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"It's not the size of your implement, but what you do with it!" - Retort of a wand-wielding wizard.

Isn't that supposed to confuse everyone, take tens of minutes of explanation whenever anything comes up, and bring the wrath of the WotC Gaming Police on your group, however?

It seems like too much change now, because 2e, and to a lesser extent, 3e weren't quite enough change. The game stagnated when RPGs went on. As for the worries about the wizard ceasing to be a generalist... well, I think wizard has been, especially at the high levels, too much of a "do anything...

And I think that gloombunny said it better and more concisely earlier on: Which curiously appear ten times in grognard arguments for every actual appearance in games, illustrations or whatnot (if that). Have you ever actually played a game with social encounter rules, such as any of the WW...

The closest archetypical idea that I can come up with is the smials of Tolkien's hobbits: partly underground dwellings, blending in with the surrounding countryside. (Honestly, gnomes make pretty good hobbits. :) )

Because we trust the WotC designers to produce a game whose default options aren't sucktastic or broken? It makes a lot more sense to initially allow whatever is in the core books. If the DBs turn out bad in practice, sure, go ahead and ban them; or if they turn out as not to fit any campaign...

Neat! I had similar ideas about the PHB races in 3.5, actually: humans adventure for power (whether for good or ill); dwarves, for honor and gold; halflings, because of wanderlust; elves, to experience new things; half-orcs, because their blood makes them restless. (Never could come up with...

I agree; in my personal FR, for example, the Mulhorandi and Chessentans do not worship Egyptian deities, but rather the elemental powers, with celestial / genasi bloodlines among the ruling elite. (And as a Finnish gamer, the inclusion of Mielikki and Loviatar tends to bring up SoD difficulties...

I'm opposed to encoding sexual dimorphism in stats, because it leads to pointless fights and reinforces the perception that D&D as a hobby is misogynistic. Could we drop the whole "gender, sex and their implications" argument now, please? It's not simple and is liable to insult transgendered...

In my experience, having better (in the sense of being more consistent and coherent) rules help with worldbuilding. Thus, I've found 3.* easier and more fun to homebrew stuff for and with than I ever did with 2e. Based on what we know now of 4e, I don't think there will be essential changes in...

Sounds good to me; having your character's fate hanging in balance over a single dice roll you can't affect can be frustrating.

Because people are making very firm decisions based on evidence that's sketchy at best. Seriously, we don't have enough information on anything in 4e to make such sweeping decisions: not races, not classes, not XP systems, not magic, not magic items.

I'm very likely going to get it, but (at least at this point) not without checking the reviews first.

First of all, thank you for taking the time to write such an extensive answer! Reading it through, I agree with you on many points. If you don't mind, I'll respond, below, only to those parts where I disagree with you. I do like alignment, for the most part, but I must point out that it is one...

But if you use your own settings, mythology, and other fluff anyway, why should you begrudge an implied setting for the beginning (or busy) DMs and players to grasp and build upon? Sure, it's something you will find no use for... but others certainly will.

With the red/blue/green/black boxed D&D sets (the ones w. Elmore dragon art), shifting later to AD&D 2e (and from there, to 3e and 3.5).

I admit to not having followed this thread particularly closely, so I hope you don't mind me asking what things that we know are being removed concern you the most?

Forcing, how? Cajoling, suggesting, or even bribing I could see, but not forcing. You can get XP from other sources as well, after all. Also, do you think that story awards are a bad thing overall? Because they're the staple of just about every other RPG except D&D.

"I combo my Howling Grognard Attack with Finely-Parsing Fan Stance!"

Stormbringer came out in 1965; Elric first appeared in a short story written in 1961. You're right on S&S preceding LotR, however (although not Tolkien's work; IIRC, the first parts of what would eventually become Silmarillion go back to early 1920s or so).