Of course, I'm wary of some of the proposed changes. I'm holding my judgment about the new DR scheme until I see exactly how it works, but by and large, I like just about every change I have seen that is being mentioned for 3.5.
There will be things I don't like in the changes, of course, but I am sure there will be far less things I don't like or are confusing in 3.5 than there were in 3.0.
People will probably flame me for this, but I thought 3.0 made huge strides to improve the game over 2E. 3E is a lot like how I envisioned the game should always work, and I played and loved 2E for years. Wizards has done good work in my opinion, but they are only human and could never have possibly foreseen all of the specific ambiguities and rules arguments that frequent these boards. I thought their work on 3E was admirable. Your opinion may vary.
I just wish I could see what the revised rules are looking like NOW. I am already planning to buy the revised books because I think they will totally rock, even based on what I've heard.
One could argue that Wizards is trying to squeeze out more money of their existing products, but I don't see it that way. Revamping the books in a significant way such as this costs Wizards time and money and they should be allowed to recover some of that cost. If you support what they are doing and want to encourage it, buy the books. If you don't, then don't buy the books and just use the updated SRD if you want the new rules. Either way, your message will be heard.
Convenience always comes with a price. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything. Wizards knows these 3.5 changes have to be beefy and live up to the hype or people will get mad and Wizards can ill afford that right now. If all Wizards did for 3.5 was to publish a gigantic downloadable list of errata, people would be demanding to know when new books would be printed. They can't possibly satisfy everyone.
I will gladly pay the money to get a compact, neatly bound core set of rulebooks that tightens up loose ends, clarifies ambiguous and confusing rules, and rebalances some aspects of 3E that many think are broken.
I don't like to drop $120 without any thought, but there is no doubt in my mind that the books will be worth it for me, even though I sunk a lot of money into the originals. I have a lot of faith in Wizards. From what I have seen, they have LISTENED to what people want in terms of revamping the core rules and are trying to give it to us.
I say, let's see what they have to say. Discuss what you like and don't like, since Wizards is apparently listening in some fashion. I say I really like what I hear so far.
Jason.
