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Message: <blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 9092822" data-attributes="member: 90374">A little late to the thread, but pretty interesting. I think the 4E is WoW Meme gets such a work out because of cultural aspects more than mechanical ones. A lot has to do with when 4E launched and what was happening at the time culturally. It was the first time a new edition launched in the age of social media. The memes were instant and widely shared. No longer were just the hardcore players writing into magazines or lurking internet forums. Folks were tossing these out on Facebook and everybody with a passing interest was participating. This lead to a lot of false hoods and insults getting a lot more acceptance and trade than otherwise would have in other eras. That leads me to D&D and video games. There is a sizable sentiment in the TTRPG community that video games are clearly inferior experiences. Often, disparaged as brain rot and too confining. Video games had long been only a minor threat because folks would play them mostly by themselves. Since seen as a minor threat, the 3E meme of "just like Diablo" didnt really have the legs the "4E is WoW" did. WoW wasnt just popular like Diablo, it was revolutionary. Folks could play this massive game online at any time with loads of people. Suddenly, this was a threat to RPG tables everywhere. I recall many a lament that their players dont show up anymore because they would rather be raiding in WoW. The sentiment grew that video games where now destroying TTRPGs. So, I think you can see where this is going. Saying 4E is WoW is like the yo mama so fat insult of TTRPGs. Folks who dislike the game can drop a simple drive by insult. Folks who do like the game are not only defending it, but fighting back against a cultural sentiment. The battle isnt really about the mechanics and design, its about whether 4E is a "true" TTRPG or not for many. 4E really just a victim of its time. I mean, folks talk about 3E all the time and can do so on its merits and barely ever is "its Diablo" gets mentioned. 5E was spared because it was deigned openly, with a playtest and polled the public. Folks walked the process together with WotC. Which, WotC was not a great steward in 4E either which I believe really hurt 4E further. Anyways, I think the above explains why the battle liens are drawn to this day around 4E on this particular subject.</blockquote>

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