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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BluSponge" data-source="post: 5638236" data-attributes="member: 916">Well it kinda depends.  Look, I'm not trying to go "edition wars" mode here but it seems to me WotC made two crucial mistakes (IMHO) when it came to 4e.  First, for the second time in a decade they released a version of the game completely (and intentionally) incompatible with the previous edition.  If ANYTHING is going to splinter your audience, who has invested $XX in your product, this will do it.  Their second mistake (again, IMHO) was the way their PR department handled the rollout.  This started poorly (with fan/consumer accusations of lying since up until the day before the announcement company reps had been swearing up and down that a new edition was not on the horizon), and just never got better (keeping a lot of changes vague or secret until the books hit the shelves).  Compare the rollout to the 3e rollout and you'll be amazed at the difference in fan reaction (which was not all rosy either).So where am I going with this if not to spark a big edition fight?  No, WotC will probably never be able to produce an edition to bring everyone back into the fold.  That ship is sailed.  There is too big a gulf between the AD&D and 3e crowds and 4e now.  OTOH, they should be VERY concerned about further splintering their consumer base.  5e, whenever it comes down the pike, needs to be an incremental update as opposed to whole system reboot.  More Call of Cthulhu 7th edition and less Star Wars: Special Edition.  Clean it up and incorporate the best rules updates; don't make us argue who shot first.The second big thing they could do is give the fans/customers a sense of ownership over the update.  Look at how Paizo handled its public Beta test of Pathfinder.  Or even better, look at the difference between 2nd edition AD&D and 3e.  Maybe it was all the focus group testing, or just smart business, but a lot of the positive reaction for 3e came from the fact that lots of 2nd ed GMs were using a lot of the little rules changes already.  The preview materials highlighted this.  2nd ed took a survey of what fans wanted changed and then just did their own thing regardless of that feedback.  WotC needs to make the fans feel like part of the process for the next edition, which shouldn't be too hard given the access fans have to the developers these days.  This wasn't the case with 4e (or, if it was, I didn't see that vibe around here) and the results are obvious.This plan won't bring the lost sheep back into the fold, but I think it will build better retention and consumer relations going forward.  IMHO, of course.Tom</blockquote>

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