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Same here. Not necessarily. The lair might be there for a host of other reasons which may or may not ever impact any PCs. That said.... .....at-table play is still the most important element of the whole thing. Though perhaps sub-optimal, you can play without worldbuilding, you can play...

I disagree with this. The DM designing rules etc. is prepping for group play at a macro level, the DM creating an NPC or dungeon is prepping for group play at a more micro level. Same thing, different scale.

Except the counterpoint here applies only to the individual 'you' being referenced while the OP could be (and I read it as) in reference to the hobby as an aggregate whole. Fairly big difference in scale, there.

Meh - I think that whatever else one does around the game, it all eventually funnels through the at-table play experience. Prep, research, reading, mini-painting, worldbuilding, char-gen - that all funnels into at-table. Logging, recordkeeping, telling war stories at the pub - that all funnels...

Do I really want to know what that is? Or should I just nod and smile as if I know something... :)

Same here. I think the OP is pointing to an emerging future, however, where that hardcover won't exist. The material will only be accessible through DDB. Agreed, provided that physical media is available to buy. More and more movies simply aren't being released on physical media any more...

Why would such an adjustment be erroneous? If their clearly-stated goals for 5.5e were backwards compatibility and interchangeability with 5e, which they were, and they didn't then provide that right out the gate, I'd say it would be erroneous not to fix that. At the moment. Give it time...

People here may or may not be above average at playing the game but it's pretty much ironclad they'll be above average at identifying imbalance, if for no other reason than they see endless examples of it (and complaints about it!) posted in the discussions here and thus know exactly what to...

More that an average or casual player isn't nearly as likely to figure out (other than by sheer guesswork) how to optimize those classes and make them dominant.

Sure, but those things were ultimately of your own doing and thus completely under your control. If, however, a company suddenly decides to yank content or shut down their server you have exactly zero control over that.

There's nothing saying char-gen can't have those interactive and social aspects; even if you're all rolling up characters on your own, if you're doing so together in the same space it's socially pretty much the same as a regular session. In other words: session 0 = roll-up night.

Corollary question: should a game even try to do any of these things?

The average hardcore player, maybe, who has a good grasp of game mechanics. The average average player probably doesn't really notice game-mechanical overshadowing unless it's really extreme, because they just don't know the game mechanics well enough. What those players will notice much more...

Which would make Kobolds-to-Gnolls (which are bigger dog-like critters) similar to Hobbits-to-Humans. Yeah, there's certainly space for that. I've always kinda seen Kobolds as almost their own thing, though; maybe a little bit reptilian in looks but not completely, and not egg-laying. Given...

There's no way in hell a designer can come up with a finished-form game that would satisfy you, me, everyone else reading this post, and the rest of the RPG community that's never heard of ENWorld. My point is that they shouldn't even try. Instead, they should design a solid functional...

Our experiences differ, then. If I declare an action for my character (let's say I'm attacking a foe in melee) that, before any modifiers, needs me to roll 13 or higher on a d20 in order to succeed. As a skilled player, I then take (or have already taken) some steps and actions to improve my...

Since the dawn of D&D, "official" TSR or WotC has carried a cachet that 3rd-party material just doesn't, even when that official material is objectively worse than what the 3rd-party lot are doing at the same time. That said, there's a finite amount of official material for any edition (though...

Because each one gives us a foundation on which to build our own system(s) tailored to suit what we want the game to be, or additional/new ideas to incorporate into such. You're paying for the inspiration it can give you. A vague analogy is buying a house you intend to renovate the hell out of...

The commonly-used parts are what matters most to the most number of people using the system. The old-school experience (though not necessarily all of the old-school design) is D&D. :) And that's what irks me: that edition by edition the changes in design are actively trying to change the...

There's a reason Liches endure for hundreds if not thousands of years; that reason being their ability to do smart things like this. :)