With 5e here, what will 4e be remembered for?

[Zardnaar]

I'll remember 4e as the edition where everyone was effectively a spell caster, the edition of non-sensical purely "gamist" rules (fighters have techniques that can only be used once a day? How in the world does that make sense), the edition where simply swinging a weapon was never the right choice - instead it was better to use the twisted lotus ninja decapitaiton strike power.

The world will remember 4e as the edition that did so poorly it was cancelled a full year before its replacement was released. No other edition of D&D has that black eye, and hopefully it will never happen again.

2 years before 5E. I do not think iot will be remembered for anything good. On life support 2 years in, replacement announced 3.5 years in and DOA for 2 years until the next edition. Depending on how 5E turns out it could also be blamed for the beginning of the end.

 

[Cadence]

2 years before 5E. I do not think iot will be remembered for anything good. On life support 2 years in, replacement announced 3.5 years in and DOA for 2 years until the next edition. Depending on how 5E turns out it could also be blamed for the beginning of the end.

Giving some inspiration and playtested ideas to 13th Age ;-)

 

[TrippyHippy]

Division, primarily.

That, and the hubris of designing a game without consulting the fan base comprehensively enough during play testing, and assuming that mechanical innovation was more important than narrative play.

 

[The Human Target]

Innovation to some, pure white hate for others.

I'm amazed it took as long as it did for threadcrappers to show up.

 

[Raduin711]

It will be remembered until the end of your next turn.

 

[Chaltab]

If nothing else 4E will be remembered as the edition that gave us the Gnome and his Badger, Francis.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

I agree with those who say that 4E will be remembered for its Encounters.

Intricate, tactically deep set-piece encounters with interesting environments and plenty of options for every character during combat.

Heck, the in-store play program was even called D&D Encounters.

And yes, 4E will also be remembered for controversy and changing too much, too fast.

 

[The Human Target]

It will be remembered until the end of your next turn.

Now that made me laugh.

 

[Ichneumon]

I find it amusing that a D&D edition often derided as "video-gamey" should be so unamenable to being used to create actual video games with. The recent Neverwinter MMO uses some 4e concepts, but its combat system doesn't resemble 4e's to any significant degree.

In my opinion, 4e will be remembered as a D&D ahead of its time, with a mechanically brilliant and forward-looking game engine kneecapped by a few unfortunate events and decisions. The sky was the limit on the digital offerings until WotC were forced to take the development in-house. The combat system was a thing of beauty, but poor monster math (at first) made it hard to appreciate. Also, the AEDU format was no universal template for PCs, something realised by Essentials.

It's also regarded as the "Edition War" version, which I put down to it being the first to really stand up and challenge D&D's traditions. 3e kind of did this, but far more politely. With 4e, every rule and element had to justify its existence, without coasting in on nostalgia. Some concepts, like saving throws, were completely redefined. Many people found 4e's new-broom approach too aggressive for their liking.

However, 4e's commitment to balance and tightly integrated mechanics persuade me to make a bold prediction. Every edition of D&D released from now on will be remembered as an attempt to provide 4e in a more presentable package.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Innovation to some, pure white hate for others.

I'm amazed it took as long as it did for threadcrappers to show up.

There is no ‘pure white hate’ or threadcrapping on this thread. The OP asked what 4e would be remembered for - people are entitled to express their thoughts on the matter.