Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 5638077" data-attributes="member: 7006">Right now most lapsed players fall into the following groups, and whether a new edition could get "most" of them back depends entirely on how many people are in each of these.  Because some of these groups could move to a new edition... but several of them will not.1) The players who took offense to WotC's original 4E marketing.Most of these players are probably lost for good, because they just hate WotC the company.  So unless the new edition is just so outstanding that they swallow the bile in their mouths, or WotC sells the brand to a different company... these players returning I imagine is unlikely.2) The players who are 3PP focused.Most of these players are also probably lost for good, because they only play D&D because of the OGL and thus any game that doesn't have it (which I'd imagine the new edition falls into that) is not a game they will play.3) The players who have a specific style of adventure / adventure path they want and enjoy.Paizo's generally acknowledged to be head and shoulders above WotC when it comes to adventure design (as far as I can tell from what I read here on the boards).  As a result, many players play Pathfinder just so that they can play those adventures easily.  Most of these players are probably lost for good UNLESS the new edition is so good it's worth players' time to adapt the PF adventures to it, or WotC works a lot harder to create better adventures.  We'll probably find more of this group willing to try the new edition compared to the first two groups, but I think most still wouldn't bother.4) The players who don't want to play a miniatures game.These players definitely ARE more likely to return, if we go under the assumption that one of the 'complexity dials' Mearls talked about is the tactical miniatures combat, and if that is removable.  If it is... then players who like 4E for many advances it did make (like the DDI tools, the ease of monster and encounter design) but hate it because of the focus on miniatures... most certainly will give the new edition a look if it includes a way to remove that focus and play the game miniatureless.5) The players who don't want to 'rent' an rpg.These players ironically enough I would think WOULD be more likely to come to a new edition if the game got printed in books (in addition to DDI).  It's acknowledged that there's been so much errata to 4E that many players just don't want to play the game since their books have become obsolete, and they refuse to have DDI be their book replacement (since they don't actually "own" the material to do with it as they please.)  However, if a new edition comes out that gets fully vetted and printed... the game is now back to its original pristine condition.  A player's handbook that is usable and not out of date.  That would be something many of these players would look forward to, I'd imagine.6) The players who want earlier editions of the game made available and/or supported.There is a subset of players who refuse to play 4E or any game WotC produces because they are upset that WotC does not make earlier editions available.  So in that regard, they are like group 1 in that it's anger towards the company and not the game itself that is the roadblock.  However, unlike group 1... WotC can make reparations to this group by finally actually making earlier edition material available.  If that was to happen... then I think some of these players would 'cross the picket line' as it were, and take a look at the new edition since they've now been placated.  However, I do think this group is very small, because it stands to reason that these players want earlier edition material released because they want to play these earlier editions, and not any new game WotC would release.7) The players who saw rules they liked/loved get removed from 4E.Thanks to Dannyalcatraz for mentioning this category, and I think it warrants an edit into my post.  He's right in that what D&D is to people depends greatly on many of the rules used to 'create' the game.  The biggest issue then becomes which people think which rules are the sacred cows, and how many have to get removed from it to make you no longer want to play it.  Hell, for many players the Assassin was a sacred cow and that's what stopped them from moving from 1E to 2E, and THAC0 was a sacred cow that stopped players from switching from 2E to 3E.  Whether any of these players who had left because of slaughtered cows come back to a new edition depends entirely on how many of those cows make a return.  Some will... some won't.  But I do think that Mearls' 'complexity dials' mean that there's possibilities for things to get re-added to the game as part of a particular dial subset (like the nine alignment grid, the 'special' magic items, maybe even the 'great wheel', etc.) ***These were just the initial groups I could think of, but I'm sure there are several more if I thought about it longer.  And as I said above, it depends entirely on the number of players who fall within these groups that would determine whether "most" of them were able to be brought back to a new edition.  My own personal guess would be 'no'... as I do not think there are 51% or more players on the side willing to come back.  But we really won't know until it happens.</blockquote>

Verification