Three New 5e Settings Confirmed

[Segev]

According to everything I've read, D&D has never been more popular. I can see WotC trying to thread the needle so they can bring it to even more heights while also trying to avoid the social microscope effect.

Honestly they should just probably go with all new settings from now on.

Going with new settings would be a better approach. I think “threading the needle” is impossible, though, because there will always be some people unhappy with any work.

I fear this current trend may curtail, rather than enhance, D&D’s mass appeal.

But, making new settings is the best way to try this out. You minimize the risk of alienating existing fans by making changes they might dislike, avoid sparking arguments over whether fans are bad people for not supporting those changes, and can (best of all) build whatever it is you feel will enhance the mass appeal of the new work into the setting from the ground up.

Make great settings with whatever elements you want incorporated, rather than forcing templates on existing works, and you can see how well this appeals to the mass market without the pushback from your existing fanbase over “they changed it: now it sucks.”