D&D 3.x 3.5: Out With A Whimper

[Firevalkyrie]

What about Star Wars RPG and miniatures and D&D miniatures and Magic:The Gathering and...

Remember, WotC doesn't publish anything but D&D game books. They certainly don't publish game tie-in novels, or miniatures, or any other game lines, let alone a large number of game lines under multiple imprints.

 

[Dausuul]

I remember the "10 ways to play Third Edition now" bits in Dragon Magazine before 3e came out.

From what we've seen, there's some easy stuff to implement, such as:

- static Defenses (formerly Saving Throws);
- Altering of elf racial bonus (-2 Con, +2 Dex becomes +2 Dex, +2 Wis).
- High Elves take on the appearance and fluff of Wood Elves and are renamed Elves (favored class: Ranger) and Gray Elves are renamed Eladrin (favored class: Wizard).
- Etc.

Static defenses you could do, but it seems a bit nitpicky. As for the rest, how would you apply them to an existing campaign? Presumably not too many people are going to be starting new 3.5E games soon.

 

[Satori]

I think it'd be cool if they released "Basic 4E" adventure modules for a reasonable price.

Each adventure module would be designed to capture the new "feel" of 4E, and perhaps act as a bridge to some changes they'll make from 3.X to 4E.

In these Basic 4E modules, they could have 4-6 premade characters with stat blocks, no rules on character creation (that way no one will pass on buying the PHB), and very brief rules for updated combat that reflects how the system differs from 3.xE

In fact, break it down like "Basic DnD" prior to "Advanced DnD".

i.e. The basic characters are a Tiefling, Human, Halfling, Eladrin, Dwarf, etc... The Tiefling has Warlock like powers, the Human has Wizardly powers, the Halfling has Rogue powers, the Eladrin has Cleric powers, etc...

Not only would this take minimal effort (heck, I'm sure a lot of people would volunteer to write the adventures) and get the fanbase excited about "Advanced" 4E (I want to play a multi-class Tiefling Rogue, not a Warlock!), but it would also act as a buffer for playtesting and the ultimate release of 4E.

Actually, I'm a corporate software trainer and QA tester...and no matter how long or thoroughly my team QA tests a new version, the customers ALWAYS find issues/bugs/enhancements that we completely missed.

By releasing "Basic/Beta" 4E, they would essentially get an additional level of QA testing on their product...QA testing that people would PAY to do!

Just a thought.

 

[Vigilance]

In other news, MS no longer makes X-Box games, preferring to put their resources into 360 games.

Nintendo no longer makes Game Boy games in favor of the DS and has abandoned the GameCube in favor of the Wii.

Companies promoting their new product over one they don't make any more.

Shocking!

 

[Wolfspider]

In other news, MS no longer makes X-Box games, preferring to put their resources into 360 games.

Nintendo no longer makes Game Boy games in favor of the DS and has abandoned the GameCube in favor of the Wii.

Companies promoting their new product over one they don't make any more.

Shocking!

But, to use the OP's argument, did console game companies stop releasing games for the X-box six months before the 360 came out?

 

[Henry]

Also, to clear up another piece of misinformation that has become reality over time, No WotC employee ever said exactly that 4E wasn't going to be released on 2008. What they DID say at 2007 D&D Expo, was that 4E was "a long ways off." That and some other inferences from other statements was taken to mean it wasn't going to be in 2008. I was spreading some of those mistaken assumptions back in spring of 2007, myself. This was discussed in a thread from September ad infinitum, but I can't find it right now.

 

[Rechan]

But, to use the OP's argument, did console game companies stop releasing games for the X-box six months before the 360 came out?

Odd. I thought that WotC was still putting out books, like Stormreach for instance?

 

[Vigilance]

But, to use the OP's argument, did console game companies stop releasing games for the X-box six months before the 360 came out?

Pretty much yeah.

Console makers might allow 3rd parties to continue releasing games for a console, but once a new console is announced, 1st party support for the old console dries up.

Again, does this surprise anyone?

 

[Vigilance]

Odd. I thought that WotC was still putting out books, like Stormreach for instance?

Yep. This is a question of how they should use the remaining issues of Dragon, which are going to be free no less.

It sounds like they're continuing to release 3.5 adventures, but intend to use Dragon as a promotional vehicle for 4e.

Given that it's free to us, complaining about how they choose to use that space seems a little off.

 

[Wolfspider]

Odd. I thought that WotC was still putting out books, like Stormreach for instance?

WotC is continuing to put out books, of course. I was just answering Vigiliance's argument with one using the same metaphor.

I imagine that sales will be down for 3.5 stuff, but they probably know this and have adjusted accordingly.