D&D 4E What's the point of playing 4e now?

[Rechan]

All the air has been sucked out of the room. WotC, by announcing this, has declared that they aren't going to give 4e much more attention. Oh sure, they're coming out with a few products, but the Edition's clock has officially started running down. Those products feel more like an effort to get more money.

Because players aren't going to spend money on books that won't Last - knowing they will have to turn around and buy 5e. Focus will be on playing/playtesting 5e.

I don't see the point in starting a new game with the bomb timer ticking down.

 

[D'karr]

I don't see a reason why not to continue running games. The next edition will probably still not get published for another 1-2 years, at minimum. That is quite a long time to not run games.

I'm continuing my current campaign and I'm actually starting a new one in February.

 

[Rel]

Perhaps because people enjoy 4e and already have the necessary books to run it?

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

The reason to start a new game is if you love 4e, and aren't particularly enthusiastic about 5e as it is now.

I recently moved back to my home town, and just started up a 4e game with my old gaming group for a few reasons. One, I love 4e, and for me right now its the best edition of D&D. 5e could change that, but I'm very skeptical of it. Two, a weekly gaming group needs a game, and as the primary DM, I'm most comfortable with 4e. And three, this group of players never really got to give 4e a try with anything more than the original PHB, and 4e in its mature state will give a much better gaming experience IMHO.

I'm going to keep playing 4e as long as its fun, so that I remember what is both good and bad about it for when I offer opinions on the open playtest of 5e (and I plan to.)

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Because you're having fun? Heck, I'm finishing up a 3.5 E campaign in the next month or so; I wouldn't have switched editions in mid-campaign regardless of whether the game was in print or not. Who knows how long it will take for the new edition to come out? What will you do in the meantime?

 

[delericho]

Fun?

I mean, presumably you enjoyed the game before the announcement, and it hasn't actually changed. So, why not continue to play?

After all, the last four years haven't stopped me playing 3.5e, and for exactly the same reason.

 

[mac1504]

I'm sure that our group will do the same as we did when 4e came out: finish up our current campaign (which we just started one in Dark Sun), then try out the next edition whenever it comes out.

 

[Buttercup]

Why does it matter what WotC does or does not do? I'm serious. I still play 3.x and will do so for the next who know how many decades. You can do the same with 4e if you love it. Nobody is stopping you.

I'm not trying to be snarky, I just honestly don't understand the concern.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

If you're playing 4e because you enjoy the game, then play on. If you're playing 4e because it's the shiny newness, or because you're only interested in playing games with a constant flow of shiny newness then wallow in despair.

 

[Dwarfling]

For the same reason that people still play 1E, 2E, 3E, 3.5, et al - because the games are fun. Even if WotC stops supporting it immediately upon 5E's release, you don't need their support to run games or come up with new ones. There are also hundreds, if not thousands, of adventures, campaigns and encounters available online from both WotC and 3PPs. It could take years to play through them all, and then, even if you do run through everything that's out there, you have your own imagination to come up with more.