D&D 4E 4E: Why now?

[DaveMage]

Why now?

Economics is probably the answer. They need to sell more books.

I think the minis product life cycle is maturing as well, so they may be facing a "double whammy" with declining sales.

I'll bet there are several careers at WotC relying on a new edition doing well....

 

[pawsplay]

If anyone intends to stick with 3.5, there are enough products currently in print to keep them busy for quite some time. I don't think WotC has a huge fear of alienating customers. Rather, I think they anticipate some holdouts, who will eventually convert, if the new product is good.

Another reason to do 4e is because the Epic rules, and everything that led to them, and everything they led to, needs to be surgically removed from D&D. They were anti-fun, and they showed some scaling problems of the ratio of fun:level.

Statblocks are so messy even wotc's own professionals got all the major details right probably less than 90% of the time.

Options are good, but customization is better than indefinited expansion. Kits were, in that sense, better than the bloat of prestige classes. Talent trees are better than class variants.

D&D may or may not go all Tome of Battle, but it certainly needs to put a gritty barbarian within striking distance of a mad sorcerer. Likewise, a solamnic knight needs to stand a chance against a spellcasting dragon.

If they don't, it's only a matter of time before some 3rd party publisher does write "D&D but better."

 

[pawsplay]

I think the minis product life cycle is maturing as well, so they may be facing a "double whammy" with declining sales.

Actually, I'm pretty sure mini sales correlate very strongly with fan reaction to the sculpts.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

If anyone intends to stick with 3.5, there are enough products currently in print to keep them busy for quite some time. I don't think WotC has a huge fear of alienating customers. Rather, I think they anticipate some holdouts, who will eventually convert, if the new product is good.

Another reason to do 4e is because the Epic rules, and everything that led to them, and everything they led to, needs to be surgically removed from D&D. They were anti-fun, and they showed some scaling problems of the ratio of fun:level.

Statblocks are so messy even wotc's own professionals got all the major details right probably less than 90% of the time.

Options are good, but customization is better than indefinited expansion. Kits were, in that sense, better than the bloat of prestige classes. Talent trees are better than class variants.

D&D may or may not go all Tome of Battle, but it certainly needs to put a gritty barbarian within striking distance of a mad sorcerer. Likewise, a solamnic knight needs to stand a chance against a spellcasting dragon.

If they don't, it's only a matter of time before some 3rd party publisher does write "D&D but better."

Agreed on all counts.

Actually, I'm pretty sure mini sales correlate very strongly with fan reaction to the sculpts.

This, too.

 

[sniffles]

Simple question: why now? Even if "now" is actually a year from now, which seems reasonable, why now?

I'm not personally of the opinion that the current D&D incarnation has jumped the shark and deserves to be put down, as 2E certainly did when 3E was announced. And I have a hard time buying that this is a minor essentially backwards compatible upgrade as was 3.5. So why now?

If D&D was a car, there would be a new model every year. If it was a piece of software there would be a new version every six months. If it was a hamburger at Burger King, it would be changed or renamed or removed from the menu at a rate of frequency almost impossible to keep up with.

The question isn't "Why now?" but "Why not now?"

 

[The_Gneech]

If D&D was a car, there would be a new model every year.

Yes, but you wouldn't have to buy Gas 4.0 to put in it.

-The Gneech

 

[pawsplay]

Yes, but you wouldn't have to buy Gas 4.0 to put in it.

-The Gneech

Sure, but D&D still runs on the same gas as always, and it's free.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Yet we just managed an 8+ page thread on ideas for new fluff-heavy books that would make a good transitional line-up between editions since they'll be essentially compatible with both, being fluff-heavy.

...at the request of the guy in charge of the line.

FIFY

 

[The_Gneech]

Sure, but D&D still runs on the same gas as always, and it's free.

If you mean imagination, yes; if you mean "adventures and other support material," then no, it's not free. Either way, that wasn't the point I was trying to get at.

This year's model of a car and last year's model of a car both run on the same type of gasoline -- next year's model of D&D won't be able to use the same adventures and other support material off the shelf that this year's does.

-The Gneech

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

This year's model of a car and last year's model of a car both run on the same type of gasoline -- next year's model of D&D won't be able to use the same adventures and other support material off the shelf that this year's does.

We actually don't know that.

Star Wars Saga can use this year's D&D adventures and other support material despite being in an entirely different genre. I'm by no means convinced D&D 4e won't be able to do the same, and indeed most signs point to it being able to do so.

With that said, the move to a 30-level core really caught me by surprise. That's the kind of change that, while welcome in the abstract (though I'd still prefer 50, 100 or 255), could seriously impair backwards-compatibility. :\