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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Can WotC Cater to Past Editions Without Compromising 4e Design?
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5665176" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>No, but it's likely indicative of how much trouble WotC would find expanding the DDI to support 3e.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Leaving aside the very great likelihood that they weren't, I think you'll find it significantly more difficult than you'd expect. The existing tools are built using the assumptions of 4e (all classes get +1 per two levels, no 3e-style multiclassing, all classes get powers). A 3e set of tools would need to handle a significantly different set of assumptions, to the point where it may well be easier to start again from scratch. That's not to say it can't be done, but it would be a lot of effort.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A fan-made tool for a single expert user is a vastly different proposition to a professional-level tool intended for thousands of users of varying levels of skill.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, we don't; many (most?) have now moved over to Pathfinder, which is a different matter again. Additionally, while there might be enough players, what percentage of them would become <em>customers</em>, especially after years of being ignored <em>and</em> given WotC's extremely poor track record with D&D software support?</p><p></p><p>Bear in mind that <em>some</em> new subscribers is not enough. You need <em>thousands</em> of new subscriptions to make it worthwhile.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No, actually, it's not.</p><p></p><p>At this point, the DDI holds the future of D&D as an RPG. If it fails, D&D gets cancelled. And DDI has a bad track record of losing lots of money on failed tools: Gleemax, the 3D gametable, the Character Visualiser, the offline Character Builder (great tool, but it had to be replaced, so it's a failure), the first Monster Builder... You can only go on so long before the whole project gets deemed "not worth it" and gets canned.</p><p></p><p>Adding tool support for 3e would require a big investment in new tools that <em>might</em> bring in new subscribers. But if it doesn't, that's <em>another</em> expensive write off to hang on DDI.</p><p></p><p>So, yeah, I'm of the opinion that if they tried to support 3e with software in DDI, it would likely mean the end of D&D as an RPG.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5665176, member: 22424"] No, but it's likely indicative of how much trouble WotC would find expanding the DDI to support 3e. Leaving aside the very great likelihood that they weren't, I think you'll find it significantly more difficult than you'd expect. The existing tools are built using the assumptions of 4e (all classes get +1 per two levels, no 3e-style multiclassing, all classes get powers). A 3e set of tools would need to handle a significantly different set of assumptions, to the point where it may well be easier to start again from scratch. That's not to say it can't be done, but it would be a lot of effort. A fan-made tool for a single expert user is a vastly different proposition to a professional-level tool intended for thousands of users of varying levels of skill. Actually, we don't; many (most?) have now moved over to Pathfinder, which is a different matter again. Additionally, while there might be enough players, what percentage of them would become [i]customers[/i], especially after years of being ignored [i]and[/i] given WotC's extremely poor track record with D&D software support? Bear in mind that [i]some[/i] new subscribers is not enough. You need [i]thousands[/i] of new subscriptions to make it worthwhile. No, actually, it's not. At this point, the DDI holds the future of D&D as an RPG. If it fails, D&D gets cancelled. And DDI has a bad track record of losing lots of money on failed tools: Gleemax, the 3D gametable, the Character Visualiser, the offline Character Builder (great tool, but it had to be replaced, so it's a failure), the first Monster Builder... You can only go on so long before the whole project gets deemed "not worth it" and gets canned. Adding tool support for 3e would require a big investment in new tools that [i]might[/i] bring in new subscribers. But if it doesn't, that's [i]another[/i] expensive write off to hang on DDI. So, yeah, I'm of the opinion that if they tried to support 3e with software in DDI, it would likely mean the end of D&D as an RPG. [/QUOTE]
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Can WotC Cater to Past Editions Without Compromising 4e Design?
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