Anyone else think 4th Ed is to combat WoW?

[Atlatl Jones]

Not really. They're not even in the same market. They're completely different beasties. It's like asking whether a new novel line with combat a TV show.

The DI might bring back some of the WoW players who are actually frustraded D&D players, the sort of people who can't find a D&D group and so play WoW online instead. If it's possible to find a D&D game online, that would satisfy many people.

 

[Greg K]

I have no idea. I don't play WoW, Everquest, or any other MMORPG. I have no interest in pay for play. Plus, I watched people play WOW and Everquest and thought the games looked uninteresting.

 

[jeffh]

No way, Jose. Combatting WoW with a tabletop RPG would be a mug's game and WotC knows it.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

There's absolutely no way D&D can compete with WoW. That's like sending a chihuahua up against a dire wolf. IMO, 4e is designed to ride of WoW's coat-tails, maybe trying to dip into the MMO audience a bit. And indeed, WoW does a lot of things right (it must be, in order for it to be doing so well). WotC would be foolish not to look at what WoW and other MMOs do well and see if it can be brought into a tabletop game. But, again, WotC is not trying to compete at all with WoW - if they do, they will lose.

 

[the black knight]

4e: not quite D&D, not quite World of Warcraft.


You can pay a monthly fee, though.

 

[SHARK]

Course I do. Alot of the stuff seems to be for WOW players.

Greetings!

Very true, Arashi, very true!

I don't see how anyone can miss the connection. Hell, I have many of my players that are always making references to what NWN does, or WOW, and what their characters can do there, their missions, races, and so on, in those worlds, as compared to D&D. It's inescapable.

Then, there's the whole digital revolution. We talked about these possibilities in revolutionizing the D&D game back when 3.0 came out. Does anyone remember all the discussions about E-Tools, and using computers, software, and new technologies like character art programs, mappers, etc, etc with the game, and how all of that would really make the new edition cool and faster and more useable?

I do.

And yet, WOTC effed that whole project up.

Now, in recent years--WOW has burst forth like a 800-lb. gorilla, with millions of players, and millions of dollars in profit--initially, as well as an ongoing income stream from monthly subscribing players.

Does anyone remember Diablo? Of course Diablo had a huge influence on D&D.

Just like NWN, and more dominantly, WOW has a huge, powerful influence on D&D. It influences D&D in a corporate, financial and marketing sense--as well as in an artistic, game-play, and creative sense. I would think these things are pretty obvious.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[WayneLigon]

I think it is. Does anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?

No. Reading Dacey's blog and a couple other sources, I think many designers are looking at it as a given that WoW and the next-generation successors to it will siphon off the people who prefer treating D&D like an MMO anyway; the only reason they've been playing D&D to begin with is that nothing like WoW was around when they started playing.

Honestly.. I hope that's true.

 

[Mitchbones]

I seriously don't think that those examples scream "Wotc is making D&D like WoW". Its the evolution of the game, I don't see why we have to compare it to something irrelevant.

edit: Your topic title makes no sense.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Several people in my group who have been keeping up with this whole thing said their first thought was WOW or MMORPG's in general.

They dont like it. And so far Im the only one willing to even givine it a chance, especially the group members that only got into it with 3.5.

 

[RSKennan]

No. Reading Dacey's blog and a couple other sources, I think many designers are looking at it as a given that WoW and the next-generation successors to it will siphon off the people who prefer treating D&D like an MMO anyway; the only reason they've been playing D&D to begin with is that nothing like WoW was around when they started playing.

Honestly.. I hope that's true.

Me too. I'm actually cautiously optimistic;from what little I know (as much as everyone else who watched every video they could find), it seems like this edition is embracing the story elements of the game more than 3.X's "back to the dungeon" philosophy ever did. Hopefully with streamlined rules will come a less mechanized approach to the game.

The reasons I believe this are because they've talked about simplifying combat while making the battlefield more dynamic, getting rid of the chinese food menu for item creation, and other ideas that seem to foster more creative input from the DM. I have to admit, in 3.X, I often felt like once combat started, I was just the CPU running a video game for the players. Hopefully, I can get back to the feeling of DMing freedom I had in 2e, but with *good* rules. That would make me into a raving fanboy.