Dungeons & Dragons Publisher Launches 5th Edition "Feedback" Survey

[StewShearerOld]

Dungeons & Dragons Publisher Launches 5th Edition "Feedback" Survey

Wizards of the Coast has launched a new survey questioning players about the "classes and feats" of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

Following the lukewarm response to Dungeons & Dragons' 4th Edition, Wizards of the Coast had a lot riding on its follow-up. The company was likely happy, in turn, when the game's 5th Edition launched last summer and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/reviews/11897-Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Review-Dice-Dice-Baby>was met <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/reviews/12103-D-D-Player-s-Handbook-Review-A-Greatest-Hits-Collection>by a chorus of tabletop gamers <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/reviews/12252-D-D-5th-Edition-Monster-Manual-Review-for-Dungeons-Dragons>largely happy with the changes it made. Despite this positive reception, the publisher has launched a user survey today aimed at gauging how players feel about the game and ferreting out any potential "rules issues."

The survey, <a href=http://sgiz.mobi/s3/D-D-5e-Elements-Survey-1>hosted by SurveyGizmo, opens with some basic inquiries about player satisfaction but then quickly shifts gears into a series of questions focused on the game's "classes and feats." This primarily involves comparing the power of several classes (Bard vs. Barbarian, Fighter vs. Paladin, etc.). From there it asks participants to rate their satisfaction with individual classes and feats, giving them the option to skip the ones they don't have experience with. The company promised that further surveys will also be launched digging more deeply into the individual classes and feats as well as others "[touching] on other areas of the game."

In other words, if you didn't like 5th Edition or found things about it that bugged you, this is an opportune time to let Wizards of the Coast know how you feel. What do you think? Are there any class issues annoying you? Any feats you find less than fantastic? Give the survey a gander and let us know.

Source: <a href=http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/fifth-edition-feedback-survey>Dungeons & Dragons


Permalink

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Considering how many surveys they used in the planning of 5e, and how often it seems like they didn't take note of what was in them, I'm not sure how much weight this one will have. Still, they at least acknowledged what people said even if they didn't really listen, so it might be worth a shot. The survey seems pretty generic, just asking how "satisfied" you are with various things (a pretty bland option, considering it covers everything from 'this doesn't really interest me fluff-wise' to 'this is horribly broken'), but I'm guessing that they hear enough from players so that they know what the real problem is if people are "dissatisfied" with something.

Hopefully they address a few of the biggest issues like Moon Druids and the fact that CR and XP are still pretty terrible. There's also a lot of the spells that could use errata to make them more reasonable, like Contagion, Wall of Force, and Force Cage.

If we're very lucky, they'll redo the Monster Manual to give more monsters Athletics and Acrobatics scores to prevent Luchadore syndrome, where a mildly optimized monk can pin everything from trolls to devils easily and have the party kick it's head in due to the way the grappling rules work.

 

[Webb Myers]

I'm not sure what to think of this considering that "balancing" the classes was behind the things I liked least about 4E. I understand the desire to address any loopholes or exploits before the next round of D&D Encounters gets going, but that's not my scene. Most of my (few) complaints are about the presentation (organization and layout of the books) and not the rules.

 

[WarHamster40K]

I've heard a lot of good things about the new edition and I really want to give it a try. However, with my vision loss over the last few decades (TLDR: neurological damage, not correctable, everything past less than 12 inches is a blur), I used to make use of a lot of companies releasing their books as PDFs or ebooks. That way, I can get them on a laptop or tablet and magnify the book as needed. Last year, however, WotC said they had no future plans to release digital versions of their current titles because of piracy concerns. While I know there are people that will "demo" a lot of things with never having an intention to buy, I was willing to purchase the digital copies. I love digging through DriveThruRPG.com and seeing new titles. They even offer options to sell the paperbound version and have it shipped to the buyer's address.

Before the inevitable "just magnify it yourself" comments come in, try holding up a handheld device long enough to read through loot tables and monster stats, then put it down to type in changes to a character sheet and remember exactly where you were. Also, magnifiers can't use text-to-speech dictation to get through large sections of module descriptions or store large numbers of documents to cross-reference. It feels like a large step backwards for a hobby I loved since my cousin gave me his Red Box copy of D&D during the "RPGs are Satanic" phase of the 80s. Still, I hope WotC changes their position in the future. It's something I've enjoyed for almost my entire life and it's not something I would give up on easily.

 

[Phanixis]

I purchased the new players handbook but I have yet to have the opportunity to try it, but I definitely want to. It looks very streamlined and elegant, but classes and spells still strike me as unique an interesting, as opposed to the rather bland powers everybody had in 4e.

 

[King of Asgaard]

The problem I have with 5th Ed is how ill-defined or poorly fleshed out some sections are. Currently, I have two concurrent games going; a cleric and a monk. The monk I'm playing solo, as both a class evaluation and to provide some DM experience for my brother. Thus far, having reached level 5, two things spring to mind that need fixing. The first is the bag of tricks. The item is flat out broken, because rules as written, besides the three-a-day limit to use, there is no limit to the number of animals you can create. Given enough time, you could completely fill an area with fauna if you would be so inclined. Case in point, my monk is currently leading a pack of three direwolves and two panthers, all spawned from the bag of tricks. While this allows for quite a few badass moments, like a synchronised howl to scare away a couple of manticores (I rolled a natural 20), it fucks CR in the arse, as my pack can quite literally pin most things to the ground and just wail on them until they die. We've taken out groups of three or more CR 3 creatures this way.

