It's
a) going to be the standard. If you don't want to play it, no one is forcing you but you will surely be left behind insofar as material support and new product. Ask th 2E dinosaurs how that's been treating them.
b) still a pen-and-paper game; no one is forcing you to use the online supplemental materials. And it's not like it's an MMORPG, either; the virtual tabletop is a way for people to use a grid and throw dice together on the internet rather than anonymous dicerolling programs and whateveryou'vegot. Hell, I use a computer for 3rd Edition... what difference is it to me if WotC has stuff I can buy online that lets me make a little 3D guy or lets me peruse digital copies of my own books. :\
c) taking into account, from my understanding, what the majority of their fanbase and the millions of manhours of playtesting have shown them. If you fall into the minority and have nothing but venomous bias and gainsaying, well... sorry, lads. 4th Ed is a reality now and I have a feeling that most people will make the switch; it's just a matter of how far behind the curve they're going to be when they do.
d) looking like it actually gets back to what the majority of editions of the game have held true to: skills in a "proficiency" system, simpler combat, simpler statblocks. So, from an essential, holistic approach, it's more to the core of D&D than 3rd Ed, which for all intents and purposes has deviated so far from 1E and 2E that, as we experienced 8 years ago, it is utterly unlike any other edition of D&D. 4E looks like it's done experimenting and is ready to present itself as a cleaner, funner, more manageable game all around.
Just because, for some reason, you might like the current skill system (because figuring out all those points per level and X Int, at whatever class makes you good at math, or whatever) doesn't mean that the streamlined skills is a "dumbing down" of the rules. Consider it a matter of cutting the fat. The same goes for anything else that WotC has trimmed and simplified.
a) going to be the standard. If you don't want to play it, no one is forcing you but you will surely be left behind insofar as material support and new product. Ask th 2E dinosaurs how that's been treating them.
b) still a pen-and-paper game; no one is forcing you to use the online supplemental materials. And it's not like it's an MMORPG, either; the virtual tabletop is a way for people to use a grid and throw dice together on the internet rather than anonymous dicerolling programs and whateveryou'vegot. Hell, I use a computer for 3rd Edition... what difference is it to me if WotC has stuff I can buy online that lets me make a little 3D guy or lets me peruse digital copies of my own books. :\
c) taking into account, from my understanding, what the majority of their fanbase and the millions of manhours of playtesting have shown them. If you fall into the minority and have nothing but venomous bias and gainsaying, well... sorry, lads. 4th Ed is a reality now and I have a feeling that most people will make the switch; it's just a matter of how far behind the curve they're going to be when they do.
d) looking like it actually gets back to what the majority of editions of the game have held true to: skills in a "proficiency" system, simpler combat, simpler statblocks. So, from an essential, holistic approach, it's more to the core of D&D than 3rd Ed, which for all intents and purposes has deviated so far from 1E and 2E that, as we experienced 8 years ago, it is utterly unlike any other edition of D&D. 4E looks like it's done experimenting and is ready to present itself as a cleaner, funner, more manageable game all around.
Just because, for some reason, you might like the current skill system (because figuring out all those points per level and X Int, at whatever class makes you good at math, or whatever) doesn't mean that the streamlined skills is a "dumbing down" of the rules. Consider it a matter of cutting the fat. The same goes for anything else that WotC has trimmed and simplified.
