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You do realize that several very vocal posters were lambasting WotC for giving "practically no warning" for 4th edition as it is, right? I would suspect that the kind of vitriol that would come as a result of making an announcement on such short notice would have been a huge public relations SNAFU.

When I stopped playing AD&D in the 80s as a snobby college kid, one thing all of us ex-AD&D players complained about was that the game was all about killing and looting, and that was the expectation built into the rules (after all, XP in AD&D did include as a major component the gold value of...

Not sure where people are getting the idea that this setting has NO cities and NO intrigue set in it. Reading the design article I see that there are many distant settlements, and they talk about small settlements as sites for adventure because they often fall out of contact with society. They...

The point that the game was designed with the thought of a grid or similar setup isn't much of an overstatement, if at all. After all, movement, spell and weapon ranges and the like still were measured in inches, assuming 10ft (or yards outdoors) per inch. The wargame/miniatures aspect, and the...

But the D&D Basic set was a revision... the original boxed set from 1974 was quite different, referred you to other games for rules, and would have been a questionable choice to put out as a replayable classic.

I dunno... I started playing AD&D in junior high at the age of 13, and ended up in a year with gifts of harback books worth over $100, plus other modules and supplements... and that was 1981 dollars.

Yes, it is hyperbolic. Several White Wolf games had similar levels of turnaround. Mutants and Mastermind had two versions in a very short period. Not unheard of in the gaming industry. Not sure why this level of turnaround is considered deeply shocking. Other industries-- software, console...

You know, I have a copy of GT, Slavelord of Cydonia and the PDF sub-rules, and Mythic Heroes, and I would still fork over cash for a PDF version of the main rulebook. And I'm not even running a game right now. That's another day of Quiznos for you....

Of course, many of those roles are refinements of the original tanker (fighting man), DPS (wizard) and healer (cleric) that came from a Massively Multiplayer Offline RPG from 1974. I forget the name of it.... And the fighter in D&D was never the primary damage dealer except maybe from levels...

Actually, it isn't. An MMO features: * A persistent world (goes on even when you are offline) * Computer moderation of activity (no DM! Moderators in these games fill a different role.) * A large (thus the "massive") group of players in the same "campaign". None of these are features of a...

Would you feel that way even if the "extra content" turns out to mean "you can use the rules in this book in our online tabletop?"

Actually, it always struck me that D&D in particular of all RPGs has been the model for video games. Characters with defined classes. The importance of magic items to gain power. The nature and roles of classes. The fact that there are classes and levels. The focus on dungeon delving, combat...

Free web enhancements are a bonus, not a requirement, and the web enhancements WotC has done in the past have not been extensive. Most of the official rules expansions outside of FAQ or errata postings have been things you had to buy, either through Dragon or through books. Did I miss the pile...

Canon does not equal required. Dragon magazines, various supplements, online FAQs... all this is considered FAQ now. And none of that is required. If you believe so, then to play 3e, you needed to subscribe to Dragon, buy all supplements, and regularly check the WotC site. But, of course, that...

Of course, Apple has released several OS upgrades over time that made it so that older software did not work correctly or even at all with the new OS... the upgrade to OS8, the upgrade to OS9, and again to OSX, each caused problems with software I had spent more on than I did on D&D. And the...

I'm not sure how reading and listening to what WotC is planning -- including statements that the DI is completely optional -- could lead to the conclusion that unless you pay for the DI you will have an incomplete system. Certainly this seems no more true than saying that you would have an...

Funny, but I thought feats were a response to advantage/disadvantage mechanics used since the 1980s in many role-playing games from Hero to GURPS to the World of Darkness games....

But the D&D game is not an online game. Some games are online. Some 3rd edition games RIGHT NOW are online. Some 2ed and 1ed and OD&D and GURPS and Hero and every other game, too. Offering tools to allow online play does not make the D&D GAME and online RPG. Period.

I see it more as, "we heard all the stuff you fans complain about and we have noticed similar things and complained, too... and we think we've come up with a cooler game. You'll like it. Keep playing the game you play now, but when we release the new edition we think you'll like it as much as we...

Assuming that there were intentional lies told and that a decision to release at this date was not moved up and that this was conveyed throughout all levels of the company and that this untruth was systematically spread to others, your analogies are flawed and inflammatory at best. And assuming...