The Crimson Binome
Hero
Some people who enjoyed 3E could also enjoy 4E, because there are a lot of similarities, but the differences were significant enough to fracture the player base. In the aftermath of 4E, fans of 3E distinguish themselves from fans of 4E on the basis of those changes; the things that 3E fans enjoy about 3E are the things that 4E killed off, like rules-as-physics and maintaining-actor-stance.I hear you. I think though that there's some room to wiggle when the designers say that 4e could be enjoyed by people who play 3e. I don't think it was deceptive marketing as much as it was an underestimation of what the most vocal 20% of the fan base could do to influence another 20-30 percent.
When 5E was in the later stages of development, and they said that it would have optional rules to let fans of 3E and fans of 4E keep playing they way that they liked, that feels like a lie. Those options were never included. So either they never intended to include those options (i.e. it was all a malicious lie, intended to deceive), or they tried and failed because they didn't understand what players actually enjoyed about those games (i.e. they were not competent enough to deliver on that promise).