there is nothing wrong with them, and they don't do anything to discourage the disparity between older players and new customers who've bought into the whole "play only new games, because the old games are obsolete" line.