D&D 4E Would you still play 4e?

[Kzach]

Assuming that 5e comes out and a version of DDI for 5e REPLACES the current DDI offerings, ie. no more 4e Compendium, no more 4e Character Builder, no more 4e Monster Builder, no more 4e VTT, etc., would you still play 4e?

I'm curious because after playing the playtest my feelings are that I'd still enjoy playing 4e every now and then but, personally, without a 4e Character Builder and Compendium, I think I'd rather just not play at all.

 

[DragoonLance]

Got a new 1-30 campaign in the works as soon as we finish our current campaign (lvl 27 currently) so yes. I might make some changes to makes the math easier for our non-optimizers but really I don't see it as a big deal. I can create monsters easily enough, and I've already worked up simplified character conversions for when the CB goes down. My optimizers will just build their character by hand like they do half the time anyway.

 

[the Jester]

Yes; I plan to run my campaign to a logical endpoint, whether it's level 30 or earlier.

 

[Kzach]

5e is at least 18 months away so you guys finishing campaigns is pretty likely. I'm talking about when the 4e versions of DDI goes offline; would you still play beyond that point?

 

[Campbell]

4e is still a great game. Of course, I still have access to the Character Builder and Monster Builder in their local client forms. Even without the software 4e is not too unwieldy for me to manage. Of course I tend to prefer 4e in its pre-Essentials form and let my subscription lapse after the Character Builder went online only.

 

[the Jester]

DDI has basically no influence on my game; nobody is a subscriber these days (I gave up on it when they still didn't have a working monster builder that used current math about six or eight months ago).

 

[S'mon]

I play/GM 4e but don't currently use the online resources - I do use the old offline charbuilder & monster builder, which seem faster and less clunky - so it wouldn't affect me at all. I have a bunch of downloaded Dungeon & Dragon mags and I've only read a small fraction of what's in them, so I have plenty of 4e 'stuff' - many years worth.

 

[delericho]

My long-standing policy is that if one of my friends wants to run a game, I'll play (almost) anything. That applies to 4e the same as anything else, and wouldn't be changed if the DDI was switched off.

That said, the guy who usually runs 4e in my group has been becoming gradually disillusioned with the game, and largely due to what he calls the sheer weight of the system - basically, option bloat. He looks unlikely to want to run it again, and if the Character Builder (specifically) became unavailable then I think that would be the final nail in the coffin, for him.

(And having said that, I'm increasingly doubtful that they will switch off the 4e DDI. Judging from the playtest materials, it won't be a case of adapting the existing tools for 5e... but 5e also looks much less math-heavy, so may well not have the same 'need' of a Character Builder (and other tools). As such, there may well not even be a 5e DDI... and if they're not going to do that, they might as well keep the 4e one around as long as it continues to turn a profit.)

 

[pemerton]

I run 4e but don't subscribe to DDI. Some of my players do. But I'm not too bad at building PCs by hand and would be happy to help players manage their PCs offline. (And I wouldn't mind seeing some of the options - especially from Dragon - cut out, not necessarily because they're broken but just because they increase the bloat to payoff ratio.)

I don't envisage running D&Dnext. I came back to D&D because of 4e, and its particular appeal to me. So far I don't see D&Dnext having the same appeal. If my group agrees, then when our 4e game comes to its conclusion (at 30th level!) I'm hoping to run a Burning Wheel game, probably using Greyhawk as my backdrop, and looking to some of the Penumbra d20 modules for scenario ideas. (I think some of these could fit BW fairly well.)

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

It's a good question, Kzach.

I'm hoping someone with far more computer nous than me will work out a way to duplicate the Compendium so that it can be used offline. If I have that I think I could live without the Character Builder and the Monster Builder but I am also hoping for updated offline versions of those too (and I am sure someone in the online D&D community will create them soon enough). I haven't used the VTT so that's not a deal-breaker.

However, even without access to these tools - and the simple fact is that WotC will turn them off at some point no matter what anyone who hasn't been retrenched yet has said or is saying - I like 4E enough that I will keep running games with the rule set. It might be a bit more work, especially if I want to incorporate the reams of errata, but as I hate what I have seen of 5E so far I think it will be my only option (other than Swords & Wizardry which remains an object of unrequited love).