Mercurius
Legend
OK, I'm being hyperbolic...I hope! But let me explain at length.
Let's start by looking at the release schedule for 4E hardcovers, from the beginning of 2010 to the first few months of 2011:
January - Underdark
February - Martial Power 2
March - Player's Handbook 3
April - The Plane Above
May - Player's Strategy Guide, Dungeon Magazine Annual
June - Monster Manual 3
July - Demonomicon, Tomb of Horrors
August - Dark Sun Campaign Guide, Dark Sun Creature Catalog, Psionic Power
September - None
October - None
November - None
December - None
January - None
February - None
March - None
April - Mordenkainen's Magnificient Emporium
That's twelve hardcovers in the first eight months of 2010, then none in the following seven months until April of 2011. I know, I know, in that time you've got a slew of Essentials products, including the Red Box, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Rules Compendium, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, The DM's Kit, and Monster Vault all within September through November, then in March two products that seem to follow the Essentials format: Class Compendium and Heroes of Shadow. But again, we're talking about an eight month span (mid-August to mid-April) without a new hardcover.
Of even greater concern than the dearth of hardcovers is the fact that most of that material is no more or less than Essentialized 4E. That is, the whole line, for the most part, is just a reprinting, reformatting, and rehashing of older material. Sure, it is updated and errata-ed with a few new bells and whistles, but we're not really seeing anything new, at least not until Heroes of Shadow in March of 2011, afaict.
So again, my thread title: I miss 4E. Or to paraphrase Sting, I want my 4th ED.
I am writing this not only to complain, but more so to express concern. What is this about? It is as if WotC decided that the path they had been traveling from June of 2008 to August of 2010 wasn't working, or was tapped out, so they veered away into a detour that is lasting until at least March of 2011, after which it remains to be seen what direction they will take. D&D may return to the regularly scheduled programming: an average of a bit more than one hardcover per month, plus various odds and ends. Or we could be done with that and be facing an Essentialized future of 4E. Or, more likely, we could be facing some combination of both.
I'm worried. Why did WotC feel this was a good idea? I get it: they want to attract new players and the Red Box may just do that. But a whole line? Why not just the Red Box, the Rules Compendium, and then a revised and updated Player's Handbook? Or maybe even, rather than the two Heroes books, a Player's Handbook 4 with the Essentialized versions of the classic classes that we see in the two Heroes books? In other words, why not try to feed buyers of the Red Box back into the 4E hardcovers? Why create an entirely separate product line?
We can all hope that Essentials is successful in that it will bring new blood into the D&D community; or, as some have said, that it will bring lapsed players, or players of older editions, back into the 4E fold. But if it is too successful, won't WotC be tempted to drop the old hardcover format and go forth with digest books and box sets and little to no hardcovers?
I like hardcovers. I like box sets too, and I like digest books for certain things, like the Rules Compendium. But I dislike Heroes of the Fallen Lands and will not be purchasing the next in the line. I am still thinking about the DM's Kit and Monster Vault. But as a whole I prefer the "classic" 4E hardcover approach to the digest/box set approach, and more so--while I only would buy about half the hardcovers (I would stay away from the Power books, among others)--I miss the opportunity to buy a new book with new material once or twice a month.
One final note. I can honestly say that I'm surprised about the anecdotes we hear in which people say something to the effect of "I hated 4E but loved Essentials." I just don't get it. I mean, Essentials is 4E. The only significant difference is that they rolled back martial characters to their pre-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon incarnations. I get that some people don't like their tank fighters with daily and encounter powers, but is this one, relatively minor, difference really transform some people from hating 4E to wanting to play it?
Let's start by looking at the release schedule for 4E hardcovers, from the beginning of 2010 to the first few months of 2011:
January - Underdark
February - Martial Power 2
March - Player's Handbook 3
April - The Plane Above
May - Player's Strategy Guide, Dungeon Magazine Annual
June - Monster Manual 3
July - Demonomicon, Tomb of Horrors
August - Dark Sun Campaign Guide, Dark Sun Creature Catalog, Psionic Power
September - None
October - None
November - None
December - None
January - None
February - None
March - None
April - Mordenkainen's Magnificient Emporium
That's twelve hardcovers in the first eight months of 2010, then none in the following seven months until April of 2011. I know, I know, in that time you've got a slew of Essentials products, including the Red Box, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Rules Compendium, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, The DM's Kit, and Monster Vault all within September through November, then in March two products that seem to follow the Essentials format: Class Compendium and Heroes of Shadow. But again, we're talking about an eight month span (mid-August to mid-April) without a new hardcover.
Of even greater concern than the dearth of hardcovers is the fact that most of that material is no more or less than Essentialized 4E. That is, the whole line, for the most part, is just a reprinting, reformatting, and rehashing of older material. Sure, it is updated and errata-ed with a few new bells and whistles, but we're not really seeing anything new, at least not until Heroes of Shadow in March of 2011, afaict.
So again, my thread title: I miss 4E. Or to paraphrase Sting, I want my 4th ED.
I am writing this not only to complain, but more so to express concern. What is this about? It is as if WotC decided that the path they had been traveling from June of 2008 to August of 2010 wasn't working, or was tapped out, so they veered away into a detour that is lasting until at least March of 2011, after which it remains to be seen what direction they will take. D&D may return to the regularly scheduled programming: an average of a bit more than one hardcover per month, plus various odds and ends. Or we could be done with that and be facing an Essentialized future of 4E. Or, more likely, we could be facing some combination of both.
I'm worried. Why did WotC feel this was a good idea? I get it: they want to attract new players and the Red Box may just do that. But a whole line? Why not just the Red Box, the Rules Compendium, and then a revised and updated Player's Handbook? Or maybe even, rather than the two Heroes books, a Player's Handbook 4 with the Essentialized versions of the classic classes that we see in the two Heroes books? In other words, why not try to feed buyers of the Red Box back into the 4E hardcovers? Why create an entirely separate product line?
We can all hope that Essentials is successful in that it will bring new blood into the D&D community; or, as some have said, that it will bring lapsed players, or players of older editions, back into the 4E fold. But if it is too successful, won't WotC be tempted to drop the old hardcover format and go forth with digest books and box sets and little to no hardcovers?
I like hardcovers. I like box sets too, and I like digest books for certain things, like the Rules Compendium. But I dislike Heroes of the Fallen Lands and will not be purchasing the next in the line. I am still thinking about the DM's Kit and Monster Vault. But as a whole I prefer the "classic" 4E hardcover approach to the digest/box set approach, and more so--while I only would buy about half the hardcovers (I would stay away from the Power books, among others)--I miss the opportunity to buy a new book with new material once or twice a month.
One final note. I can honestly say that I'm surprised about the anecdotes we hear in which people say something to the effect of "I hated 4E but loved Essentials." I just don't get it. I mean, Essentials is 4E. The only significant difference is that they rolled back martial characters to their pre-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon incarnations. I get that some people don't like their tank fighters with daily and encounter powers, but is this one, relatively minor, difference really transform some people from hating 4E to wanting to play it?
