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

[Cadfan]

I seriously doubt that WOTC is trying to "fire" their old gamers.

But sometimes I don't care if it happens.

I like older gamers who are useful to the game because they kindly usher newer players into the hobby. I don't like older gamers who directly harm the hobby by belittling younger players because the younger players want to play more modern fantasy archetypes than the grognards are comfortable with.

 

[Maggan]

They'd be able to get a solid look at the product and plan early

If I would give out the rules to publishers, I would first require a contract saying they won't publish until the three core books are out.

No Creature Collection this time around!

/M

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Now the TRUE design flaw of 3.X ... you want to know it ?

It's an empty rules system with nothing to remember it by !

WhaddI meanby this ? People do not remember 1.0 because of the rules. They remember it because they were scared shitless in I6 : Ravenloft or because they slew Lolth in Queen of the Demonweb pits.

Or maybe more DM's are writing their own adventures, which results in less shared "official" experience?

And honestly the demonweb pits adventure sucked. You had a boring set of coridoors (which looked like a video game map) and fought Lolth in a giant spider robot (zomg, video game! robots! anime!). Oh, lets not forget the stereotypical maarlith secretary doing her nails.

 

[GreatLemur]

It also seems like they were trying to fork the market or tell older fans to not bother when they said there would be no means of converting old characters to 4e. Converting my 2e PC's to 4e was one of the first things I did when I got 3e, and it was one of the ways I started to learn how the system worked, by figuring out character creation and progression and how to emulate old abilities and characters with the new system. Now WotC is saying don't bother, you can't do it.

They're saying you can't possibly recreate all the character options of 3e (the version of D&D that really opened the character option floodgates) with the rules available in brand new, we-haven't-got-any-suppliments-yet 4e. They're saying that you probably won't be able to convert your characters accurately, so your best bet will be a rough reinterpretation, or else a whole new campaign. My memories of 2e are admittedly indistinct, but I suspect 3e characters are far more varied, mechanically.

I'd say they're just being realistic and telling us they can't give us absolutely everything at the very beginning of the new game's lifecycle, not telling people with long-running campaigns to bugger off.

Anyway, isn't it fun to start a new campaign?

 

[Wormwood]

And honestly the demonweb pits adventure sucked. You had a boring set of cooridoors and fought Lolth in a giant spider robot (zomg, robots! anime!).

THANK YOU!

For 20 years I thought I was the only one who was bored senseless by that module.

 

[SPECTRE666]

Awesome people, just awesome! I am a long time FR an and player. Its just these changes to the Realms got me alittle concered about whats happening to the Realms. I see that Eberron is basicaly not really changing and I am like wtf( according to James Wyatts blog). Thank you peeps for the replies.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Awesome people, just awesome! I am a long time FR an and player. Its just these changes to the Realms got me alittle concered about whats happening to the Realms. I see that Eberron is basicaly not really changing and I am like wtf( according to James Wyatts blog). Thank you peeps for the replies.

Well, the FR is going to have to change. With 4e, it gets warforged as a standard race.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Sheesh, I hope someone does do a 3.75. There is nothing wrong with 3e that cant be ironed out.

 

[SPECTRE666]

Well, the FR is going to have to change. With 4e, it gets warforged as a standard race.

I have no problem with the Warforged if they do it right. I got some good ideas for the Warforged in the Realms anyway. Raumathari anybody. Its some of the other changes thats got me on the 4E FR fence. It seems to me(JMHO)that their nuking the Realms for no good reason. Go to the WotC FR Forum, and look at the WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH! It makes me think that WotC may be saying that I am not as important of a customer anymore and that is sad if that is the case. JMHO)

 

[carmachu]

The whole "firing your current customer base" does have precedent, IIRC.

One of the miniature companies (Games Workshop?) essentially did this a while back. They came out with an entire new mini line that was not compatible with the old line. Apparently, this strategy *was* successful for them.


From a business standpoint, it seems shocking that a company would do that, but loyalty to the customer sometimes takes a backseat to profit.

You must be thinking of some OTHER manufacturer other than Games Workshop, because as a long time player of 40k and fantasy....no, GW was NOT successful. They've been steadily losing profit for the last 7 years easily, their unit sales have been continuously going down adn down, most notable in the US market, but its hit EU and UK recently, and have posted losses last quarter.

Dont tranmple your old friends, in your efforts to make new ones is a very old saying. One GW and WotC may want to think about....