Dear Wizards: How about some real information?

[Lord Xtheth]

As Eric has pointed out often in other threads, we know more about 4E now than we did at the same point with 3E. Information is coming in time. I honestly never expected to get much info before New Years.

You can skip reading all of the blogs and just read ENWorld since you know people will post the good bits here. IT's what I do

With the few minor exceptions of "HERES A LINK TO AN UNDERDEVELOPED BROKEN SITE click here for the info, make comments please" threads.
I hate those

Damn you DnDinsider for still not working for me [/bitter rage]

 

[Oldtimer]

Damn you DnDinsider for still not working for me [/bitter rage]

You do know that you can fool the D&D Insider application into believing you're logged in, just by adding '&authentic=true' at the end of the web address?

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

I believe that the Final version of the rules will be done just before D*D Experience.

WotC will then ramp up the previews.


We must have patience. It is just a game. An awesome game, but a game nonetheless.

 

[Kesh]

I agree that it will but not in a good way. By their own admission, things have changed since the playtests of the summer about which many of the design notes in the December books are based. As a result, what info we get may, or may not, reflect aspects of the game that have since changed or been discarded.

It won't matter, as the preview books will not contain mechanics. They're going to be about the races and classes in descriptive terms, plus information about the design of 4e. So that really won't have much of an impact on the books.

 

[sidonunspa]

As Eric has pointed out often in other threads, we know more about 4E now than we did at the same point with 3E. Information is coming in time. I honestly never expected to get much info before New Years.

Sooooo not true

The very day they announced 3e at GenCon way back, they had sneak peek play test for the first X people to sign up...

I should know, I was one of them… I came onto En world and posted about Heroic Feats (that’s what they were called before the finalized product, and BTW only fighters got them) I played an elf wizard using a bow, we knew about sneak attack, and even about skills. We also knew that the basic mechanic for the game was simplified so all the rolls were d20+mod to hit a Target Number.

 

[Agamon]

Yep, I miss how the 3E news came out, too. This whole, "Look what my PC can do! Isn't that way cool? Now guess why!" blog posts are tres annoying. Even if Gleemax was the greatest thing since sliced bread, I wouldn't bother going there for lack of actual info (and it doesn't help that it's looking more like the worst thing since the plague...).

 

[Glyfair]

Are you really suggesting that playtesters should violate their NDA? I can wait.

I always feel that it's pretty hard to put faith in someone who claims to be violating their NDA. They are admitting to being liars, how much faith can I have in their comments?

 

[Henry]

Sooooo not true

The very day they announced 3e at GenCon way back, they had sneak peek play test for the first X people to sign up...

I should know, I was one of them… I came onto En world and posted about Heroic Feats (that’s what they were called before the finalized product, and BTW only fighters got them) I played an elf wizard using a bow, we knew about sneak attack, and even about skills. We also knew that the basic mechanic for the game was simplified so all the rolls were d20+mod to hit a Target Number.

Not to doubt you, but I don't remember ANYONE coming forward with any of that info at Gencon '99 -- the first place I learned about heroic feats was a dragon article a couple of months later, and few to NO people I talked to on Eric's nascent message boards in early 2000 had any clue how skills worked -- heck, some of us were speculating it worked like the D&D rules cyclopedia skills! We didn't have the 10 ways you can play 3e right now, until a few months later with a Dragon issue. From my perspective, we have about as much info as we did then, which is to say lots of broad concepts (like the skills system ability + mods + 1/2 level, and the powers choices, the defenses instead of saves) but very little hard info.

I admit I'd love a couple of powers descriptions or a couple of spells like the next person, but so far I think I'm getting enough to get at the least a general picture of how the system is going to shape up, and it's looking a heck of a lot like a lot of the stuff we see in Star Wars SE.

 

[tenkar]

Because if WotC, or any other company for that matter, expects someone to spend almost $100 on a preorder for something that hasn't been previewed at least moderatley, then they deserve to sell zero copies.

jolt

People buy books all the time without a preview.

People buy computer games / console games all the time without a preview.

People buy RPGs all the time without previews.

There might be reviews from people that have seen a pre-release version of the product, but they are usually light on details and heavy on personal experience. These reviews are usually nothing short promotional material... I've yet to see a magazine preview of a game that was less then positive. So, they are less review or preview, and more like an ad.

What exactly are you expecting from your preview of 4e?

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Here's the thing though...

Until the book is in the printer's hands, it's not a final version.

yeah, they could throw out tidbits on the Feat of Kewlness or the new Warlordforgedlock class, but if they for some reason have to change (or Gods forbid, cut for space reasons) those items, then they'll have to deal with people picking up their pitchforks and torches for "tricking the consumer."