Could Wizards ACTUALLY make MOST people happy with a new edition?

[IronWolf]

Welcome to 2011. Any download is full of spyware or malware until proven safe, and that goes doubly so for executables.

Yeah, typically proven safe by a few scans by some AV scanners and malware scanners and general reputation on the Internet. It isn't like I am suggesting going to some back alley on Internet and download some pirated software off a torrent link. PC Gen is reputable software. And the source code is open if you do want to look more closely at it.

Maybe PCGen's creators are trustworthy, and maybe not. Maybe they're trustworthy and they got hacked somewhere in the process.

PCGen has been around a long time. I am pretty sure we can count them trustworthy at this point. We aren't talking some backwater application here. I've heard of more suspect things from Apple and Microsoft than I have from the PCGen creators.

Yep - always worth checking software downloads after downloading in case something did happen to their distribution server. Of course their software is downloaded from SourceForge another place that has a good reputation of running a clean system or at the very least being very up front about anything that might have breached their integrity.

Ideally, I want a cloud-based rpg system where I can access all character and gm functions from an android or iphone, combined with smart search and communications functions.

I find it interesting that you are going to trust cloud-based storage, but not an application that already has a good reputation within the Internet community.

The idea l is to make everything as simple and easy for the the gamer as possible. One locaation for everything, no having to muck around various sites or having to do massive downloads, no worrying about PDFs. Ideally almost everything accessible from a smartphone. DDI should be playing Pandora to Pathfinder's Napster.

Some of us prefer PDFs to game data wrapped up in a subscription based service that we lose access to when we tire of the monthly fee. Plus PDFs are easily readable on laptops, tablets and smart phones if need be.

I don't mind seeing things move towards some option of tablet based access. Smartphone screens are just too small to be practical for long term use though in my opinion. Great for quick look ups, but not during game prep where I need to look at the material for much longer periods of time.

 

[lucifer1306217]

I don't think WOTC should even try to go for the 3.x or retro gamers. Fighting over a shrinking pool of grognard gamers is not the way to grow the hobby. Instead they should go more toward capturing the near-rpg gamer market segments, such as mmorpg and crpg players. DDI already goes a long way toward making D&D accessible to casual and computer-based gamers, but if the virtual tabletop and other virtual services are expanded, I think there's a potentially profitable area between tabletop and other games that can be exploite

 

[JamesonCourage]

I don't think WOTC should even try to go for the 3.x or retro gamers. Fighting over a shrinking pool of grognard gamers is not the way to grow the hobby. Instead they should go more toward capturing the near-rpg gamer market segments, such as mmorpg and crpg players. DDI already goes a long way toward making D&D accessible to casual and computer-based gamers, but if the virtual tabletop and other virtual services are expanded, I think there's a potentially profitable area between tabletop and other games that can be exploite

I don't think WOTC should even try to go for the 3.x or retro gamers. Fighting over a shrinking pool of grognard gamers is not the way to grow the hobby. Instead they should go more toward capturing the near-rpg gamer market segments, such as mmorpg and crpg players. DDI already goes a long way toward making D&D accessible to casual and computer-based gamers, but if the virtual tabletop and other virtual services are expanded, I think there's a potentially profitable area between tabletop and other games that can be exploited.

Twilight Zone, anyone?

 

[TwoSix]

Twilight Zone, anyone?

I'll be charitable and assume a new poster may not be sure how to use the quote feature.

 

[Cergorach]

Could Wizards ACTUALLY make MOST people happy with a new edition

Short answer: No

Long answer: Maybe. 4E split the fanbase, a lot of folks didn't like it, and more were disappointed over time. WoptC/Hasbro made a lot of decisions that alienated even more customers (DnD mini range, red box, SW RPG/minis, non-existent support for classic settings, Dragon & Dungeon Magazine, again failing to deliver promises with digital tools, OGL>CGL, etc.), to be honest they are currently at a worse level then TSR ever was on public relations level. A lot of folks migrated to Pathfinder, many now find Pathfinder more D&D then D&D 4E is, others moved on to other systems. To make D&D 5E top dog again WotC/Hasbro would need a lot of luck and a lot of effort, I doubt it will happen, but it could. If I were a betting man, releasing a new version of D&D would aggravate the problems they now have even further. imho, keep supporting the players you have left as long as your capable and give it time to heal the 'wounds'.

 

[Matt James]

Ehm, frankly, no. After three years of 4E where the design crew (or what's left of it) has consistently failed to fix the game's major flaws -

What about older games and the flaws they have? There are some tenements of game design that need to be remembered here. No game can ever be all things to all people. I can easily point out the flaws of other versions of D&D (Pathfinder) and make the same argument you are making. It's not really a fair argument to undertake.

 

[Bedrockgames]

What about older games and the flaws they have? There are some tenements of game design that need to be remembered here. No game can ever be all things to all people. I can easily point out the flaws of other versions of D&D (Pathfinder) and make the same argument you are making. It's not really a fair argument to undertake.

Ever edition will have flaws. But i think 4e is the most focused version of d&d so far (not neccesarily a bad thing) and as a result the one with least broad appeal. No edition will be all things to all people, but they can have a broader focus to appeal to as much of the fan base as possible.

 

[Matt James]

I might be insulated, but 4e is massively popular in MD/DC/VA. I also don't subscribe to the notion that broad appeal is an indicator of good game system. We're dealing more with politics of the industry than anything else.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

There is something to the thought that the more specific your focus, the higher standard to which you will be held. One of the reasons early D&D "got away" with so much in some of the lousy mechanics of subystems was that it was so broad in its appeal. It was one of those "starter tool sets" that you give a person just moving into an apartment. Why would anyone expect it to include several different specialized saws and every automative wrench, foreign and domestic?

 

[Bedrockgames]

I might be insulated, but 4e is massively popular in MD/DC/VA. I also don't subscribe to the notion that broad appeal is an indicator of good game system. We're dealing more with politics of the industry than anything else.

I think focused games are great because they are usually tailored to the audience. and i think 4e is a very well designed game built for a specific type of gamer, so people who love it, really love it. But I also think that meant D&d went from being a game that appealed to most gamers to a game that lost much of its core audience. Arguably it is a better system for that move. But whether you make cars, rpgs or movies if your goal is to be THE product in your industry you need broad appeal.

I do think 4e remains very popular. Just not as popular as 3e was. There are plenty of 4e groups around MA as well but it is nowhere near as monolithic as it was five to six years ago. Personally i prefer it this way. More systems, more competition, means more options for me as a gamer. The d20 era was great and all but it did get kind of stale.