D&D 4E Is 4E winning you or losing you?

[TheArcane]

4E is gradually losing me. The more I think about it, the more I realize it's not because of specific changes (some of which I find interesting and some of which I find at best strange, at worst worrying), but because of the scope of them. The more news I hear, the more I realize just how many changes there are and how radical they are.
Somebody earlier wrote that the definition "radical" is subjective. He is entirely right, and for me removing staple core races, completely changing how magic works, adding new, never before seen classes, are all very very radical changes.
Also like it was mentioned earlier in this thread, I believe it is very ironic that WOTC keep saying that D&D will stay D&D, while all of the above is taking place. It is going to be a very different game, with a different tone and mood, with different mechanics and different concepts. It may be a good game, and I believe that the designers are doing their best to make sure the game plays very well and smooth, but it's just not going to be the same.
And i'm even young enough to never have played 2E and earlier, only in Interplays computer games, I can only imagine how older gamers (who agree with me on this, of course) feel.

 

[FreeXenon]

I've been playing since the tail end of 1E and there been quite a few changes to the rules as the years have past, but that is par for the course. That is what D&D and the industry is about. A new edition comes and people switch or they don't. They like it or they don't. Either way a new edition IS going to happen or the RPG dies. It really comes down to choice - death or evolution. Which do you want - I choose to embrace whole heartedly, evolution.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

Losing me. The main dealbreaker for me is DDI, as I refuse to pay a monthly subscription fee for website access. An offline character generator, sold as a stand alone product, is a must for me to DM, and if they're not going to provide it then I'm not going to bother picking up any 4E books until I can find them on the secondary market (yay Half Price Books!). I also don't like what I hear about trying to make PHB II-X core, as I really like the idea of 3 core books with everything else being considered supplements.


All that said, I don't really mind the things that we're hearing about the new system-yes, some of them are quite different from 3.0, but 3.0 itself was quite different from 2.0 and I ended up liking it pretty well. If my issues regarding a character generator are resolved then I imagine that I'll pick up the three core books (hear that WOTC? THREE core books, not 300!) and check it out.

 

[pawsplay]

Officially losing me at this point. Wizards with staff/wand/orbs don't really do it for me, and I'm revolted by the notion that warlocks were partially included to make tieflings welcome.... who are not only in the PHB, but are apparently going to be a lot more common.

 

[Ktulu]

When I first heard it I was like, "You've got to be kidding..."

Then I thought, "Well, I really don't care for a lot of the rules...."

Then I read the teasers and, "Sign me up brotha', I'm a convert..."


Just from the teasers, they seem to be making a lot of advances in areas I thought needed it the most. I'm very excited about 4e.

Ktulu

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I forgot about the DI. That part started off cold for me, as is inching towards Kelvin every time they talk about it. But then, I consider that such a separate part, that I've almost totally dismissed it from my mind.

 

[JamesM]

To lose me, 4E would have to have had me and I don't think it ever did. Well, there was a chance that it could have won me over. Heck, there may still be a chance, but, so far, from the little we've seen and the general attitude evinced from the developers' blogs and the Design & Development articles, I'm pretty sure that this is where I get off the D&D train and happily settle down for retirement.

Despite its flaws, I'm happy with v.3.5 mechanically and, more than that, I'm happy with its evocation of and respect for the origins of D&D. I'm an older guy, pushing 40, and the kind of fantasy I read and liked as a younger man and that I still like today doesn't have a lot in common with what I'm seeing of 4E. Nothing wrong with that, of course. De gustibus and all that. Still, it's a little disappointing and my initial hope that 4E would largely be a cleaning up and simplifying of 3.5 rather than a major rewrite not only of rules but also of flavor seem to have been dashed.

I say "seem," because who knows? It may be that we're getting a skewed impression of things and the designers may be trying to emphasize change rather than continuity with the past to generate buzz and interest in 4E. We shall see. Right now, I'm following news of 4E with great interest, but my feeling is that I won't be playing it, let alone buying it. It feels strangely liberating to be in this position, honestly.

 

[frankthedm]

People who don't like D&D are now in charge of the future of D&D.

Even if that claim is true, this has happened before. I'll take Mearls, Tweet and Cook over that **** Lorraine Williams any day.

 

[Yergi]

4e is definitely winning me. I was excited about it when I found out; my group doesn't really care for the Christmas Tree Effect and other things in 3e, and we love Iron Heroes, so learning that Mike Mearls was in on it made us more excited.

I'm not married to any fluff stuff, so they can change fluff however they want; I can run with it. I'm liking the hints of mechanical changes, and I'm excited about the virtual tabletop. That opens the possibility of getting my old college gaming group back together even though some of us are miles apart. Seeing as hanging w/those guys were some of the best times of my life, what's not to like about that?

 

[Draumr]

Emotionally detached. My shelves are still groaning under the weight of my d20/OGL library. 4E is just coming too soon for me to want to spend the money all over again. Add to that the demise of Dragon & Dungeon with the online initiative and I really just don’t care to support them. I will probably use the SRD to just amble along to a 3.75 home-rules variant for improved playability while keeping the crux of 3.5.