Forked Thread: Changeover poll

[Dannyalcatraz]

My conversion to 3.X started with some of the first trickles of info I saw in Dragon magazine. To this day, I don't regret it. There were only a few things I thought earlier editions handled better than 3.X.

At the time, my main group was a triad of gamers who had been gaming together since the mid-1980s. One of the others started converting his PCs as soon as he had access to the books.

The third only converted after about a year, so despite my answer ("immediate changeover"), we didn't actually start using 3.X as a group until at least a year had passed.

Come on, there may be a few people wrapping up campaigns before they switch, but the constant theme is that there are lots of people who have absolutely no intention of EVER changing to 4e. They may drop 3E for a hundred other things, including dropping out of gaming altogether, but 4e isn't on the list.

We may not be the majority, but there are significant numbers of us...at least anecdotally.

 

[Agamon]

I said "Switched upon release", but I actually started the game 6 months earlier with a 2e/3e hybrid based on what we knew.

 

[Henrix]

I didn't switch, as I didn't really play 2e (oh, once or twice the years after 2e was released). I did play a lot of other games, though.

I played 3e within three months after it got released, though. Took me a little lopnger to start my own group.
We switched to 3.5 as soon as we got our hands on the books.

 

[Hussar]

I voted three months because I wasn't in a group for the first two. Day the group got together, 3e. Group split because 2e was dead.

This poll is, well, not quite proving your point very well.

I don't think you're getting my point.

My point is that, contrary to what some people are claiming, a 40% non-conversion is actually pretty much the same as when 3e came out. You yourself fit the mold perfectly.

Based on this poll, if the numbers are even remotely accurate, it would be fair to say that the 4e roll out is actually BETTER than 3e. Here, only half of the people who eventually went on to play 3e did so immediately. In the thread this is forked from, almost 2/3rds have made the switch.

But, there's another point here as well.

BryonD is claiming that there is this huge number of disgruntled fans who are not making the switch and will never do so. My point is, if things progress this time around like they did last time, about half of those who haven't switched yet will do so within a year.

Suddenly the "big divide" is not so big anymore. You get 80% of D&D gamers playing 4e (with other games thrown in) and about 20% not. That's pretty much on par for the divide we saw in 3e, particularly on En World.

My entire point is that this is just same old same old. There isn't a massive split in the community, any more than there was a massive split 8 years ago.

So, ProfessorC, how am I not proving my point?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Well, because it's at 50% now and rising, and the second biggest group is the "Withen three months" many of whom on this thread have stated that they WOULD have done it on release if they could have. Much more then half wanted in on 3e when it came out, getting to 70% in the first three months.

That's a very far cry from your suggestion that lots of people gradually got into it.

 

[Transit]

If anything, I think the results of this poll might be skewed by the fact that a lot of the gamers who chose not to migrate to 4E no longer visit this forum, but instead are over in the 3E/3.5E forums, or over at Paizo talking about Pathfinder. If they were still here, I think we'd find the "switched upon release" numbers to be even higher.

 

[mmu1]

Suddenly the "big divide" is not so big anymore. You get 80% of D&D gamers playing 4e (with other games thrown in) and about 20% not. That's pretty much on par for the divide we saw in 3e, particularly on En World.

My entire point is that this is just same old same old. There isn't a massive split in the community, any more than there was a massive split 8 years ago.

No, it's really nothing like what we saw on ENWorld when the change from 2e to 3e occurred. I don't remember the mods having to resort to outright bans of comparing the two editions, for example. I also don't recall the 2e holdouts being anywhere near as numerous. Do you have any data to back up your claims, other than your memories? Because you're throwing around an awful lot of numbers, which at this point represent nothing but your wishful thinking.

In addition, it might be 1 month since the official release, but the fact of the matter is that a large number of people have been saying "No, I don't see myself switching to 4E" for 9 or 10 months now - and after the official release, this number has actually gotten bigger. Which pretty much blows your claims right out of the water.

 

[BraveSirRobin]

HUH???? What possibly justification do you have for the presumption that the other 60% will change over time?

I mean, I'm quite certain that 4e will have well more players than 3e in the near term. But to presume that people will switch for no good reason is absurd. You are denying a divide exists, but you just defined it. Last time it was just a matter of how quickly the bulk switched, this time it is a question of how many will at all.

No good reason? How about it is no longer being supported.

I am another that plans to switch over in probably 6 to 9 months after RL issues slow down. I think Hussar probably has the right of it. There is of course going to be holdover, and probably much larger then the one from the previous switch, but I also think the large majority will switch over. That is why I am switching over, that and that I am somewhat tired of the 3e ruleset. The mechanics really just aren't that fun for me anymore.

 

[Mark Hope]

I started playing 3e in June of 2003 - right before they brought out 3.5 .

I am aware, though, that this is a slightly anomalous date, and more due to circumstance than 3e itself. I had bought the 3.0 books when they were released and quite liked them. I happened to be finishing off a 2e campaign at the time, which did not end until April of 2001 (it had been running for 18 years by then) so while I read and enjoyed 3e and decided to adopt it, I didn't want to do so until I was done with my current game. My first child was born in September of 2001, and I played very little RPGs for the next 18 months or so - mainly a WoD Dark Ages game. But when we got going with 3e (Dark Sun, as it happens), we never looked back.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I switched when 3E was released...but later I switched back.