Whenever I get on OneBookShelf's online stores and cruise the 5E-compatible sections, I notice a common trend.
The best-sellers on DM's Guild are player-centric options. New archetypes, classes, all that jazz. On Drive-Thru RPG I see similar things, with some mini-adventures here and there. Third party settings as of now are as rare as hen's teeth.
If one looks at the schedule release of official 5th Edition material, it's clear that it's adventure-heavy. Out of the Abyss, Curse of Strahd, Tyranny of Dragons...and so far only one setting book for Forgotten Realms. And nothing akin to "Complete X" from 3rd Edition or "X Power" from 4th.
It seems that when it comes to more mechanical options for your PC, you've got slim pickings unless your Dungeon Master's warm to the idea of third party material.
I think this is intentional. Wizards is focusing on adventures as their major selling points; by centering ads and promotional material around big campaigns with story arcs spanning many levels, they can build a sense of shared community, like in TSR days when everyone could share stories about how they died in the Tomb of Horrors, or how much they wanted to kill Bargle after he slaughtered their PCs' love interest/tutor Aleena the Cleric. At least, that's the intent.
During the 3rd Edition era, adventure-building wasn't WotC's strong suit. During the D20 boom there were lots of adventures and adventure paths, and aside from gems like the Red Hand of Doom or first-time things like the Sunless Citadel, the myriad nature of third party adventures taking the cake eroded that commonality of gamers from lands far and wide drawing from shared experiences.
4th Edition's adventures did not fare well either, not showing off the strong points of the system. Combined with the fan backlash against 4th, there weren't many memorable adventures in the gaming consciousness from that era either (at least that I know of).
So by focusing on massive campaigns taking center stage and devoting resources to making, not only is Wizards tapping into that shared collective again, they're also avoiding the "splatbook treadmill" of 3rd and 4th which many gamers hated.
Thoughts?
