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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GregoryOatmeal" data-source="post: 5691514" data-attributes="member: 6667661">First I really didn't mean to set off an edition war, but it's pretty easy to do. I think the situation would be a lot less hostile had WOTC kept both editions around, but we can only really guess how that would have played out for the community and their balance sheets if that were reality. I've found a lot of the comments like "Just play PF, I'm tired of people whining about this" to be pretty dismissive. I think I wrote a pretty legitimate case for why it's inconvenient to have to jump between editions, even if it's PF and 3.5. If amongst three casual gamers one player has a 3.5 PHB, one has PF, and one has 3.0, how do I explain to them that two of them need to buy a different book and memorize slightly different rules?Now a lot of these comments make it sound like I'm bashing 4E. It definitely is different and has it's merits and good innovation. I've never claimed (on this forum or ever) that 4E is dumbed down, a tabletop MMO, or a minis wargame. But it is divisive, particularly for the 3.5 players who saw support for their system end (and yes, obviously my heart goes out to the 1E and 2E players who went through the same, since my thesis is a call to stop discontinuing editions). Many players don't consider it the same D&D game and that's fine. That's their opinion and you can't change it, it just is. 4E also doesn't seem to have the support of the majority of D&D players (go to any meetup or forum discussing what people play or looking for recommendations about D&D editions and count what people are playing and recommending). Six years ago in my community almost everyone played 3.5, with the exception of a few 2E groups and various other independent games. That was the perfect split because their were other games you could play to get a break from 3.5, but everyone could get together and agree on a system and just play. That's not a claim that 3.5 is the best system, it was just nice to have one system most everyone could agree on. This is not an attack on 4E but a lamentation on how it's divided gamers. Please don't be upset by it - I'm not trying to attack your game.And people keep picking apart my Monopoly and Football analogy with things that seem to miss the point of my "solid foundation" discussion. Everyone D&D player I've ever met likes house rules. House rules in Monopoly and D&D are almost always easy to understand, rarely divisive, and not barriers to entry. They don't cause nearly as many problems as going from a large 2E PHB full or rules to a large 3E PHB full of rules, then having to do the same thing twice in the next 8 years. House rules and supplements keep games from getting stale. You're talking about small variations, rules updates, and house rules in Monopoly that are rarely a point of contention. I'm talking about WOTC discontinuing and totally replacing a very complex game that requires an an intense commitment of money and learning rules every four to eight years with a new game that requires you to undergo the same commitment. And statistically speaking any random gamer you meet isn't likely to have committed to the same system to you, since their are now in many communities at least four major and different D&D systems (1E, 3.5, PF, 4E) with independent rules, product lines and fanbases. I really don't think my Monopoly analogy breaks because in some games you get money on free parking. Sure, it changes the game up a bit, but it doesn't divide people. Was that unclear? Do you really think money on free parking or no money divides Monopoly players like 3.5/4E divides D&D?</blockquote>

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