D&D 4E Why has 4E become the D&D zeitgeist?

[teitan]

I only got my 3.5 books because I needed to replace my PHB and then I slowly bought the other 2. I was in on 3.0 from day 1 though. 3.5 seems like very little changed, and they made such a claim and really they are small changes but when a 3.0-3.5 conversion document takes up almost as many pages as the module and more than a 2e to 3e or vice versa would take, those little changes start to add up...

 

[Nightfall]

See mine were fine. (The 3.0 ones). I just bought because they said "We are making rule changes" which read to me "Change with us or be eating our dust."

 

[Lanefan]

When 3.5 came out relatively soon after 3.0 (which came out relatively soon after WotC took the helm), my first thought went something like this:

"well, they churn out a Magic expansion every 4 months, and that's been wildly successful; it only follows they'll want to churn out new D+D editions on a regular schedule"

I haven't figured out the DDM release schedule...is it a new expansion every 6 months?...but they're doing it there too.

In terms of sheer timing patterns, the Next Edition...whatever it is...is about due.

[sarcasm]I can't wait.[/sarcasm]

Lanefan

 

[Nightfall]

Lane,

Yeah that makes about 45% of us too.

 

[Hussar]

As much fun as editions warz can be, I'm just going to have to agree to disagree. 3e had some very rough patches that were fixed by 3.5 IMO. Spells, the slaughter of a few more sacred cows, and, truthfully, putting a bullet in the release of so many crap d20 products by 3rd party publishers.

Sure, it was driven by profits. But, it also resulted in a better game as well. Personally, it wouldn't faze me too much to release backward compatable PHB's and DMG's every 3 or 4 years that incorporate material that has been released.

 

[Lanefan]

As much fun as editions warz can be, I'm just going to have to agree to disagree. 3e had some very rough patches that were fixed by 3.5 IMO. Spells, the slaughter of a few more sacred cows, and, truthfully, putting a bullet in the release of so many crap d20 products by 3rd party publishers.

Amen to the bullet part. The first few years of 3e were strewn with garbage... Otherwise, I'm not familiar enough with 3.5 to make much of a comparison.

Sure, it was driven by profits. But, it also resulted in a better game as well. Personally, it wouldn't faze me too much to release backward compatable PHB's and DMG's every 3 or 4 years that incorporate material that has been released.

Marry, there's the rub - *backwards compatible*. If they wanted to do that they'd have made 3e backwards compatible with 0-1-2e (which at least were vaguely compatible with each other), but no.

And constant re-releases of updated versions of the same core books makes it impossible to tell where core ends and splat begins...

Lanefan

 

[Nightfall]

Hussar,

In any case, at least now I have a better reason than 3.5/4th edition to dislike WotC.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Will they include newer video card support, a Citrix client and security updates in this new service pack?

 

[Nightfall]

DD,

Yeah well it would be a nice thought but I doubt it.

 

[satori01]

One reason I think we tend to think about it more is when 3.5 came out, notables like Monte Cook, who were on the ground floor of designing 3.0, indicated that periodic "reboots" were part of the business model. We all know it is going to happen at some point.

Like many players, I played 1e as child, skipping OD&D. I'm sure someone that played OD&D might not see that much change in terms of Zeitgeist.

On a personal level, book prices are not the same, WOTC releases quite a few more Hardcovers than TSR ever did, and I have sunk a large chunk of money into my 3.5 collection. For me retooling would be expensive, and my great fear is that 4e will actually be better. My other fear is WOTC will take the same track as 3.5 and repackage, re-release, and have yet more of a robust release schedule with higher prices.