Fanaelialae
Legend
I voted that I played it and wasn't impressed one way or the other, but that's actually not the case (just the option that I felt was closest to the truth).
I followed the pre-release in Dragon magazine with great excitement, and started playing it as soon as it was released. I loved it. I thought it was brilliant.
As time went on, however, it began to encourage seriously bad habits in myself and other gamers at my table. Particularly power gaming. Now, we were never a table that was vehemently anti-power-gaming or any such thing. But RP and actual characterization was also important to us. And without noticing, the power gaming took a strong priority at the table over time.
I think that a big part of this was that the game was designed to encourage optimization. An unoptimized character was practically guaranteed to die, as we saw many, many times. You can't play a dead character (in our games raise dead and similar magics often had limited availability), so therefore the numbers were prioritized and the character was often shoehorned to fit those numbers.
It took a long time to recognize that this was happening, and when I finally did I realized that I hated the system and the type of gamer it had encouraged me to become. When I discussed it with the other gamers at my table, the sentiments were similar.
As a result, about 2 years prior to the release of 4e, we started using various homebrew systems of our own design. We wouldn't return to D&D until 4e. Even today, the thought of playing 3e or a derivative thereof leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak.
Hence my response. When I started playing 3e, and for years thereafter, I absolutely loved it. However, over time I grew to hate it (which is a strong word, but honestly back then I did). I wouldn't say I hate it anymore. I think it was brilliant and revolutionary in many ways. I don't think 5e would be what it is today without 3e. I just have absolutely zero desire to ever play it again.
I followed the pre-release in Dragon magazine with great excitement, and started playing it as soon as it was released. I loved it. I thought it was brilliant.
As time went on, however, it began to encourage seriously bad habits in myself and other gamers at my table. Particularly power gaming. Now, we were never a table that was vehemently anti-power-gaming or any such thing. But RP and actual characterization was also important to us. And without noticing, the power gaming took a strong priority at the table over time.
I think that a big part of this was that the game was designed to encourage optimization. An unoptimized character was practically guaranteed to die, as we saw many, many times. You can't play a dead character (in our games raise dead and similar magics often had limited availability), so therefore the numbers were prioritized and the character was often shoehorned to fit those numbers.
It took a long time to recognize that this was happening, and when I finally did I realized that I hated the system and the type of gamer it had encouraged me to become. When I discussed it with the other gamers at my table, the sentiments were similar.
As a result, about 2 years prior to the release of 4e, we started using various homebrew systems of our own design. We wouldn't return to D&D until 4e. Even today, the thought of playing 3e or a derivative thereof leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak.
Hence my response. When I started playing 3e, and for years thereafter, I absolutely loved it. However, over time I grew to hate it (which is a strong word, but honestly back then I did). I wouldn't say I hate it anymore. I think it was brilliant and revolutionary in many ways. I don't think 5e would be what it is today without 3e. I just have absolutely zero desire to ever play it again.