WheresMyD20
First Post
Don't worry. No one from WotC is going to show up to take your 4e books away. You can keep playing 4e for as long as you like.
Supporting past stuff is nice.
But it is just that. Nice. I don't feel it is imperative they do so. A company is not morally or ethically obligated to support a product forever. We are not entitled to more support than we pay for. If I buy a book, I get the book. If I pay for a subscription, I get content from it only so long as the subscription lasts, as agreed when I took on the subscription. Anything more is gravy.
First of all, DDI isn't going away. They want those digital subscriptions and they want them to expand. But you can expect that they're going to try to wean you off 4E. If 4E players have no reason to buy the current products, then they are no longer customers. You don't provide support if that supports cost more than the money coming in for it. So expect to see new sections that are 5E-centered. Then the 5E will be the default with a sub-board for 4E. Then all of 4E material will be available in "the archives" with the only current stuff being the tools. Then the rights to the 4E tools will be licensed off to another company and the only 4E support online will be through a much smaller company.
WotC HAS to get you to become 5E players. Supporting a shrinking population of 4E players makes as much sense as them running a fantasy-football league, it's allocating resources to people who aren't customers.
But you'd make a better customer for them if they get you to buy new product AND stay subscribed. They can't get you to buy new product by competing with themselves. The 4E support has to stop sometime. You can't reasonably expect it to be supported for 50 years, right? The question is simply when.
But you'd make a better customer for them if they get you to buy new product AND stay subscribed. They can't get you to buy new product by competing with themselves. The 4E support has to stop sometime. You can't reasonably expect it to be supported for 50 years, right? The question is simply when.