Forked Thread: Changeover poll

When did you move to 3e?


I was also pretty much out of gaming during 2e. That was mostly a result of my lifestyle, where I was more focused on working and going out. Things started to change for me though once I became engaged and started to settle down. Then Icewind Dale and Baulder's Gate II came out and pulled me back to 2e. Shortly after that 3e came out and I flipped through it but thought the overall feel was too anime and childish for me. I did however think many of the mechanics seemed more streamlined. Eventually I switched over but it took me about a year or two before I actually started playing it regularly.
 

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Not really. If you didn't switch, this poll does not pertain to you.

I'm only curious about those who made the switch, since, let's face it, the vast majority of D&D players DID make the switch. Those playing earlier editions are a pretty small minority as it stands.

I switched to 3E at release, but after a few years I switched back to old school.
 

I'm another one of those who didn't have an active game when 3e was released, but I don't think I played any 2e after the release. Well, I was in an online game that changed over pretty quickly, but it kinda went downhill not long after due to the campaign being in its latter stages, and the poor 2e->3e conversion rules that gave multiclassed characters (including mine) a bunch of extra levels.
 

When 3e was released, I was still happily playing and running my 2e games. I picked up the 3e books when they came out, read through them, and thought "some interesting ideas, but this ruleset is much more limiting than I like" and shelved them for about 6 months.

Later, some friends wanted to try playing 3e, so I ran some games and while I liked the way AC, BAB, and the saves worked, some things always bugged me about 3e (magic item dependence, broken math, multiclassing, overpowered spellcasters, and the horrendously interconnected and overcomplicated rules-opaque 3e system). We played it for about 3years (up until about 8 months after the 3.5 books were released), before I said "enough" and we went back to 2e and other games (Savage Worlds and WHFRP2). I don't miss 3e at all. When 4e was announced, I was cautiously optomistic- the new stuff and ideas sounded good, but WotC bungled 3e so badly, I didn't have much faith in them. I'm happy to say I'm about 97% happy with 4e, and the parts I don't like are easily corrected.
 

I'm another one of those who didn't have an active game when 3e was released, but I don't think I played any 2e after the release. Well, I was in an online game that changed over pretty quickly, but it kinda went downhill not long after due to the campaign being in its latter stages, and the poor 2e->3e conversion rules that gave multiclassed characters (including mine) a bunch of extra levels.

I might have misinterpreted the poll slightly... I made the choice to adopt 3E when it came out. I don't remember exactly when I got my first game in, only that when it came out I knew I was going to adopt it.
 

Those playing earlier editions USED TO BE a pretty small minority.

I'd also say there is a big difference between this and the thread you have forked. The prior poll said nothing about, how long did you take to switch, it about which game do you intend to play, or what level of mix you expect. There is nothing to make me think that any significant number (if any at all) of the 40% staying 3E plan to switch ever. If you claim that 40% of the community was planning to stay with 2E more than a month after 3E was released, then you experienced a different reality than I did.

BryonD - It would be pretty damn difficult to have this poll about 4e wouldn't it? It's only been out for less than a month.

"Excuse me everyone, could you consult your crystal balls and let me know if you switch in the future?"

Sheesh.

And, yes, I do claim that 40% of the community WAS STAYING with 2e within a month of release.

This has NOTHING to do with planning. This is about what really happened.

There's still far too few votes to make any sort of conclusion, but, I'm surprised that most so far did change upon release. Just goes to show how valuable anecdotal evidence is. :)
 

After having spent months mocking most of the stuff I'd seen leaked on Eric's site, my friend and I were in a gaming store on the launch day. I grabbed a PHB and started leafing through it so I could see how the stuff I'd been leery about had actually turned out so I could show my friend and make more fun of it. After this perusal of the book, I ended up being impressed enough with how everything had actually turned out that I bought it on the spot, and we were rolling up characters that night and I started converting over Night Below so I'd have a campaign to run after finishing the Wizard's Amulet adventure (thanks for the adventure ready-to-go at launch, Necromancer Games!).
 

Wow, slow voting on this one. C'mon guys, I need more DATA.

((Although, if you think about it, if nothing changes, we could see how this is pretty much identical to the situation now. 40% changed over quickly, and the other 60% changed over over time. You could say that it's even better this time around with those numbers reversed.))
 

Our group played started playing 3e the first Thursday after its release.

We'd dropped D&D around '92, and we were very excited to welcome it back to our table.

Plus ça change . . .
 

Those playing earlier editions USED TO BE a pretty small minority.

Really? My understanding is that a very substantial minority never switched from 1st Edition to 2nd Edition; there are certainly far more 1e diehards than 2e diehards. And there were always a lot of people who never 'graduated' from Basic D&D to AD&D.
 

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