Oh the irony I will admit I was one of those who left feedback requesting less material from WoTC. An by less material I meant I did not want a book a month splat o rama full of mechanics bloat that was endemic to 3E and 4E.
As per usual WoTC over reacts IMHO much like how the design of 4E was an over reaction to the problems 3.5 had and how 3.5 was probably an overreaction to 3.0 or the GSL was an overreaction to the OGL. That kind of came back to bite me in the ass. I probably should have made the difference clear between a slower release schedule than bupkiss vs bloat.
Now when a new edition comes out I more or less expect some class books to appear in reasonably short order (The Complete XYZ, Sword and Fist, the Complete Arcane, Divine Power type stuff). Ideally to me this would be around 4 books a’la the 1st 4 Complete, Warrior, Divine, Adventurer, Arcane. I am fine with those taking about a year or two. I do not want the Complete Mage/Psi0on/Divine Power 2 type books anytime soon nor do I want or require new classes.
I do like an additional class book to come out such as the PHB2 after 2-3 years with new classes in it. The only new class I really want to see is Psionics as they have usually been close to a new edition launch. So after 2-3 years around 6 plat books is my ideal amount in terms of PC crunch. I do not need one for every class a’la 2E Complete Fighter, Wizard etc.
I also more or less expect Dragon and Dungeon Magazines although that is a pipe dream these days. Still sad about their demise I 2007, I have them through to 2011 via DDI but it is not the same and they sucked anyway by comparison. Dungeon was always good for a 1-2 session adventure.
Now for the thing I really want. Adventures. I was part of the D&D exodus from 2008 through to 2013 or so when I started buying D&D PDFs again. Like Yoda I made the decision "into exile I must go".In that 5 year interval I discovered things like $10 PDFs via Paizo and RPGnow.com. PDFs of $32 page adventures were getting down to $2 for a professional one or $0 for a freebie. During that time of exile the OSR revival provided plenty of adventures to use along with being compatible enough with the AD&D/BECMI legacy adventures.
If one liked Pathfinder and 3.5 Dungeon went monthly during 3Es run and Paizo produced their excellent adventure paths. One kind of got spoilt by all of the options at a time where WoTC ability to make a great adventure nosedived. Due to the OGL one can and did look elsewhere. Ironically history is repeating itself after wasting money on HoTDQ I have bought 2 OGL 5E adventures on PDF, one was dirt cheap at $1 the other was $20 and it contained 12 adventures.
Now if I had the option and if those options were quality ones I would have bought those adventures via WoTC. IN recent years several adventures I would regard as modern classics.
Assault on Black Tooth Ridge (Castles &Crusades)
Rise of the Runelords (3.5/Pathfinder)
Lost Mines of Phandelver (5E)
That is what I mean by quality adventures not trash like HotDQ. RoT is better and I have not read enough of it to make a call one way or the other. I keep meaning to get around to it. I’m not sure how many adventures is too much but Paizo seems to be able to do it monthly and their worst ones are more average than out right bad. To be fair TSR made some stinkers as well and I may be willing to sell my copy of the Forest Oracle although I paid the right amount for it ($0).
So I suppose my ideal release schedule would look something like this.
1-3 splat books a year leaning toward 2-3 early on a 1/year later in the edition cycle after 5 or 6 have some out. That is splat books focused on PCs.
1 Monster manual every 2-3 years.
1 Campaign setting every 1-2 years
Adventures (monthly, AP or Dungeon).
Dragon would be nice as well even bi monthly a’la the old Dungeon.
And then stuff like environment books (Wilderness Survival Guide, Frostburn, etc) perhaps replacing the PC splats books. Some new classes are fine I do not need around 8+ a year.
So after 3 to 4 years one would have.
5 PC books (4 class ones and a PHB2/Players Guide/Class Compendium type book)
1 Psionics Book
18 Dungeons/Dragons (bi monthly)
6 Adventure Paths (or 3APs +3 books of shorter adventures)
2-3 Monster Manuals
2-4 Campaign settings ( FR+ updating TSR ones, Eberron, Points of Light)
Note it does look like a lot by the current D&D release schedule but it is a lot less than the heights of 3E and 4E as stuff is coming out at about 1/3rd or 1/4th the rate. Already shopping around to find OGL material and putting my money where my mouth is. Basically I want a slower release but still feel like I have an actively supported version of D&D with some options as what happens if you are not into Tiamat or Elemental Evil?
You know what I have noticed about monthly adventures?
The quality of the adventures varies pretty heavily - and not just from author to author.
Here is my ideal release schedule: Whatever has been thought up released once it has been lovingly polished and actually checked that one last time.
Anecdote: I recently converted the Carrion Crown adventure path to play in 5th edition. The foreward to the 6th and final adventure module was very interesting to me, as it was primarily the fellow in charge of the adventure path talking about how he would go back and write in more of the BBEG because, as is, the party has no singular name or face to put to their primary antagonist until the last of the campaign - until that point it is basically just the party chasing after unknown cultists (sure, the cult is known).
Basically, if their release schedule didn't mandate shipping off each section of the campaign before the entire campaign is a finished whole, it would have been written differently - and maybe I wouldn't have had to do so much work on making it not feel like 6 separate adventures only tangentially related by that the leads the party is following are just thin enough not to carry them past the next adventure (a feeling of "well, we are here and have nothing else to do... might as well" is not what I would call great motivation to participate in an adventure).
Carrion Crown is one of the weaker APs though. I was not to impressed with it. SHattered Star and the Reign of Winter were the last ones I looked at. Monthly can also mean Dungeon Magazine which can be hit and miss I suppose but you get a bit of variety and 4-5 smaller adventures a month is always nice.
