Stealing this from the first comment in the video. To sum up. Edit top add for the 48 sub classes they did specify 4 for each class which I know was some discussion before.
1. Almost everything scored really high
2. Highest Scoring thing: Feats from Backgrounds at Level 1
3. Lowest Scoring thing: Highly Experimental "D20 Test" Rules where 1 is always a fail and 20 is always a success
4. Other low scoring (60% range) things: New Dragonborn and Ardling
5. Next UA has new versions of the Dragonborn and Ardling (Dragonborn specifically getting Breath Weapon changes)
6. Clarification that UA Dragonborn race can be played alongside other existing Dragonborn races, they don't replace anythingUpcoming UA stuff
7. Next UA will include "A new version of the Cleric" (Last UA drop was very large, they're going for smaller installments now, will be followed by the other members of the Priest group, the Druid and Paladin)
8. Warrior group will also include new Weapon options for certain types of characters ("whole new ways to use weapons")
9. New "Home Base" rules, recurring downtime rules, called the "Bastion" system
10. Eldritch Blast has not been removed, but it doesn't exist on any of the new spell lists. More info when the Warlock arrives.
11. Removal of the Thief's access to "Use an Object" with Cunning Action was intentional. It's a mechanic they refer to as a "Mother May I" mechanic, which depends heavily on DM approval or buy-in to function properly, and could be frustrating or unsatisfying, or slow down the game, and create an endless stream of questions regarding specific use cases. This is part of a larger effort to clarify rules. May return with some changes.
12. On GWM/SS changes: The penalty to accuracy was too small, especially at high levels, to justify that large of a damage bonus. They want the Warrior class to rely on their Class Features (new weapon options are mentioned) to increase their damage output. They don't want any one feat to feel mandatory in order to do a significant amount of damage.
13. Some "juicy" stuff coming for Warrior group for dealing damage.
14. From the video description: "The document on December 1st is the third in a series of Unearthed Arcana articles that present material designed for the next version of the Player’s Handbook". Looks like new UA drops tomorrow?
This video was really encouraging. I hope we continue to get transparent and helpful updates like this going forward. It's really nice to know how they are using the data and what their thought processes are.
I just hope they get rid of Ardlings and replace them with Aasimar along with fixing sneak attack as rogues just suck now compared to other expert classes. As for dragonborn they just need to get the same wording for the breathweapon in Fizbans so that they can replace one of their extra attacks with their breathweapon.
I did appreciate the video. Not sure I'd call it "transparent" but it was good to hear them talk about results. I have enough experience and age to be wary of ANY corporate presentation (and that's what this was), but taken with some grains of salt, it was helpful to hear them talk about the results of the first survey.
I did wonder specifically about Crawford's claim that they're reading the comments, especially compared to some folks here having the (not unreasonable) opinion that WOTC is not, in fact, reading the comments.
They are definitely reading the comments. If not all of them, they are reading the ones on elements that test poorly. There are changes they are making based on the results that weren't covered by questions you could rate with a score. It's feedback they can only get from comments. Like why exactly people didn't like Aardlings, for example.
They will have the scores we give items immediately on a dashboard. They don't have to hand count them. That's data they have right away. They can then focus on the results that are especially high or low and read those comments thoroughly. It would be an incredible waste of information to not use it.
I'm also glad to hear they are setting a high bar for a rule 'passing.' I know we can't expect perfect transparency from any presentation, but we got more than I personally expected. And more than most companies would probably give in a case like this. I liked hearing their reasoning for some changes. Like cleaning up rules that required buy in from DMs to work. I might not like all the changes it resulted in, (Thief losing their ability to use an object for one) but I can agree with the intent behind it. It shows deliberate thought behind the updates. And we can always give feedback on the changes that don't work.
I don't think Ardlings need to be replaced with Aasimar, but there definitely does need to be 1) some clarity on the fact that you CAN still play Aasimar, they haven't been replaced, and 2) some stronger thematic differentiation between the two. As it stands, they seem to be trying to position the Ardling as a mirror to the Tiefling, but... that's what the Aasimar was.
The comment in the video said that they thought it was an issue of the Ardling "trying to be too many things," but the bigger problem is that one of those things is already accomplished by a fan-favorite player race.
Really happy they commented on some of their design goals! What they said in this video is really encouraging and alleviates some discomfort I was feeling. I hope we get more of these as we move forward in the playtest.
