note how many 5e players are actually looking at BG3 vs. those that don't know much about, or know nothing about 5e
Hm, I'd say that in total, a LOT more people today know about DnD than did back in the 80s/90s/2000s...it has almost become mainstream (which I very much welcome, no matter what some people might think about 5E. It's wildly successful with an audience far bigger than any before).
However, it might be the case that the percentage of "people who know and like DnD" within the group of "people who care about story-driven tactical RPG video games" has changed compared to how things were back in the day - but I wouldn't know how to find out for sure.
Suffice it to say that I don't think going core 5E would 'alienate' too many people. But just as I wrote in the original post: If that is the worry, by all means, they could make it an option when starting the game: "Do you want 5E by the rules, no nonsense, or do you prefer things go boom every encounter?" <-- the latter option would need no balancing, just give enemies all the nitroglycerin they can eat, go nuts. The people who enjoyed DOS2 for that (I ended up playing Story Mode because I got so fed up with the system, but loved the story + writing) will again enjoy cheesing the hell out of unfair encounters or steamroll everything with that one combo they found.
