elijah snow
First Post
Here's one thing to think about as a possible metaphor for the coming 4e revolution:
Most people who have a home PC, and use it a lot, whether Windows or Mac, don't automatically upgrade to the latest version of the OS upon release- despite great hype- because they:
1) Don't see the need to upgrade
2) Have invested great time, money, and resources in their current PC- including software and peripherals
3) May be adopting a wait and see attitude towards whether the upgrade is worth it in terms of new features and bug problems
My prediction is that 4e will be zealously adopted by many of the "early adopters", you know, people like us who care enough about this to expend mental energy discussing 4e on community message boards and casually allude to the thousands of dollars we've spent on gaming material, *but* I don't think everyone feels this way. My gamers, for example, will likely not be aware nor care about the release of 4e because they are casual gamers. Furthermore, if I say we're running 3e forever, they'll play 3e forever.
3e, like any OS, might not be perfect, but as a power user I know how to manipulate the system to get it to do what I want. Furthermore, I have so much invested in "software"- and I mean cool adventures, rule expansions, and add ons, that I haven't fully utilized, that the cost benefit ratio is too high for me to switch to 4e.
So, even assuming 4e really has the cool factor, is affordable (they're already piling on the add on costs with D&D Insider and annual core book upgrades), and that the rules actually work (anyone's guess, especially with such bold changes), I still might not upgrade because of my own investment in 3e.
To summarize the point of this ramble, I think there will be plenty of gamers out there to play 3e forever because they either: 1) love 3e, 2) have too much invested in it to switch or 3) don't care what "OS" they're using, they just want to play Dungeons and Dragons.
It's just a pity, IMHO, that they didn't make 4e backwards compatible. Because if I *could* run my 3e software on the 4e OS, I'd make the leap in a heartbeat.
Most people who have a home PC, and use it a lot, whether Windows or Mac, don't automatically upgrade to the latest version of the OS upon release- despite great hype- because they:
1) Don't see the need to upgrade
2) Have invested great time, money, and resources in their current PC- including software and peripherals
3) May be adopting a wait and see attitude towards whether the upgrade is worth it in terms of new features and bug problems
My prediction is that 4e will be zealously adopted by many of the "early adopters", you know, people like us who care enough about this to expend mental energy discussing 4e on community message boards and casually allude to the thousands of dollars we've spent on gaming material, *but* I don't think everyone feels this way. My gamers, for example, will likely not be aware nor care about the release of 4e because they are casual gamers. Furthermore, if I say we're running 3e forever, they'll play 3e forever.
3e, like any OS, might not be perfect, but as a power user I know how to manipulate the system to get it to do what I want. Furthermore, I have so much invested in "software"- and I mean cool adventures, rule expansions, and add ons, that I haven't fully utilized, that the cost benefit ratio is too high for me to switch to 4e.
So, even assuming 4e really has the cool factor, is affordable (they're already piling on the add on costs with D&D Insider and annual core book upgrades), and that the rules actually work (anyone's guess, especially with such bold changes), I still might not upgrade because of my own investment in 3e.
To summarize the point of this ramble, I think there will be plenty of gamers out there to play 3e forever because they either: 1) love 3e, 2) have too much invested in it to switch or 3) don't care what "OS" they're using, they just want to play Dungeons and Dragons.
It's just a pity, IMHO, that they didn't make 4e backwards compatible. Because if I *could* run my 3e software on the 4e OS, I'd make the leap in a heartbeat.