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There are some big changes coming. Big enough that I wonder how much of the material we've been playtsting will actually end up in print.
In another thread, Jason said:
Will it be a game that the vast majority of our fanbase likes, I certainly hope so and all signs indicate that the changes we are in the process of making will lead us to that conclusion.
That's awesome. That's what I want to hear.
Now, will we get a chance to play test that game so we can help it be all that it can be?
Is there time, and is there a plan to get it in front of players for a while, before the final version is sent off to the printers?
Not that we know of.
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The developers have stated several times that there will not be a "second release" of the rules for another round of playtesting. We will have to see what they've changed in the final book.
There literally isn't enough time to run a playtest. There are about 8 months from the end of the playtest until the release date, and they will probably need 3 months or so for printing and distribution. Throw in another month during which the game's ruleset is frozen while finishing touches, formatting and error checking happen, and you end up with 4 months from the end of the playtest until they have to have every rule in the book written up and in a state where it is releasable. They literally do not have enough time to run another playtest.
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I figure they did Starfinder without a playtest and have reams of data from both SF and PF1 to figure out how mechanics work. Combine that with everything they have learned from the playtest and there really isn't the need for another one.
There literally isn't enough time to run a playtest. There are about 8 months from the end of the playtest until the release date
I wonder how set in stone that is?
It's probably very, very, VERY set in concrete.
However...
I suspect that they chose that date to coincide with a big convention AND they thought they would take Playtest version 1, put it into a playtest for a few months, tweak a few rules to create version 1.01 and release it on their chosen date.
But the playtest might have thrown a wrench in that. It doesn't seem like the changes we've seen or the changes we're hoping for are going to be a version 1.01 or even a version 1.1. Big chunks of character creation and progression are changing, some classes are being entirely rewritten, underlying core math that literally affects every aspect of play is being changed.
The release version that goes to press to meet their original chosen date is very, very, VERY different from the original playtest rules. It won't be Playtest 1.01 or 1.1 or even 1.5.
It's almost like it's Playtest 2.0 which makes it almost like it's Pathfinder 3.0.
OK, that is probably overstating it somewhat, but it's almost getting to that point.
Maybe with such sweeping changes, that original date isn't set in concrete anymore?
Maybe that is now the date for Playtest 2.0.
Probably not, but I thought I'd ask.
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Paizo has to have _something_ big to release at Gencon. It's that simple.
If a big Starfinder product was to come, I suspect we would have heard the announcement of it already.
Thus we'll get PF2 at Gencon, even if it means another Advanced Class Guide-quality rush job.
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In this industry, you don't "pick a date close to a popular convention". You release big stuff at GenCon or don't release at all, simple. I'm sure you'd be happy to have one more year to try and convince the devs that the game should be more like you want it to be, but that would mean a 2020 release, and given how all other elements of the publishing schedule are already in motion (final AP, slowdown of other publishing lines, PFS changes), there's little short of a nuke dropped at Seattle that's going to shift the release date.
Thus we'll get PF2 at Gencon, even if it means another Advanced Class Guide-quality rush job.
That's probably true.
But it seems like a "rush job" is a dubious decision for the CORE rulebook of a flagship product intended to carry a company for a decade. At least, that's what the PF1 core rulebook did.
I get that it's not quite a "rush job" because we did playtest it - but with the amount and scope of the changes, it's still at least a semi-rush job.
Which probably doesn't change anything, but I thought I'd ask.
I dunno, maybe if I'm asking, somebody is repeating the question in the Paizo boardroom. Or maybe not.
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Paizo has to have _something_ big to release at Gencon. It's that simple.
If a big Starfinder product was to come, I suspect we would have heard the announcement of it already.
Thus we'll get PF2 at Gencon, even if it means another Advanced Class Guide-quality rush job.
Or worse, Ultimate Wilderness. *shudder*
