D&D 4E Poll about your interest in 4e

I played as part of a playtest group here in NYC. I didn't think it was a bad game but it was during that session where I started to really doubt if I would be supporting this edition.

I bought the gift box and poured through the rules still with a not so sure feeling. Thought to myself maybe it plays different than it reads. Ran a few sessions at my gaming store as part of the D&D meetup an realized that this game was not for me. AT. ALL.

Continued to play 3.5 and then Pathfinder and havent looked back at 4E or WOTC (except for the Castle Ravenloft and Ashraldolon boardgames) ever since.

I have a few 4e books. The one group I thought might like 4e (sharp tactically) had one player that was "meh" on it and another that hated it from the launch. Another group that I play in now gave it the old college try but they are as tactically sharp as a pre-schooler's scissors.... so we had problems to say the least

I'll admit not to being a PF guy, but I could not resist the poll. Basically at the end of 3.5, the DM prep work was killing me (the 2 page stat block of Strahd in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft was the straw that broke the camel's back). So I looked at 4e and Savage Worlds. I did not look much at PF since it really did not address that issue. SW won in a landslide with my groups.

I like 4e - I would play it if that is the only option, but its not the 'go to' ruleset for me (I would say the same for PF, although I do not own the ruleset).

Tried it, hated it, never went back.

I tired 3 attempts; KotS at the time of the 4E launch as DM, A homebrew as a player (Eladrin Ranger/Rogue) and again as a DM for a different group with the Slaying Stone and some Essentials books.

Each time, by about 5th level, I had given up on the game and quit in disgust. Don't believe I will be trying again.

I chose # 7 as "i owned a number of books, played 4E heavily, and now I am done with it." To go into more detail:

I own a substantial number of 4E books - in fact, I think I own most of the hardback books that weren't a campaign specific book. I own exactly 1 of the Essentials books, and never bought another of them.

I played in three 4E games (one finished at 26th level, the other two ended prematurely (in one case the DM was unhappy with his campaign; in the other case the DM was unhappy with the system)) and I DM'd a 4E game all the way to 30.

The direction WotC went with PH 3 and the Athas books were interesting - it felt to me like advanced fourth edition.

But then Essentials came out, and I found myself going "bleh." My campaign was in low epic tier when Essentials came out, and from my perspective Essentials pretty much marked the end of WotC supporting epic tier content.

My 4E campaign ended in December 2011, and I haven't touched the system since.

Based on WotC's handling of D&D Insider, with such gems as introducing a patch to deliberately break the desktop DM Tools and force us to the online DM Tools that didn't work, and the direction WotC went with Essentials, I have no desire to spend anything further on WotC's work.

My group that I DM'd the 4E campaign with I am now running through Paizo's Carrion Crown adventure path, and I currently play in two other Pathfinder campaigns.

Was very much an AD & D (1E) gamer. I pretty much skipped 2E (in large part due to not gaming). When 3E came out, I moved to that whole heartedly. Then, I had another lapse in gaming.

When I found out 4E was out, I picked up the core 3 rulebooks and was instantly taken aback. I managed to get a few friends to try it, as I thought it may play better than it read, but no, it was not the game for me. I still have only the core three books - I've never made another 4E purchase.

And, of course, when I discovered Pathfinder, I embraced that and never looked back. I can use all my other 3.x stuff and I get to experiance new stuff too.

Those 4E books now do nothing but take up space (but then, I'm loathe to willingly get rid of any gaming books).

Own 4E books, play in one 4E game and run another in addition to playing in 2 or 3 Pathfinder games. When 4E came out our DM at the time jumped to the new shiny causing the group to break up (only 2 of the 8 continued with 4E). It gives me a totally different gaming experience than the D&D I prefer, but as a game in it's own right i don't mind it.

The reasons I didn't switch over completely were
1) It didn't fix the issues I had with 3E in a manner that I find very appealing and in a number of cases "fixed" things that weren't "broken" (I don't care what a vocal minority on the internet says - it felt to me that these were pet peeves of the designers that were being "fixed").

2) Making the computer tools on line only (and no longer compiling the on line magazines) ticked me off.

I bought the core set, all the players handbooks, all the bestiaries and all the Power books.

I have GMed one game for it and hated every second of GMing it.

I would like to be a player in it one day though, think id have more fun.

We all bought the first three books, prayed that it played better than it read, played it for three months and then before a game session one guy looked at the rest of us and said, "Are we really having fun?" We all realized at that point that we really were not. And we really tried because there were things that were likeable in our eyes with the combat features but there was too much we didn't like.

We played a bunch of other stuff and then when Paizo came out with Pathfinder, that was it. We've been playing it ever since.

My vote was: own no books, never played.

I heard about the 4e release at my very first gencon. I got the tshirt with the beholder on it. I liked the beholder shirt. I did not like, however, that 4e was coming. At that point, I had been playing 3.5 since it came out, and had several hundred dollars worth of books. I liked the game. I was angry at WOTC, not for wanting to revise their product, but to do so in a way that would invalidate all of the books I already had and liked. As this was swift on the tail of ending the Dungeon and Dragon magazines, to me it felt like a money grab.

The following year, I stood in a long line to get my PF beta book, while Paizo crew were all over the place helping everyone and being generally awesome. I had no plans to buy the 4e book, partially because of feelings about the timing of the release, and partially because the things I had heard about 4e did not jive with the D&D I wanted to play. But I DID want to look at the book and see if it was something I wanted give a chance. Unfortunately, there were no books on display at the booth, and I couldn't find someone to help me. I later learned they had sold out pretty early in the weekend.

As that year passed, there was plenty of stuff to be heard about WOTC, both with 4e and the company in general. Differing opinions of the game, and a lot of dissatisfaction with the company. Stories of poorly bound books that fell apart, the digital initiative that kind of...failed. Various online things that didn't work or had been promised but fell through. The pulling of all the pdfs hugely cheesed me off, as well as all the hullaballoo with the OGL. Basically, WOTC had stopped being a company that I wanted to do business with.

Meanwhile, my group had been playing the PF Beta, and liked it quite a bit. The next gencon, I stood in an even longer line to get my PF Core Book, signed by the designers, and have been playing with it since. I have a bunch of books, all gorgeous, and various bits of equipment. The combat pad is the best initiative tracker I've ever had. The folding wet/dry mat is great. I love the condition card deck from last year (though it's missing panicked.) This year, I was browsing the decks, picked up the Buff Deck, and my eyes got all big and shiny. I took it to an employee and said "My plan was to find someone and tell them that what I would love to see is a card deck with the different buffs and common spells and such...and here it is! YOU MADE ME WHAT I WANTED BEFORE I COULD TELL YOU I WANTED IT." Also, whether at the gencon booth or in the online support, I have never received anything less than stellar customer service.

In short, WOTC created a product that did not suit me, and during that process became a company I preferred not to do business with. Paizo has created a brand that has never failed to satisfy me, service that makes me feel valued, and is a company that I want to succeed, and want to spend my money with.

Final note: I've friends who play 4e as their game of choice, and really like it, and good for them. I've a friend who's played 4e because that was the game available, and he thinks it's a fine game on its own merits, but doesn't have the feel that he wants. And while our group was forbidden to mention 4e in front of one member, who was pregnant at the time, for the sake of the baby, we were just kidding around.

Mostly.