Tangentially, there is something a new edition always struggles with. 5E D&D will have to compete in its infancy with the entire corpus of 3E D&D. To me, that means that it would have to be a pretty serious and innovative improvement.
No. It doesn't. You know why?
Day One: Put out a player's handbook with 3,334 spells. How?
Oh, I dunno, just convert the 3,334 spells already in existence in 3.5.
Oh hell, get rid of the worst 2,334 spells. Just give me the best 1,000 3.5 spells in the PBH. Don't give me any crap about cost or anything. Make it a damn PDF. It will cost you nothing. Make it a Web-G'damn-Enhancement.
But they won't. Ever. You know how I know?
The release date for the DMG is Nov 19th. Black Friday is the 28th. Can't ship on the 28th, 27th is thanksgiving, some people take a whole week off, so... the 49.95 dollar book needs to be on the shelves by the 21st, a friday. In case there are any problems with distribution, we need someone in the office, so we need two extra days. Because if there is any problems with distribution, nobody is going to be in the office after 9:01pm EST on friday the 21st, and lord knows how many people are taking a vacation that week.
If you are releasing the DMG, the single most important book for RUNNING the game on Nov 19th, you are doing it in hopes of getting under Christmas trees by December 25th.
That is cold, calculating, greed. That's bean-counter planning. That's someone with a tie and a suit making the choices.
I get that you don't get it. I lived in that world. To you, this seems normal. I'm sure you're about to raise up, "Why shouldn't they make money?" Nothing wrong with making money. Are you making the money because you love the game and want it to flourish, or are you making the money because you LOVE MONEY.
If they released all the core books together in a set that was cheaper to buy as a unit soft cover, then a limited edition hard cover boxed set, they'd make money, and get the information out there, and get down to the buisness of running the game.
But check the release schedule. That's not someone trying to win back fans. That's someone trying to build up hype then cash in on black friday.
And here's the weird thing. Here's the god-damn, funny as hell thing...
I actually like the new spell system. I'm liking the SYSTEM. The SYSTEM isn't bad. When you get past the stupid crap, the under lying mechanics ain't bad. I like the new concentration rules, the simplified conditions. They trimmed away a whole bunch of useless. The whole Advantage/Disadvantage thing. Kinda cool. Damage types. I like how they got all the ducks in a row. They were kind to non-spellcasters. Got rid of a whole bunch of feat taxes. Made the remaining feats much stronger.
But it's like they have this nice, new, shiny thing, and it's an engine. But the example parts they gave you to hook up to the engine are made by IKEA. When I read it, I feel like I need to turn on my pop-up blocker. And then, I look over at the beat up engine under my 1965 car. When I gun the engine, gas goes up 6 cents a gallon. When it drives down the road, the ozone layer starts holding up signs begging for mercy. But it's got power. I can do ANYTHING with that monster.
So why don't you take everything cool about my muscle car and put it on your shiny new engine? The answer, We plan on it. In time. Little here, a little there. "Oh, we can't do it all at once! We need to go slow about this. Don't want to make any mistakes."
Uh, this 3.5 stuff has like, I dunno 10+ years of play testing. I'm sure some of it could be ported over right away. Not all of it. How about 25%? Just give me the best 1 out of 4. How about....
371 spells? That's... what I get. You have 4 previous editions of D&D to choose from and I get 11% of 3rd edition. And not even the best 11%. No... maybe 40 new spells. The rest are the same old spells that have been in the PHB for 5 editions now. And these spells have to be spread among Bard, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard.
I get maybe 1% cool spells and 10% same old same old of the 3,334 spells that 3rd has to offer.
Ah. Perfect example. Hero System. It was screwed up. It needed fixing. When they did a new edition, it was to correct the game. They included EVERYTHING in one big book. Yes, you needed to rebuy the rules, but only one book. This is it. We swear. We're moving on from here with all new stuff.
WotC is not putting out a new edition to fix the game. They are attempting to repackage the old game to make MONEY. There is nothing in the product or behavior to indicate to me otherwise. If at any point someone who loved the game was trying to turn it around at WotC, he has lost control.
You know what, I'm done. if you can't figure it out, I'm done explaining.