D&D 5E Reasons Why My Interest in 5e is Waning

[Shasarak]

Dunno about the answered part. We get 3.5 two years early because it's so popular and they want to make more money but 3.5 goes for about 5 years because ...? And 4e goes two years because it's so unpopular.

I'm thinking there's some inconsistencies here.

Maybe we got 3.5e because it was so popular and we got 4.5e because it was so popular.

Otherwise just swap straight into the next e, right?

 

[Kramodlog]

Dunno about the answered part. We get 3.5 two years early because it's so popular and they want to make more money but 3.5 goes for about 5 years because ...? And 4e goes two years because it's so unpopular.

I'm thinking there's some inconsistencies here.

3.5 may have lasted longer because designers started working on 4e in 2005. If a revision for 3.5 was in the works it was dropped for an entire new edition and a new business model. Those came from competitive pressures (World of Warcraft was launched in 2004 and it drained a lot customers) and a new VP at Hasbro*. You'll notice 3.5 products post 2005 are experimental. Tome of Magic, Tome of Battle, MM 4 and MM 5, PHB 2, DMG 2... They are also rushed and need more developement and playtesting.

The inconsistency comes from 4e. When it busted, after more of less 3 and half years, nothing came after it for 2 years. A first for a long time when it came to publishing D&D. 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.5 and 4e all followed each other without much of a pause between them. D&D was literally shelved after 4e. If 5e busts, I'm sure D&D will be shelved until Hasbro wins the movie rights. If it wins. It has the potential to got to the supreme court. That can take years.

*This is talked about in some articles on available on ENworld.

 

[Grimstaff]

ITT: 5E discussion devolves into 3E/4E edition warring for 30-something pages, and Mods don't even care :/

 

[Uchawi]

ITT: 5E discussion devolves into 3E/4E edition warring for 30-something pages, and Mods don't even care :/

And therein lies the challenge for 5E, it has no hope to recapture the feeling of D&D, because that feeling is very diverse depending the player and what they want out of a RPG. Especially, if they have already played it. To me 5E feels like a compromise that has gone too far in regards to simplicity. If I wanted to play a simple version of D&D then I would have played the multitude of retro-clones, or even cracked open my AD&D books again.

 

[Sailor Moon]

And, to be fair, a lot of the people critizicing 4e and defending 3e were also trolls. While you make the conflict sound one-sided, it was not. Trollishness is not edition dependent.

I think that's a bit of an opinion. There are a lot of people who were called trolls anytime a flaw was pointed out in order for them to get into trouble with the mods.

Before I was a member here I used to read these boards and I saw it a lot.

 

[Charles Angerstein]

This is all really good information, even the negative. The problems posted by dmccoy1693 are things that would certainly have driven me up the wall. I feel like dmc just said "I don't like pizza because of these reasons..." and a bunch of people started yelling, "How can you not like pizza? All your reasons for not liking pizza are stupid!"
Everybody likes different things. I have players who love playing on pen and paper but most of my player prefer playing on our touch screen tabletop pc with Maptools or Roll20. All my players prefer to create their characters with the online Character Builder and I extensively use the Compendium and Encounter Builder for research while building an adventure.
I only buy PDF versions of the books and adventures for a number of reasons. One is that during the planning phase of an adventure I use tools like Realm Works or Masterplan to organize and present the content. If I had to use the adventures in the format they're presented the pace of the games would slow down dramatically and a higher workload would be placed on me as DM. When I'm DMing, the less that I have to deal with workload wise, the more creative and involved I can be with the adventure. Also, in PDF format, I can copy out the handouts and maps so I can print them. If this were paper I could only do that once and then I'd have to buy another book. I'm not interested in doing that. Last thing is that when I need to find something in a pdf reference or adventure book I can go to the directory where I store them and use the Windows quick search to search the contents of every single book, similar to the compendium but I get the surrounding context as well and from multiple sources usually.
I don't have an infinate amount of time to prepare adventures and taking away the electronic tools would greatly complicate the process. Scaling encounters, searching for cool monsters that are appropriate, easily creating and more importantly updating characters, these are all things that the online tools get us. I'm old enough to remember playing AD&D before the first software version of the tools came out in the 90's and I really don't want to do that again. Spending two hours just to get a new player started is a major turn off.
That's my 2 cents.

 

[BryonD]

Dunno about the answered part. We get 3.5 two years early because it's so popular and they want to make more money but 3.5 goes for about 5 years because ...? And 4e goes two years because it's so unpopular.

I'm thinking there's some inconsistencies here.

You are totally lost on the concept of cause and effect.

You are also taking everything completely out of context.

Yes, asked and answered. Repeating your one talking point and ignoring the reposnes given is no surprise because you have no valid responses to offer.

But if you want to openly proclaim that 3E was failing during that blockbuster period when the industry was changing around the game, go ahead. It is still entertainment.

For all I know, Essentials was planned all along just as 3.5 was. Maybe it was accelerated. Maybe it was released on time. Maybe it was invented because 4E was failing. I don't know.

You inconsistencies exist because you are putting things together that have nothing to do with one another.

I'll repeat, please proclaim that 3E was failing during that blockbuster period. People were there. Tell them you know and they don't because this one tiny bit of information with clear alternative explanations trumps reality.
Your sour grapes are vastly contorting your assessment. It is amusing.

 

[BryonD]

Maybe we got 3.5e because it was so popular and we got 4.5e because it was so popular.

Otherwise just swap straight into the next e, right?

In the absence of other information, this is a completely valid possibility.

 

[Umbran]

I think that's a bit of an opinion. There are a lot of people who were called trolls anytime a flaw was pointed out in order for them to get into trouble with the mods.

Before I was a member here I used to read these boards and I saw it a lot.

I think a full discussion of moderator policy of the time is a whole separate kettle of fish. Yes, some folks tried to use the moderators to silence others. We made considerable effort to take that into account. I'll leave it at that.

I think it is still fair to say that, whether or not there were false accusations, there were a bunch of actual trolls - people actively trying to annoy others - on both sides of the conflict.

 

[Umbran]

ITT: 5E discussion devolves into 3E/4E edition warring for 30-something pages, and Mods don't even care :/

It would really help your complaint if you had reported anything before making that accusation.

Folks, if you don't think a conversation is appropriate, report the problem. We may not agree with your assessment, but we will at least look at it.

If you have an issue, please take it to a discussion by PM or e-mail with one of the mods, rather than venting in-thread. Thanks.