Remember when they said the brand is undermonetized and they had a 3 prong approach to fix that? Welcome to the first installment for that. I think this was basically a big commercial - just like every Direct anything (having seen a lot of video game Directs over the years) and they amount of info they gave us was just about the same. And pretty appropriate for books still in the beginning stages. It was a taste of what the future holds, marketing just like you mentioned. My biggest takeaway from that was that I'm sad the OGL debacle is going to mar that beautiful JoCat song.
If anyone truly believes that WOTC will allow you to import your homebrew content into their virtual tabletop for free or use the VTT for free is naive. Thank you for your coverage of the presentation.
Thanks for the quick response to the video :). I think the video shows where they will focus their attention, in order of priorities: 1. Video games. 2. Toys. 3. Virtual Tabletop. 4. Books. I see this as something positive. Like in the 90s, the void they leave will be filled by great games. Cheers!
I look at these the same way I look at a Nintendo Direct presentation. I don't need to be reminded about BotW: Tears of the Kingdom for the bajillionth time, so clearly these are reaching a larger audience. D&D is doing the same thing. I don't need a reminder that the movie is coming out, but I'm sure the more casual fan (i.e. the majority of people I play D&D with) does. I would venture a guess that these are going to be aimed at all ages: lots of toys & minecraft for kids, sculpts and MMOs for the older audience, actual game stuff for the die hards. What I'm more shocked about is the absolute lack of mentioning D&D One and the playtest. While it has its own series of videos, you'd think they'd want to use their more casual announcement platform to nudge people to go try out the playtest.
I love the idea of a giant sourcebook, but I hope its better than the watered down cut/paste we got from Fizban. I hope that it was delayed in order to tighten up the quality. Unfortunately, Hasbro wants to build a brand, not create good game.
I watched the first 10 minutes of the D&D Direct presentation, and came to the conclusion that they seem to talk about nothing I am interested in, so I stopped watching that nothing burger. Thanks for telling me how little I missed.
I have no idea which edition the vecna book will be. I think they will try to use planescape as a bridge between 5e and 6th edition. I'm just waiting for the Phandelver Campaign to release then I want to play or DM the ultimate Phandelver Campaign (Lost Mines + Icepire Peak + Doip DLC + Phandelver Campaign)
My group is pen and paper. We have played publicly at a store for years. I have no interest in vvt. All I ever wanted was to buy physical and have access to a pdf of the physical product without paying extra for that pdf other lesser companies already do that. They are cutting out BM stores, which is so sad.
It truly feels like D&D as a game itself is an afterthought these days. They seem less concerned with making a great game and more concerned with it's monetisation: vtt, movie, new adventures but not new core content. And I'm just not that interested in the d&d IP, I'm interested in the 5e system.
The Corporate heads of Hasbro see the DnD name as a potential money maker, but they are unhappy with the fact that once you buy the books you need for your campaign you have no reason to spend money until a new edition is released (and some people do not move to new editions). They see all these people playing DnD and it pisses them off that they are not taking more money from players. They will do whatever it takes to get $$ from the player base, movies, toys, pay to play options, VTT, anything. Of course some of those things will be good and useful to the average player. Some things may bring in new players as well. It all depends on the player base and what they ate willing to accept.
In my opinion, for what it's worth, is that WotC haven't released anything good in a few years. The only thing I'm looking forward to is the new Phandalin Campaign. The rest of what they are talking about is just meh. Way better 3rd party products out there. I was hoping Dragonlance was going to be great, as it was a fantastic game world back in the day. It ended up being just meh. Even the Kender race was a serious let down.
You're off base, you spent way too much time talking about what the format is not then you did actually covering. Like a guy covering an infomercial on the shopping network and the complaining that it's not 60 minutes. It is what it is, a marketing video
I skipped everything not related to the table top game so I watched like 4 minutes of it? I am interested in the VTT but honestly I think it will just end up being an overpriced hunk of junk.
Remember when they said the brand is undermonetized and they had a 3 prong approach to fix that? Welcome to the first installment for that.
I think this was basically a big commercial - just like every Direct anything (having seen a lot of video game Directs over the years) and they amount of info they gave us was just about the same. And pretty appropriate for books still in the beginning stages. It was a taste of what the future holds, marketing just like you mentioned.
