<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Xaeyruudh&#039;s Index]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://xaeyruudh.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Xaeyruudh]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://xaeyruudh.wordpress.com/author/xaeyruudh/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Popular Opinion]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>This is one of several thoughts/suggestions regarding the upcoming fifth edition of Dungeons &amp; Dragons (5e).  Relevant news items: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/arts/video-games/dungeons-dragons-remake-uses-players-input.html" target="_blank">nytimes</a> and <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20120109" target="_blank">wizards</a>.</p>
<p>I think you (meaning whoever is calling the shots with regard to 5e) are doing the right thing here&#8230; or maybe part of the right thing, or starting to do the right thing.  Time will tell.</p>
<blockquote><p>Pay (better) attention to customer desires.</p></blockquote>
<p>We’re writing your paychecks, in some sense.  Up til now, you’ve been pushing us around and we’ve been taking it.  Well, ever-decreasing numbers of us have been taking it, with ever-increasing complaints.</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily need to resurrect role-playing, or even tabletop role-playing.  Yes, video games are a problem, but not as big of a problem as they’re being made out to be.</p>
<p>Your biggest challenge has been that you’re only concerned about customer opinion when you start losing significant amounts of revenue.  When the money is coming in, you&#8217;re on top of the world and you couldn&#8217;t care less what anybody thinks about anything.</p>
<p>Is that harsh?  No, I think it’s actually stupidly mild.  Why are you asking for customer input <strong>now</strong>?  Because it’s painfully obvious that you screwed up, and you don’t want to lose your shirt over it.  I’m not actually trying to be a snot, but why didn’t you ask for customer suggestions before 4e?  Because times were good then, or at least quite a bit better than they are now.  Yea, I have hindsight on my side now, but the point stands.  You should have asked back then.  You should have had a better grasp of everything you’re hearing from customers now&#8230; back then.  Even before 2e, for that matter.</p>
<p>You seem to be on a schedule of cranking out a new edition, regardless of the old one’s success or failure, every several years.  This is lame.  Revise the rules when customers raise valid concerns in support of a revision&#8230; not whenever you want to give yourself a pay raise.  We may be lemmings, buying anything that says D&amp;D on it, but we’re not complete idiots.  It might take some of us a few years, but we all eventually start feeling ripped off.</p>
<p>That, more than mechanics, is what you need to fix.  See, D&amp;D isn&#8217;t broken.  WotC is broken.  Players can help you with improving D&amp;D, but that&#8217;s just the tip of the iceberg of your problems.</p>
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