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Stealing this from the first comment in the video. To sum up. Edit top add for the 48 sub classes they did specify 4 for each class which I know was some discussion before.
1. Almost everything scored really high
2. Highest Scoring thing: Feats from Backgrounds at Level 1
3. Lowest Scoring thing: Highly Experimental "D20 Test" Rules where 1 is always a fail and 20 is always a success
4. Other low scoring (60% range) things: New Dragonborn and Ardling
5. Next UA has new versions of the Dragonborn and Ardling (Dragonborn specifically getting Breath Weapon changes)
6. Clarification that UA Dragonborn race can be played alongside other existing Dragonborn races, they don't replace anything Upcoming UA stuff
7. Next UA will include "A new version of the Cleric" (Last UA drop was very large, they're going for smaller installments now, will be followed by the other members of the Priest group, the Druid and Paladin)
8. Warrior group will also include new Weapon options for certain types of characters ("whole new ways to use weapons")
9. New "Home Base" rules, recurring downtime rules, called the "Bastion" system
10. Eldritch Blast has not been removed, but it doesn't exist on any of the new spell lists. More info when the Warlock arrives.
11. Removal of the Thief's access to "Use an Object" with Cunning Action was intentional. It's a mechanic they refer to as a "Mother May I" mechanic, which depends heavily on DM approval or buy-in to function properly, and could be frustrating or unsatisfying, or slow down the game, and create an endless stream of questions regarding specific use cases. This is part of a larger effort to clarify rules. May return with some changes.
12. On GWM/SS changes: The penalty to accuracy was too small, especially at high levels, to justify that large of a damage bonus. They want the Warrior class to rely on their Class Features (new weapon options are mentioned) to increase their damage output. They don't want any one feat to feel mandatory in order to do a significant amount of damage.
13. Some "juicy" stuff coming for Warrior group for dealing damage.
14. From the video description: "The document on December 1st is the third in a series of Unearthed Arcana articles that present material designed for the next version of the Player’s Handbook". Looks like new UA drops tomorrow?
This video was really encouraging. I hope we continue to get transparent and helpful updates like this going forward. It's really nice to know how they are using the data and what their thought processes are.
I just hope they get rid of Ardlings and replace them with Aasimar along with fixing sneak attack as rogues just suck now compared to other expert classes. As for dragonborn they just need to get the same wording for the breathweapon in Fizbans so that they can replace one of their extra attacks with their breathweapon.
NGL: glad the D20 test stuff tested low.
I did appreciate the video. Not sure I'd call it "transparent" but it was good to hear them talk about results. I have enough experience and age to be wary of ANY corporate presentation (and that's what this was), but taken with some grains of salt, it was helpful to hear them talk about the results of the first survey.
I did wonder specifically about Crawford's claim that they're reading the comments, especially compared to some folks here having the (not unreasonable) opinion that WOTC is not, in fact, reading the comments.
They are definitely reading the comments. If not all of them, they are reading the ones on elements that test poorly. There are changes they are making based on the results that weren't covered by questions you could rate with a score. It's feedback they can only get from comments. Like why exactly people didn't like Aardlings, for example.
They will have the scores we give items immediately on a dashboard. They don't have to hand count them. That's data they have right away. They can then focus on the results that are especially high or low and read those comments thoroughly. It would be an incredible waste of information to not use it.
I'm also glad to hear they are setting a high bar for a rule 'passing.' I know we can't expect perfect transparency from any presentation, but we got more than I personally expected. And more than most companies would probably give in a case like this. I liked hearing their reasoning for some changes. Like cleaning up rules that required buy in from DMs to work. I might not like all the changes it resulted in, (Thief losing their ability to use an object for one) but I can agree with the intent behind it. It shows deliberate thought behind the updates. And we can always give feedback on the changes that don't work.
I don't think Ardlings need to be replaced with Aasimar, but there definitely does need to be 1) some clarity on the fact that you CAN still play Aasimar, they haven't been replaced, and 2) some stronger thematic differentiation between the two. As it stands, they seem to be trying to position the Ardling as a mirror to the Tiefling, but... that's what the Aasimar was.
The comment in the video said that they thought it was an issue of the Ardling "trying to be too many things," but the bigger problem is that one of those things is already accomplished by a fan-favorite player race.
Really happy they commented on some of their design goals! What they said in this video is really encouraging and alleviates some discomfort I was feeling. I hope we get more of these as we move forward in the playtest.