My biggest takeaway from that was that I'm sad the OGL debacle is going to mar that beautiful JoCat song.
If anyone truly believes that WOTC will allow you to import your homebrew content into their virtual tabletop for free or use the VTT for free is naive. Thank you for your coverage of the presentation.
I believe WOTC is trying to get the wildfire under control.
Ahh, perfect, only coverage of the things I care about. Thanks!
I am frustrated by the lack of discussion about Planescape and that sweet Tony Diterlizzi art piece!
Thanks for the quick response to the video :).
I think the video shows where they will focus their attention, in order of priorities:
1. Video games.
2. Toys.
3. Virtual Tabletop.
4. Books.
I see this as something positive. Like in the 90s, the void they leave will be filled by great games.
Cheers!
I look at these the same way I look at a Nintendo Direct presentation. I don't need to be reminded about BotW: Tears of the Kingdom for the bajillionth time, so clearly these are reaching a larger audience. D&D is doing the same thing. I don't need a reminder that the movie is coming out, but I'm sure the more casual fan (i.e. the majority of people I play D&D with) does. I would venture a guess that these are going to be aimed at all ages: lots of toys & minecraft for kids, sculpts and MMOs for the older audience, actual game stuff for the die hards. What I'm more shocked about is the absolute lack of mentioning D&D One and the playtest. While it has its own series of videos, you'd think they'd want to use their more casual announcement platform to nudge people to go try out the playtest.
🚫WOTC🚫
Great summary :)
Definitely still very sceptical about the VTT. Still sounds walled gardeny Like DnD Beyond but I'd love to be wrong.
I love the idea of a giant sourcebook, but I hope its better than the watered down cut/paste we got from Fizban. I hope that it was delayed in order to tighten up the quality. Unfortunately, Hasbro wants to build a brand, not create good game.
Think it was a pretty neat direct, even tho i didnt care much about the first half, its still interesting to see. Looking forward to that VTT tho!
This was a super helpful summary! Thanks!
I watched the first 10 minutes of the D&D Direct presentation, and came to the conclusion that they seem to talk about nothing I am interested in, so I stopped watching that nothing burger. Thanks for telling me how little I missed.
There has never been a better time to play game systems other than D&D.
I have no idea which edition the vecna book will be. I think they will try to use planescape as a bridge between 5e and 6th edition.
I'm just waiting for the Phandelver Campaign to release then I want to play or DM the ultimate Phandelver Campaign (Lost Mines + Icepire Peak + Doip DLC + Phandelver Campaign)
My group is pen and paper. We have played publicly at a store for years. I have no interest in vvt. All I ever wanted was to buy physical and have access to a pdf of the physical product without paying extra for that pdf other lesser companies already do that. They are cutting out BM stores, which is so sad.
It truly feels like D&D as a game itself is an afterthought these days. They seem less concerned with making a great game and more concerned with it's monetisation: vtt, movie, new adventures but not new core content. And I'm just not that interested in the d&d IP, I'm interested in the 5e system.
The Corporate heads of Hasbro see the DnD name as a potential money maker, but they are unhappy with the fact that once you buy the books you need for your campaign you have no reason to spend money until a new edition is released (and some people do not move to new editions). They see all these people playing DnD and it pisses them off that they are not taking more money from players. They will do whatever it takes to get $$ from the player base, movies, toys, pay to play options, VTT, anything.
Of course some of those things will be good and useful to the average player. Some things may bring in new players as well. It all depends on the player base and what they ate willing to accept.
F W U O C T K C
In my opinion, for what it's worth, is that WotC haven't released anything good in a few years. The only thing I'm looking forward to is the new Phandalin Campaign. The rest of what they are talking about is just meh. Way better 3rd party products out there. I was hoping Dragonlance was going to be great, as it was a fantastic game world back in the day. It ended up being just meh. Even the Kender race was a serious let down.
You're off base, you spent way too much time talking about what the format is not then you did actually covering. Like a guy covering an infomercial on the shopping network and the complaining that it's not 60 minutes. It is what it is, a marketing video
I skipped everything not related to the table top game so I watched like 4 minutes of it? I am interested in the VTT but honestly I think it will just end up being an overpriced hunk of junk.