woodelf said:
Is it really "bias" to note an 8-yr-long unbroken trend in a company's products, and begin to presume future products will conform to it? Or simple observation?
It's opinion. You stated as much in your post, but only after a lengthy number of "is" statements ("d20Supes will be inferior...", "D&D3e is inferior...", "d20 Modern is inferior...", "the WotC version is inferior...").
I don't particularly agree with any of your assertions (I like all of the games in question save for
Spycraft, which I do not own, and likely never will), and no amount of "backup" is going to change my mind, short of your being able to demostrate catastrophic mechanical flaws. This doesn't make me right or you wrong. All of the RPGs in question are, in fact, excellent products.
woodelf said:
Point is, as silly as it may be to judge a book before it even exists, it seems just as silly to say that one cannot make any meaningful predictive statements about a book produced by a known quantity, before it exists.
Well, there's "meaningful predictive statements" and then there's, "It's being produced by WotC, so obviously it will suck. I can prove it!"
IMO, WotC generally produces some great stuff. Not the near-perfect record, IMO, of a Malhavoc, but then agian, they put out a lot more product, with a greater number of authors, so there will be more variation. On the whole, their track record, IMO, is far better than most other d20 companies. I'll buy their stuff far more readily than I will certain other publishers.
IMO, the only WotC d20M product I have found genuinely disappointing was
Urban Arcana. I also did not buy
Weapons Locker becasue the subject simply didn't interest me. Otherwise, I think they've been doing great. IMO, d20M is one of the best d20 designs in print (I
love basic classes). Ergo, I look forward to this new book, though I will keep my eyes peeled for reviews.