On the subject of the monk, while I feel they're quite powerful, their archetypes leave a lot to be desired. The straight punching one is rather boring in terms of theme, and doesn't offer much in the way of different approaches. The sneaky one is too situational and won't see much use outside of certain roleplaying instances. The elements one is essentially being the Avatar, and is awesome, but has no substance. The majority of element attacks are either air or fire based, leaving water and earth by the wayside. Not only that, but the list of elemental abilities you can learn is about half a page long, and most of the abilities are spend X ki points to imitate spell Y. It feels like wasted potential, seeing as control of the elements seems like it would be quite powerful, but it comes across as effective but limited. Oh, and Elemental Attunement needs proper defining. Essentially, it allows someone to control elements to a weak degree by allowing the formation of shapes, make gusts of wind, put out torches etc. Only there's no time limit or range restriction for most of the effects, which in theory would mean that I can create cubic feet worth of flame two miles away simply because I can see a patch of ground. It seems a bit overpowered considering it's the first thing monks learn for opting for this archetype.

That's what I've gleaned thus far from having played for a couple of months. My brother tells me that CR is massively borked and makes no sense, but I haven't DM'ed yet. Other than these issues, I've quite enjoyed the simplicity of the system which allows for quick playing and little rules-lawyering, and both monk and cleric are distinct and fun to play.

 

[Randomvirus]

As someone who DM'd 4th for about 2 years and was a player for about 2 more, I've been enjoying 5th.

I think a lot of the material is actually pretty well written. Of course there's some stuff that needs to be clarified, and some open ended interpretation, but it's apparent that this edition puts story first for players and world building first for DM's just from the way the source books are organized.

The problem I have with 5th Ed...

The monk...

'bag of tricks' stuff

&

My brother tells me that CR is massively borked and makes no sense...

I'd be asking why your DM gave you such an item, maybe the rules don't clarify a limit, but the older edition bags definitely had one. And if you are running around with a pack of animals, or the capacity to produce them, then the DM needs to adjust the CR of each encounter or else you will be steam rolling them.

Also, to me CR is pretty clearly defined. A monster of Challenge Rating 4 is a worthy challenge for a party of 4 characters at level 4. The DMG has rules on adjusting that.

So Kobolds with a 1/4 CR (iirc), 4 of them are a worthy challenge for a party of 4 players at level one, and 40 of them would be a worthy challenge for players of level 10.

I like the CR system, it means that monsters are relevant and threatening at every level, as opposed to 4th's which assigned monsters threats by tier.

 

[King of Asgaard]

As someone who DM'd 4th for about 2 years and was a player for about 2 more, I've been enjoying 5th.

I think a lot of the material is actually pretty well written. Of course there's some stuff that needs to be clarified, and some open ended interpretation, but it's apparent that this edition puts story first for players and world building first for DM's just from the way the source books are organized.

The problem I have with 5th Ed...

The monk...

'bag of tricks' stuff

&

My brother tells me that CR is massively borked and makes no sense...

I'd be asking why your DM gave you such an item, maybe the rules don't clarify a limit, but the older edition bags definitely had one. And if you are running around with a pack of animals, or the capacity to produce them, then the DM needs to adjust the CR of each encounter or else you will be steam rolling them.

Also, to me CR is pretty clearly defined. A monster of Challenge Rating 4 is a worthy challenge for a party of 4 characters at level 4. The DMG has rules on adjusting that.

So Kobolds with a 1/4 CR (iirc), 4 of them are a worthy challenge for a party of 4 players at level one, and 40 of them would be a worthy challenge for players of level 10.

I like the CR system, it means that monsters are relevant and threatening at every level, as opposed to 4th's which assigned monsters threats by tier.

Let me clarify. I got the bag of tricks entirely randomly as part of a boss reward. With regards to CR, you're right it makes sense, but my brother's having difficulty balancing encounters, as you said. He doesn't want to murder me because then the adventure's effectively over, but doesn't want me to go unchallenged. It's growing pains while he gets more experience DMing.

 

[Omnicrom]

Considering how many surveys they used in the planning of 5e, and how often it seems like they didn't take note of what was in them, I'm not sure how much weight this one will have. Still, they at least acknowledged what people said even if they didn't really listen, so it might be worth a shot.

These are my feelings on the surveys as well. 5E had reams and reams and reams of survey data from over a year of playtesting and still put out something decidedly mediocre and backwards leaning. It was disheartening to see WotC gimp Fighters playtest after playtest because "Tradition", and the removal of the really cool early version of the sorceror just makes me sad. Also I point out how very telling it is that despite claiming 5E would have every previous core handbook class in it the Warlord is nowhere in sight. Bring back Warlords, they were an awesome class.