PF APs rating on ENworld.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/productforums.php?catid=&title=Adventure+path&mfrg=Paizo+Publishing&authors=&sort=rating
I would just like the remaining classics at some point: Fiend Folio/MM II, Deities & Demigods, Manual of the Planes, and Unearthed Arcana are key, also a Psionic book, and maybe some environment books (Dungeoneers/Wilderness Survival Guide/Frostburn/Sandstorm, etc.).
I really do not want any more Complete Gnome Cobbler's Handbook type deals.
Zardnaar wrote:
I do like the licensing of the D&D brand. I am excited about the upcoming Elemental Evil Adventure board game. I've preordered the second set of minis from Wizkids. I like the two adventures per year. If they release a campaign book and one splat book in this year then I'm content. Well, and a third mini set by year's end. In the end 5E minis will make or break this edition for me. I don't want them to stop.
I do hope the Elemental Evil adventure book is printed on WotC quality paper. I wasn't so much of a fan of the parchment paper used for the Tyranny of Dragons. They had great art but I much prefer glossy pages over anything- especially from WotC.
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
Personally, I would prefer something every 2 months, similar to how the 3 core books were released. I really couldn't give a damn about adventures, so if those were never released it wouldn't bother me.
- A 30-something page softcover book every 2 months with new things for PCs (similar to Pathfinder's Player Companion books), based on a theme, like Eberron, the frozen wastes, undersea, etc.
- A new Monster Manual every year, and a smaller monster folio (think Monsters of Faerun) inbetween the big release (MM at the beginning of a year, monster folio 6 months later). These could be the more narrower-themed monsters, like ones from Eberron, or the Fiend Folio, or Dragonlance, or cold-based monsters.
- A campaign setting book once or twice a year. One book for Forgotten Realms, one for Eberron, one for Dragonlance, one for Dark Sun, etc, until they get to all of the previous settings or the next edition is made, whichever is sooner.
Tharizdun13 wrote:
Tharizdun13 wrote:
Brock_Landers wrote:
edwin_su wrote:
I want very little crunch released. We already have 12 classes (with a ton of subclasses), 9 races (with double that in sub-races)..... So even if we ignore the sub-choices, that leaves 108 combinations, *PLUS* multiclassing..... so far I have played 2 PCs, and they are not done. If they never released another page of crunch, I could happily play the 4-5 PC concepts I have in mind for a few years at least. If I include the PCs concepts I have not quite fleshed out yet.... years beyond that.
Now sure, a few feats or spells at some point could add to my enjoyment, but I would much rather those dribble out rather than 2-3 books a year.
Now, adventures... even campaign books.... those are ideas and could be useful. I would love getting more adventures released, preferably *not* ones gong from 1-15 level.
Edit: I would be less wary of crunch, if it was more tightly affiliated with a specific campaign world. Ex. If you are playing in Eberron, then these Feats are also available......
Coredump00 wrote:
Tharizdun13 wrote:
Some companies, like Paizo, put out way more content for their system/setting than I like or can keep up with, while others put out way too little, if any at all, after the core rulebook is released.
Between the release of the Starter Set in July and the DMG in Dec, Wotc released 6 items. That was a good amount for a six month stretch, but then, from Dec 10th until April 7th, we have only had the DM Screen release. That is a long time to go without product. I would like to see at least 4, and preferably 6, book releases per year, the themed mega-adventure every six months and a rules or world book every six months, alternating. If it is a 6 book schedule, maybe 2 smaller adventures per year that are not tied into the overall theme for that six-month period, perhaps set in one of the other D&D worlds as well.
I would like to see WotC do a deal with Paizo to make an Adventure Card version of Rise of Tiamat or Elemental Evil.
That would be cool.
I really just want 5e Psionics, a MM2, and some class stuff filled out. ie: a better ranger, more sorcerer bloodlines, a shaman (subclass of druid is fine). Also, I want stuff like the warforged race, shifter race, etc. to not be so setting specific. I get it, it's from Eberron. Fine. Doesn't mean tons of players and DMs (like me) don't use them in other settigns or our own settings.
I have 2e, 3e, PF, and 4e stuff for setting fluff, stuff like deities and demi-gods, whatever-a-nomicons, manual of the planes...
Really, the ONLY reason I'd want 5e setting books is for the races, feats, sub-classes that too many people want to lock into those settings. I have access to more fluff I could ever use. I need the crunch to run 5e like I'd like to.
As far as a schedule goes, I'd like 2-3 non-adventure books to waste my money on per year. Minis and Maps would be cool extras; but I don't come close to needing them. Plus all the free PDF's they want to throw at us. 
Just...Please, make those PDF's useful...The Eberron one was monstly worse and beyond useless compared to what some people here in this forum have come up with...The mass combat one seems better, though.
More book releases means there's a greater chance that WotC will publish something I'll like or be interested. I can just ignore the rest.
Less book releases means there's a smaller chance that WotC will publish something I'll like or be interested, even if the quality is supposedly higher (and Paizo certainly doesn't seem to be lacking in the quality of its splats and adventures).
More books for me, then, no contest.
Vahnyu wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
I took "doesn't seem to be lacking in the quality of its splats and adventures" to mean that there are quality products, and are more good than bad.
I then stated that there are people that disagree (thinking there are more numerous bad products than good ones), added that I've even seen the folks you would expect to claim every product is on the "good" end of the spectrum say that they aren't and specifically choose to blame lack of playtesting for that.
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
seti wrote:
Synjin wrote:
Vahnyu wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
This just in the News at 7 - some products are better then others and opinions may differ!
Shasarak wrote: