[5] On the Essentials line, M.J. Harnish, for Wired, commented that "for the past few years, starting with the very announcement of 4E and the Virtual Tabletop debacle, Wizards has been very poor at communicating honestly and openly with its fan base and has put out a string of very sub-par or poorly supported products, many of which saw errata almost immediately after their release.

[...] Please don’t get me wrong… I love the Essential line so far, especially the new PC builds, yet I fear that many customers like myself are going to have similar, negative reactions when they go through the books.

[...] The D&D Essentials DM Kit is an excellent, high quality product for new DMs that graduate from the Red Box".

[2] Kevin Kulp, game designer and admin of the independent D&D fansite ENWorld, commented that this "is the boxed set that many people wish that 4e D&D had started off with, instead of the actual DMG; it's a beautifully illustrated, clearly organized, rewritten guide to running 4e D&D.

In every piece of art, from cartography to combat diagrams to the vibrant and action-filled illustrations, the magical tone and feel of the game comes through.