I find the art and trade dress totally underwhelming, not bad but bland.
The page count instead is overwhelming.
Given the fact I already have a bazillion fantasy games that can do D&D with lower page count it's very unlikely I'll be buying this edition, but then I didn't buy 4th edition either.

Quote from: LibraryLass;750521I can dig it. But I wish that the PHB cover had... you know... adventurers featured more prominently on it. People that might be PCs. Even if that is a cool Fire Giant.

They don't show very well on the tiny versions of the cover most sites are featuring, but there actually are adventurers on the PHB.

EDIT: Whups, should have read ahead.

Anyway, nice demonstration of how "practical armour for women" and "seriously badass" can happily coexist.

I have to agree with those who feel the trade dress is a bit bland. Doesn't do much for me.

$30 for an adventure?  Is that normal?  I haven't bouoght a print adventure in years.

I really like the new art, however I'm just not excited by yet another version of D&D, especially given how much I didn't enjoy 4E.  That combined with the massive lag between Players Guide, DMG & Monsters Manual means I am officially no longer interested in the product.

I might pick it up in a year or twos time when the price has dropped, but its not super likely.

I have D&D 3.5, which is my favourite edition and my players favourite edition; on top of that I have 13th Age (which I love) and then Dungeon World if we want to try something with a different system.  If we want to go old school then we've got Lamentation of the Flame Princess to cover that nicely.

Quote from: UberMunchkin;750593... on top of that I have 13th Age (which I love) and then Dungeon World if we want to try something with a different system.  If we want to go old school then we've got Lamentation of the Flame Princess to cover that nicely.

I'm in the same boat. My D&D "experience" has been replaced with other games, old and new. And for far cheaper...

That being said, for some reason I'd like to see this game succeed and beat Paizo. I don't really know why: I feel no spite for Pathfinder. *Shrug*

Judging by that trade dress, they haven't learned from all their mistakes yet. I would give them the benefit of the doubt though and say it's a mock-up but this is Wizards we are talking about.

Quote from: Necrozius;750594That being said, for some reason I'd like to see this game succeed and beat Paizo. I don't really know why: I feel no spite for Pathfinder. *Shrug*

You basically want a new edition of D&D to beat an old edition of D&D.

Quote from: Zachary The First;750585I have to agree with those who feel the trade dress is a bit bland. Doesn't do much for me.

That's what I thought at first, but then I compared it to what's on the original AD&D covers. Hardly less bland than that. In fact, if I had to guess, maybe it's their attempt to hearken back to that a bit.

Quote from: Warthur;750583They don't show very well on the tiny versions of the cover most sites are featuring, but there actually are adventurers on the PHB.

EDIT: Whups, should have read ahead.

Anyway, nice demonstration of how "practical armour for women" and "seriously badass" can happily coexist.

Yeah, as someone who has regularly complained about being bored of stripperiffic armour, I like that pic and I like her outfit.

As a cover design though, that entire thing is kinda understated; it's fine for a book, but it doesn't look like it would have much shelf pop.

Quote from: Marleycat;750431On ENWorld they are saying it's dropped to $40 per book on Amazon. I would link you but I have a hard time navigating that site.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_hi_2?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AWizards+RPG+Team&bbn=283155&sort=date-desc-rank&ie=UTF8&qid=1400528144

Thanks for the link; pre-ordered everything.

Ambivalent about the covers...makes me think 4th edition, which isn't a good thing.

At this point, a lot of whether I'm going to buy 5e depends on how much loose gelt I've got sitting around and on reviews.  It's simply not a must-buy, which is a side-effect of following on the heels of 4e and it's terrible release schedule as well as coming out at a time where Pathfinder and the OSR do everything D&D used to do.

I'll be at GenCon, conceivably I could buy it there, but at this point I have every flavor of D&D I'll ever need -- I have the collector's set of the original books, I've got ACKS, I've got the Compendium, I've got the 1e books, I've got the 3.5 stuff I bought but never played, and I've got the 4e books and Essentials which I played but never loved.  And, more than that, I have Pathfinder, which I genuinely enjoy and which which has a reliable release schedule, a clear development plan, and chargen software.  SO, fundamentally, I don't need 5e like I wanted 3e when it came out.

Quote from: Marleycat;750480I concur though I do generally like the art.

The quality of the art is good, but I don't like the scenes they chose to illustrate on the core rulebook covers. They look like covers to novels I'd find in the bookstore.

The PHB is the worst of the lot, in my opinion. I want multiple characters facing off against dangerous odds, not something that reminds me of a video game boss battle. D&D is not (typically) a 1-player game.

A scene like this, just as an example off the top of my head (full disclosure - I directed the art on this product):

Quote from: UberMunchkin;750593..I'm just not excited by yet another version of D&D, especially given how much I didn't enjoy 4E.

Ditto. I bought the 4E core as PDFs and was massively underwhelmed. I'm quite happy to wait and see what the reaction is before splashing out.

Quote from: Mark Plemmons;750615The quality of the art is good, but I don't like the scenes they chose to illustrate on the core rulebook covers. They look like covers to novels I'd find in the bookstore.

The PHB is the worst of the lot, in my opinion. I want multiple characters facing off against dangerous odds, not something that reminds me of a video game boss battle. D&D is not (typically) a 1-player game.

There's two PCs on the PHB (front) cover though...