In fact, their touts all read as if written by an amateur. It's like they sacrificed their marketing budget to get this out. (FYI, marketing normally takes 80% of the budget for a large company in order to keep a dominant place in the market for most products of any kind.) A built-in customer base can only go so far, especially when the base is getting tired of the reboots.

It's almost like they made a careful effort not to call attention to their books. The red logo and ribbon seem to be designed to get lost, and the images on the covers are static field images that do not draw your attention toward the center but instead draw your eye outward, away from center. (Put the original AD&D books up against these and you will realize that the originals draw your attention a whole lot more than these.)

Sorry, from a trained advertiser's perspective, I'm finding it hard to believe they would do it this way unless they're looking to tank the company Bain-Capital-style.

The new logo brings back the 2E «&» dragon signature.

This edition was built using open play tests paquets for the last 2 years - similar to what Paizo did with Pathfinder. I've seen people play it at a FLGS. Its looks like a 2E with some stuff from 3E and 4E. Don't worry there are no power cards and other 4E madness.

Getting the starter for $23US in July is good marketing. Plus the starter «as everything to play levels 1-5». The other 3 books will come out over a 3 month period from August to October. And I'm guessing the sleeved bookcase in november just int time for Christmas gifts.

Some info on the changes : 

QUOTE:

« 1 - This is still unknown. However, Wizards looks to be finally paying heed to electronic formats with DnDclassics.com being pushed.

2 - The final playtest packet follows the 3.5 tradition of classes. It has Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Mage (the new Wizard, between wizard and sorcerer), Monk, Paladin, Ranger and Rogue. It sounds like Sorcerer and Warlock will end up in the release version.

3 - There are no more per encounter abilities. Most abilities are recharged after a long rest, with a smaller amount recharged after a short rest (1 hour downtime.) So it is much closer to the way things were handled before 4th edition.

4 - This is a long one

A modified Vancian system. You now have casts per day, similar to how a sorcerer worked in 3.5. You then memorize what spells are available for the day. You get 1+Caster Level in spells. So a level 10 mage gets to memorize 11 spells with their long rest. Of specific note, many spells are no longer level specific. Instead of magic missile improving as you level, it can be cast as any level of spell. It fires one dart per spell level, dealing 1d4+1 damage each. So you can cast magic missile as a level 9 spell to fire 9 darts or as a level 3 spell to fire 3 darts. Spells have a minimum level, for example fireball must be at least a 3rd level spell. One you selected your memorized spells they can be cast from any appropriate spell slot like a sorcerer. All casting classes follow these basic principals.

Multiclassing caster classes is weird. All classes share the same spells per day pool which grows in caster level accordiing to class. So a 10 Cleric/10 Mage would have four 1st level spell slots and one 9th level spell slot. However, they would be unable to learn 9th level spells. The highest level spell they could learn in cleric or mage would be 5th level. So to use that 9th level spell slot they would have to cast a lower level spell as a 9th level spell such as Cure Wounds or Magic Missile. Caster classes are broken up into full CL (Druid, Cleric, Mage) classes and 1/2 CL classes (Paladin, Ranger, Bard.)

So a Cleric/Mage is actually quite viable and can cast spells at 9th level power. However, they lack access to true 9th level spells.

In summary all casters are halfway between Wizard and Sorc now.

5 - This one is kind of longer too

Combat is pretty similar to 3.5 in flow and style with simplified rules. The game should run perfectly fine on hexes.

Of major note, BAB, Skills points, and Save bonuses no longer exist. Everything has been boiled down to a single proficiency bonus. You get the bonus on any weapon, spell, save, or skill you are proficient in. Saves are now broken down by stat. So there is a strength save, con save, wisdom save, ect. For any non-standard action you can just make a skill check. Most players agree the simplified rules afford more liberty in what you can do.

The power gap between 1 and 20 is smaller. Instead of BAB progressing from 0-20, your proficiency bonus only progresses from 0-6. AC climbs less too. So there is less of an artificial treadmill where your BAB goes up, but then everything's AC goes up. Instead they focus on higher level stuff has more HP and can survive longer. However, 20 goblins can kill you if you just let them take pot shots at you. Lower level monsters are still a threat in numbers even to high level players.

Another big thing is the reduction of +1/+2 bonuses. You are far less likely to have a large amount of bonuses to track. It is mostly proficiency+stat+one bonus from buffs. They use advantage and disadvantage to replace a lot of bonuses. Advantage is roll two dice and take the highest, disadvantage is roll two dice and take the lowest. They are harder to get, but more powerful.

It should run just fine on hexes or a grid.

Overall

There is a very clear intention to get back 3.5 and earlier players, even if it costs them 4th edition players. I would describe it as having the feel and theme of 3.5 and earlier, but with a simplified, easier to work ruleset. From a mechanical standpoint the rules are actually pretty elegant and the game seems a lot less broken than previous editions. Classes are far closer in power without being homogeneous like 4th edition. The caster/fighter gap is closer than ever.

I believe if you order any 5th edition materials from dndclassics it comes with a copy of the final playtest.»

I'm on board with you about the reduction of modifiers. I hate «bonus hunting» through the rules. That's why these days I play Numenera by Monte Cook. Its an excellent distilation of the d20 system.

I had no intention of buying D&D 5E but after reading this and watching a game I may invest in it.

And it get better :

More details on the FREE Basic D&D :

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dndqa/20140530

Sure you can dig up your old books if you want to deal with negative ACs, limits to class levels per race, THAC0, Save vs Death, XP drain by undead...

More info in this video with Mike Mearls. If you don't have time to watch just read the summary under the video frame.

However, bounded accuracy is not something just any company can pursue. It takes a lot of developers and play-testers to bear out something that requires comparing numbers and results so thoroughly.

Change of marketing philosophy at WoTC : 

full article :

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140609

Character sheets have a retro feel. A good thing they dropped the accounting look...

Yes its a stated goal to remove all the stupid circomstancial modifiers and replace them with the advantage/disavantage rule.

The link to the Free Basic set of rules.

https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules

That Tiamat image is awesome. Did you notice the heads include all the various styles of dragons from the various great painters?

Though if I judge by the D&D Next playtest PDF, it appears that it is just some common sense issues and a table for spells per day.

Finished reading the rule book of the Starter Set : 

I'm impressed with the overall production quality. The only thing I don't like is the flimsy covers.

Font sizes, title and subtitles are well proportioned in relation to each other.

The box depth is deep enough to allow storage of a few extra modules (a printed copy of Basic?) and campaign notes. Perfect for beginners.

Rule wise it really does feel like a fusion of 2E and 3E. Which is great imho.

Love the return to Ability checks. Could never quite adjust to the 3E changes. My players always had to remind me that it didn't work that way anymore.

I'm very happy that Cantrips are now at-will and that some of them are offensive spells. It will make the lower levels less difficult for Magic-users.

Love that Shield is a reactive spell ! It makes so much sense.

Combat : Wasn't sold on the return to «Single action + Move». But since its possible to «break up» the move its fluid enough to seduce me. Bonus actions and reactions sell it for me.

The 10 minute rest period to recoup (heal some HPs) makes more sense than 4E healing surges. Its a good compromise between realism and speeding up play.

Overall it felt like a complete game in a box.