A new Edition/Iteration of D&D is really necessary?

[Tequila Sunrise]

Wait, what? DEATH isn't necessary?!? Well, where the heck would we PUT all those people?!? They sure as heck ain't staying at my house!

And we'll just ignore the little thing that it would've rendered the whole 'survival of the fittest' part of evolution a bit moot, and thus we humans might not've been as advanced as we are now.

Death is just nature's way of ensuring that broken parts get recycled, rather than wandering around the planet indefinitely.

So it's certain, but not necessary!

 

[wolfattack]

But, we've already started talking about house rules and deep structural changes to address what we see as significant issues with the game. The most troubling of which is the complexity of both characters (no one wants to build a character without DDI tools) and combat encounters.

Well,i never used any DDI tool to build a character.i think one of the cool things about role play games is the part where you search ''thousands'' of books when you create your PC,trying to take the best options for him.
for certain it is a slow process,but i don't think it would be nice to do it in front of a desktop or notebook. just my opinion,of course.

A new edition is NOT necessary for the hobby (i.e. us), but apparently it is necessary for the business.

Those who think that a new edition is necessary because the game is b0rken and needs house rules, should take a moment and ask themselves how can they really believe that next edition won't be exactly the same? The game is broken only for those who want to break it, and they will break next edition as well. And if reeeaaallly needs house rules... you already made your own.

That said, more editions to me means more variety. We have various incarnations of OD&D and AD&D, four 3rd edition versions (3.0, 3.5, PF, C&C), regular 4th edition and Essentials, one more edition means hopefully a different game experience to choose from.

Yeah,this is what i think too. necessary for business,not for me. of course no one will force me to buy the books when they come out,but shouldn't WotC wait a little bit more to start working on a new edition? i mean,the gaps between the 1e AD&D and 2e AD&D and the later to the 3.0 was very nice,giving players a lot of time to REALLY need/feel the necessity for a new edition.

 

[Gryph]

Well,i never used any DDI tool to build a character.i think one of the cool things about role play games is the part where you search ''thousands'' of books when you create your PC,trying to take the best options for him.
for certain it is a slow process,but i don't think it would be nice to do it in front of a desktop or notebook. just my opinion,of course.

One of my favorite game systems is Hero System/Champions, a game that defined "take hours to make a character". I do understand the appeal for deep options and complexity in character building. I just don't like it in my D&D.

To me, the saving grace of a class system is the ease and elegance of getting a character ready for an adventure. Trying to get hyper-detailed characters out of a class system has always felt a bit like a square peg in a round hole. I prefer some form of skill based or character point based system for that purpose.

Still from the DDXP streams and other info fed to us by the design team, it looks like they want to do their best to accomodate both of our preferences. So good on them, I say. I hope they manage to bring together my 10 minute character and your 3 hour character (time made up, insert correct value when reading) at the same table.

 

[delericho]

And again, it was a -borg that did it! Cyborg, Hasborg, Star Trek Borg...borg, they want to destroy life as we know it!

No, Hasbro do not want to destroy D&D. Hasbro do not care about D&D. At all.

However, they have expectations for their brands, and if they don't meet those expectations, they get cancelled. Unfortunately for 4e, that expectation was impossible to hit - and it doesn't matter that the expectation was impossible, and it doesn't matter that had 4e been done by any other RPG company it would have been a runaway hit. It did not hit the target, so it failed.

Will nobody act on these allegations which are totally unsupported by evidence and based on hearsay and internet rumors? What has the world come to???

Cute. Firstly, I'm not calling for any particular action. I don't particularly care.

Secondly, as for being "totally unsupported"... Ryan Dancey went through all of this in his latest column and the follow-up thread. Nobody from WotC has bothered to refute anything he has said (in a front-page column on the largest D&D fansite on the internet). And what he said happens to dovetail extremely well with the known facts. I see no particular reason to doubt him.

 

[Raith5]

A new edition is NOT necessary for the hobby (i.e. us), but apparently it is necessary for the business.

Yep. Before 4th came out WOTC wanted to get a grab of the WOW market, now it wants a grab of pathfinder/CC/ D&D clone market. A much more modest goal! It must be annoying for WOTC for all these people to be playing the scores of iterations of D&D and not getting of the money that comes from it.

I am not sure that WOTC will be any more successful this time around. After all they have to offer something new, otherwise folk will just keep on playing the game they are playing.

 

[Tallifer]

Whether ANY game is "necessary" is entirely in the eyes of the beholder.

Living as I have in Korea for the past ten years, I can categorically, undeniably and objectively assert that games, and especially roleplaying games, are vitally necessary for the safety of the entire universe and certainly my own sanity.

 

[Gundark]

After i read about the upcoming new D&D, i was wondering with myself if it was really necessary to have another version of D&D so soon. i mean,has the 4E lost all their gas already? i still think that the 3.x edition had much ''life'' yet when they launched the 4E books. was the 4E so bad or that % of players who didn't liked 4E was so strong to make Wizards of The Coast design a new game? so do you feel a new edition/iteration was necessary? please,let me know what you think about it.

Well the genie is out of the bottle. You can't put it back. This topic would have been relevant 2 months ago, now its really not.

 

[Umbran]

By the (totally unrealistic) expectations of Hasbro, 4e failed.

Citation, please? I don't recall the public ever being given that information. Please don't state it as fact without factual support.

Remember that (good) business decisions on development for the future are not based solely on past performance, but on an assessment of future opportunities.

Someone (either at WotC or Hasbro or both) likely said, "Where can we make more money in the near, medium, and long-term future - continuing 4e, or creating a new game?" Then, weighing in risks and goals, a decision was made to go with a new game rather than continue with the old one.

On the whole, I would expect it to have been a whole lot more complicated than, "It failed, so do something new or cancel it!"

 

[billd91]

However, they have expectations for their brands, and if they don't meet those expectations, they get cancelled. Unfortunately for 4e, that expectation was impossible to hit - and it doesn't matter that the expectation was impossible, and it doesn't matter that had 4e been done by any other RPG company it would have been a runaway hit. It did not hit the target, so it failed.

I would add another criteria to whether or not 4e would be judged a failure. If any company had taken the #1 RPG and let its position slide into stiff competition, possibly to the #2 position, you'd see people judging it a failure. It may be a profitable property, but losing market share like that doesn't speak well for the success of the stewardship of the brand. That would be a failure of expectations for any company whether wedded to Hasbro's additional financial expectations or not.

 

[Mark CMG]

A new Edition/Iteration of D&D is really necessary?

Probably not for the fans but seemingly for WotC's bottomline or they wouldn't be trying to create a 5E. Still, if it has the legs to draw in enough players then they've rolled the dice at the right time. I get the feeling enough people will try it if it has plenty of support from many corners of the tabletop gaming community. If it's a good game, maybe it will even draw from beyond the usual faithful.