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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aaron L" data-source="post: 3793057" data-attributes="member: 926">I signed up on Eric's forums in October '99.  I remember he had just posted the info on Elven Chain, and I was stoked, and hooked.  I've been reading and posting ever since, from when it was just a comparative handful of us to the (seeming to me) millions of us there are around now <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />  but I don't have the post count lots of others do (I don't understand how they post so much! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" /> ) Does that make me an old guy?  Oh God, I was 23 when I started posting here and now I'm 31.  I AM old!<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> I remember Ruin Explorer was here before I was, I think.  I'm pretty sure ColonelHardisson was there, too.  Psion's been here quite a long time as well, but I can't remember if it was Eric's site or the beginnings of ENWorld.  That's all I can think of off the top of my head.  Plus I'm bad with names.  I'm sure there are lots of others.  Since the divvying up of the forums into lots of subs, I don't see lots of people I used too, but that's because I pretty much stick to the  General forum and don't really look at the others very much.  I miss people <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />  (hehe)  I'm optimistic about 4E and I'll at least be giving it a look.  I started D&D with 2E in '92, encountered 1E in '94 when I met new gaming friends, and switched to 1E pretty much exclusively after that (except for Dark Sun that we used 2E for.)  Since 1E and 2E were essentially the exact same system, just with the quirkiness and flowery language of 1E filed off and Demons and Devils removed as a sop to people who didn't even play the game, I grew to resent 2E as an offering to the unwashed masses who cried "satanist" because the game included demons (which were enemies to kill!)  I had just been ostracized from my church by a small but vocal group who whispered about the things I and my brother and our friends did because we played D&D (some said we wanted to watch porn movies at our Church Youth Group weekend sleepovers, had killed several dogs and cats, and other such ridiculous, vile, and hurtful things.  We quit ging to church then, and to me, 2E came off as nothing more than a servile attempt to bend to the wishes of those kind of people, and I rejected it harshly for that reason.      Then Eric started gathering news abut3E, and it seemed like a genuine improvement of the system, and not the whitewashing and representation of the same rules minus the "offensive elements" that 2E had been.  Demons and Devils were back.  Character optimization went through the roof.  I could play a human Fighter/Mage!  Any race could be any class!  The supposedly mighty and incredibly magically powerful Elven race was no longer restricted in how powerful it's wizards could become!  Heck, I could just play a wizard with a sword! (like Gandalf) or be a powerful sorcerer-blademaster (like Rand al'Thor.)I was thrilled!    I am really happy with 3.5, especially after PHB II.  I like the crunchiness of it, the detail, and the character customization options.  I like 6 second rounds and blow-by-blow detail of combat.   But if 4E is better, well than, I'll go to 4E.  But if 4E removes a lot of character customization in order to "streamline" things, I won't like it.  If it cuts down on detail and abstracts things too much for the sake of "speeding up play" I won't like it.  If it, to use Ryan Dancey's analogy, "pulls back the camera" and makes combat rounds so long that combat becomes some really abstract blurry thing, I won't like it at all.  If it opens things up and presents more options, I will like it.  If it allows me to make characters more tailored to just how I want them, I will like it.  So, I'm quietly optimistic about 4E, and I'll be getting at east the first books.  If it's good enough, I'll be switching.  If not, then I won't.  But I'm not going to attack and knock the game before we know more then scattered hints and imaginings, like other people are.  Ultimately I think I would have preferred to wait two or maybe 3 more years for 4E, but I definitely know that 3.5 isn't so good that there isn't room for improvement, and if Star Wars Saga is any indication of what 4E will be like, like they've said, then I think that I'll be happy.Heh, sorry for rambling for so long.  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/nervous.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":heh:" title="Nervous Laugh    :heh:" data-shortname=":heh:" /></blockquote>

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