D&D 4E 4E WotC way of saying your fired?

[Glyfair]

Trust me, WotC got all kinds of opinions before they ever announced anything. They conducted internet surveys, they probably conducted by mail surveys. They probably did a stratified random sample of people who had Dragon magazine subscriptions, and the probably did it all more than two years ago, when nobody was feeling especially passionate about ANYTHING. I'm sure they learned their lesson from the TSR days. It's not like they fell off the turnip truck the minute Dancey stopped being Brand Manager.

Don't forget focus groups. We know that WotC did focus groups for 3E. Given their value, I strong doubt a company that focuses so much on market research would abandon them for such a major change.