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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4188148" data-attributes="member: 19675">Again, its the marketing lesson of New Coke.New Coke was supposed to replace Classic Coke, however, despite outperforming both Pepsi and Classic Coke in countless taste tests, the new product failed miserably, and is now only available in limited markets as Coke II.Why?  Because Classic Coke (and Pepsi, for that matter) still had a huge following, and people didn't want a replacement.  Classic Coke was popular, and, doggone it, good enough (thank you, Stuart Smalley).  Since it was still a viable product in its own right with continued production, it continued to sell...while New Coke sat on the shelves.WotC (if they are trying to kill 3.5) is trying to avoid competing with its own product.  3.5, whatever flaws it has, is THE 800lb gorilla in the RPG market.  Devaluing it in some way, shape, or form is simply good marketing strategy.Yes, the mere presence of 4Ed devalues 3.5 somewhat, but as the saying goes, "If you strike a king, strike to kill."  The mere existence of other games cuts into 4Ed's potential market share, but the continued existence of the robust & popular 3.5 in its various forms is the single biggest threat to 4Ed's success.Nope- its an artifact of marketing.Its a way of making products just good enough to last and gain/maintain market share & goodwill...until the next model is introduced that has just enough features & changes that the previous model is somehow less desirable to the buying public.  That way, there is a constant churn of new sales to keep the company's revenue up.  Its one of the major reason automobile body styles change, for example. And in the RPG world, its one of many reasons why new editions get released.  Sure, there are innovations in this game or that which should be incorporated or emulated in other games, or accretion of less-than-ideal mechanics or rulings that drive redesigns...But the business of RPGs means that the companies need to keep sales of their big-ticket items rolling- in WotC's case, the Core 3- to maintain a healthy bottom line.  And generally speaking, that means new editions.</blockquote>

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