Hidden amongst an interview about the MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online, I found this little gem that sheds light on WotC's online plans for D&D.
 
For those of you who don't know (or care) about Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) the underlying game mechanics are a houseruled game of 3rd edition D&D. Players have long speculated that Hasbro would upgrade DDO to the current rule set, or replace DDO entirely when the license expires next year. Obviously the license outlived 4e but this is the first official news that DDO will co-exist with 5e.
 
In the timeframe that this coexistance is speculated to have been secretly agreed upon, there have been slight changes to feats. For example, the Mobility feat now increases the minimum dexterity of armor, and Shield Mastery feats decrease damage by a set percentage. I can't be sure but I suspect that these changes could be accounted for by the slight differences between 3.x and 5e.
 

QuoteGB: Are you going to drop the Eberron Unlimited subtitle now that it's going to span two campaign settings?

Eric: Yeah, starting early this year we're going to be Dungeons & Dragons Online. That's also something that we had taken some time and had a lot of discussions with WotC about how we represented that. So we're officially going with Dungeons & Dragons Online as our primary title and then we'll add the subtitles when it's appropriate, for example, "Menace of the Underdark" for the expansion.

Fernando: Yeah, that's kind of a big deal and it's almost buried news in all the big news that's happening here is that Turbine now has permission to be Dungeons & Dragons Online without having to have a subtitle attached to it. So that's the brand of our service, Dungeons & Dragons Online. We'll be including adventures in Eberron, and we'll include content like Menace of the Underdark. Conceivably, we can expand to other D&D universes and other parts of those existing settings over time. So, really, we're just the online experience of DDO in the MMO space right now.

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/106515-dungeons-a-dragons-online-menace-of-the-underdark-interview.html

Other D&D universes, eh?

A stroll around Greyhawk might not be such a bad thing...

I guess WotC are much happier with Turbine as a licensee than they were with Atari; perhaps Turbine's solid revenues (Since going F2P) and large fanbase are more appealing than the shit Atari managed to dredge from development.

I do think we shouldn't necessarily read too much into the mechanics changes for the MMO, though - it's a different game design, which needs to be managed in a different way.

Quote from: Ladybird;507460I guess WotC are much happier with Turbine as a licensee than they were with Atari; perhaps Turbine's solid revenues (Since going F2P) and large fanbase are more appealing than the shit Atari managed to dredge from development.

I do think we shouldn't necessarily read too much into the mechanics changes for the MMO, though - it's a different game design, which needs to be managed in a different way.

Except that in one of the latest news bits about 5E on Enworld, Mearls confirmed the design team's desire to bring back all sorts of 2E settings. He made no promises, but at least declared the intention. Make of that what you will, but it sounded a lot less hesitant than their announcements for and during 4E to me.

They could bring back PDFs, or be looking into even more premium reprints of older edition stuff.

Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online experience and success gives me hopes for a decent D&D Online game. I suppose I should actually try out the current iteration, but I'm more inclined to keep saving Middle Earth for now.

Quote from: Malleus Arianorum;507430I can't be sure but I suspect that these changes could be accounted for by the slight differences between 3.x and 5e.

I very much doubt that. Nothing we've heard indicates that 5ed will be 3ed with just slight differences. Those changes are almost certainly just Turbine balancing according to its own needs. Having damage reduction as a percentage doesn't work very well as a TT RPG mechanic.

Quote from: Daztur;507500I very much doubt that. Nothing we've heard indicates that 5ed will be 3ed with just slight differences. Those changes are almost certainly just Turbine balancing according to its own needs. Having damage reduction as a percentage doesn't work very well as a TT RPG mechanic.

All that is plausable, but until now Turbine has kept the 3rd edition feats segregated from their houserules. I suspect something has changed to allow them to change feats.
 
(And for what it's worth, damage reduction as a percentage is totaly messing up the metagame in the MMO too. So whatever the ultimate source is, it's not the fountain of well thought out ideas.)

Quote from: thedungeondelver;507443Other D&D universes, eh?

A stroll around Greyhawk might not be such a bad thing...

Never have been drawn deeply into any MMO, but Spelljammer online could possibly do that.

Quote from: stu2000;507666Never have been drawn deeply into any MMO, but Spelljammer online could possibly do that.

No Spelljammer yet, but how would you feel about your very own flying boat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NFLJYddRtc

RPS had an interview yesterday with the executive producer of D&D Online. I don't think that their mechanical tweaks have any relevance for our speculation on D&D 5, but this little bit might:

RPS: What era of the Forgotten Realms is this all set in? Is it current or is it more historical stuff?

Paiz: Well... I'd rather not touch too much on the details of that right now, we're still working out some of the details with Wizards of the Coast. Our forgotten realms storylines are going to be very resonant with the fiction and storylines that Wizards of the Coast will be releasing for Forgotten Realms next year. At least in terms of the stakes and the backdrop to our stories, they'll be very much current with the latest stuff that Wizards are doing.

Perhaps further confirmation, if more is needed, that D&D 5 is going to be a 2013 release, and that it might well be worth looking at it this summer.