Will Constant Errata Kill the Essential Line?

Blackbrrd · May 12, 2010

Personally I love the amount work that has been put into the errata. I wish other game systems did the same.

Dice4Hire · May 12, 2010

I am also a fan of the errata, though I do hope they tone it down seriously for the essential line, like a tenth of what it is now. Right now, anyone who tries to keep up with it, or even worse, starts reading it in a few months, especially without DDI, is in for a slog.

I have mostly kept up with it, though I would have to go back and check if I were making a new character. But someone new, without 25+ years of D&D behind them ? ..... I pity them.

MrMyth · May 12, 2010

jaerdaph said:
Considering the amount of errata (much of which are really outright changes to the rules rather than corrections) that has come out for 4e to date, and comparing that to what was done in 3e/3.5e transition, I think it's high time we started referring to D&D as 4.5e now.

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I think it is worth saying here as well - I think the amount of errata isn't close to what people imagine it to be. One-half of one percent of all feats have received errata. One-third of one percent of all powers have received errata. And likely an even smaller portion of those actually received errata significant enough to truly change the power.

The only significant rules updates have been the Skill Challenge DCs and the Stealth rules. Even the bulk of other core changes, such as with charging, movement skills and conditions, are largely clarifications more than actual changes.

And, as Planesailing mentions earlier, you can play perfectly fine without ever even acknowledging the errata. Or with just using what parts of it you stumble across. Someone playing with errata and someone who isn't aware of it can sit down at the same table and play the same game without, in most cases, likely ever coming across the differences. That... wasn't really true with the change from 3.0 to 3.5, so I don't think the comparison between the two holds any weight at all.

Blackbrrd · May 12, 2010

Dice4Hire said:
I am also a fan of the errata, though I do hope they tone it down seriously for the essential line, like a tenth of what it is now. Right now, anyone who tries to keep up with it, or even worse, starts reading it in a few months, especially without DDI, is in for a slog.

I have mostly kept up with it, though I would have to go back and check if I were making a new character. But someone new, without 25+ years of D&D behind them ? ..... I pity them.

You don't really need to read all the errata. What you can do instead is when you find a feat/power/ability that seems overpowered, you check if it has errata. (Searching a pdf doesn't take much time).

You might end up overseeing some errata, but then it probably isn't unbalancing your game, so it isn't a big deal.

Stormonu · May 12, 2010

Janx said:
Normal people don't know about errata. Despite their ability to use Facebook and Google, they are not that savvy.

Years of Microsoft's updates have made me cagey about not updating unless I have to. I've gotten better about getting the latest updates, but I'm still leery about updating.

Same for my RPGs - I have never adopted official errata for a game except maybe 4E's Stealth (and the entire 3.5), and only because that was printed in the PHB2 and ruined my first 4E experience as a player.

Markn · May 12, 2010

Did video kill the radio star? No, and I think that applies here to errata killing the Essentials Line - besides, they stated in the last errata that we can expect a decrease in errata in the coming months which seems to coincide with the Essentials Line release.

Zaran · May 12, 2010

MerricB said:
Err...

No, the D&D Essentials line goes beyond that.

The D&D Basic Set is levels 1-3. That's the first product in the Essentials line.

Everything else is levels 1-30.

Basically, you can get into D&D 4e by either buying the Player's Handbook, DMG and Monster Manual... or you could go the Essentials route with the Basic Set, Rules Compendium, Monster Vault and Heroes of the Fallen Lands.

Cheers!

I am willing to bet that the essentials products mentioned above do not equal the entirety of the first core rule books. That monster vault won't have all the monsters from the MM in it. They are gateway products to get people to buy the core books.

JoeGKushner · May 12, 2010

Markn said:
Did video kill the radio star? No, and I think that applies here to errata killing the Essentials Line - besides, they stated in the last errata that we can expect a decrease in errata in the coming months which seems to coincide with the Essentials Line release.

but video did CHANGE the radio star. It's much harder to be fat and ugly with video out these days.

If someone's using the DDI and has some abilities that are errata'd and points out that other people's abilities need to be adjusted, this can bring up some discussion about the whole process.

I initially brought it up because at the game store by my apartment, Black Sun games, there is a group whose characters have been effected and they were going back and forth on house rules, official errata, using the DDI etc...

Treebore · May 12, 2010

I think the DDI has definitely effected how well received the errata and corrections are received.

Normally having over 100 pages of errata would kill an RPG, at least on the internet. Still, like other posters have mentioned with the errata that is there, if you don't know it exists, the game plays well anyways.

So between the DDI and the fact most errata is not noticeably needed allows for it to be received better than it otherwise would be.

IMO and all of that.

Scribble · May 12, 2010

Treebore said:
I think the DDI has definitely effected how well received the errata and corrections are received.

Normally having over 100 pages of errata would kill an RPG, at least on the internet. Still, like other posters have mentioned with the errata that is there, if you don't know it exists, the game plays well anyways.

So between the DDI and the fact most errata is not noticeably needed allows for it to be received better than it otherwise would be.

IMO and all of that.

I think a lot of games that get published probably "need" errata, but don't get it because it would be perceived as too much trouble for the players... Probably just gets rolled up into things that will eventually lead to a new edition.

I'm thinking the DDI and ease of adding errata to the game will actually help stave off a new edition for longer then we might otherwise have seen.