Pathfinder 1E is a big Pathfinder surge on the way?

[Umbran]

Pathfinder takes WoTC adventurers, throws them in the sewer, does horrible things to them and walks away with their gold.

Joe, Joe, Joe.

Keterys already gave this thread a warning about rancor.

You think, under current conditions, going to a, "my game can beat up your game," metaphor is at all wise - either for the discussion, or for your own continued participation in the thread?

How about you rethink that, and continue accordingly.

 

[kitsune9]

I'm not sure why 4e folks would stop playing 4e and switch to Pathfinder even though 5e has been announced. I think most gamers switch to a new edition or a new game after it's been released.

 

[Jawsh]

I think it's an already established trend that some 4E players are going over to Pathfinder and some will continue to do so.

The announcement of 5E will have very little influence on the decision either way.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Joe, Joe, Joe.

Keterys already gave this thread a warning about rancor.

You think, under current conditions, going to a, "my game can beat up your game," metaphor is at all wise - either for the discussion, or for your own continued participation in the thread?

How about you rethink that, and continue accordingly.

That was my bad. I didn't see the first page, just clicked on the last.

 

[bouncyhead]

I don't really see current 4E players as the main source of new PF players and if anything, the announcement of 5e will probably put a stop to what movement there is.

My guess is that the pool of existing 3.x holdouts is the richest source of new PF players. Here the effect may be double-edged:

There will be some 3x players who have been considering PF and may now not migrate in anticipation of an eventual 5E that supports their play/preferences.

On the other hand, there may be some 3x players that look at the pre-release info on 5E (when playtest material gets released and we see more crunch) and are unimpressed. These people may finally make the judgement that D&D is never again going to be for them and if they want a supported game, PF is their lifeboat (I understand that other lifeboats are available!). If there is going to be a 'surge' for PF my guess is that it will come from here.

Edit: So, no surge.

 

[Henry]

If PF books were more affordable I probably would have bought it to steal ideas from.

If you're looking for idea-theft, why wait? 99% of its content is up on the Pathfinder Reference Document at Paizo or the d20pfsrd.com for free under OGL, and their PDFs of all their major releases at 10 bucks each in PDF.

As to D&D Next/5e being able to steal PF players, it will have to be a tall order -- and one which mixes in a generous helping of being even nicer on customer service than the Paizo ladies and gents are. Paizo hasn't just built a good game out of 3E, they've built customer loyalty through great service -- At best you'll see a coexistence, because their bread and butter is still the adventure paths, so WotC would have to make better and cheaper adventures to go with their game as well.

Of course, I could see them contracting Paizo to release some 5E specific adventure paths, that would be one way to do it -- but I don't think Paizo might shoot themselves in the foot in this way. They might, but I doubt it.

 

[foolish_mortals]

are people thinking that Pathfinder's success is built around 4e defections? Is this true in people's experience?

foolish_mortals

 

[enrious]

Somewhat, in my experience. In my area, the people I know playing Pathfinder either moved straight from 3.5 or from 3.5 to 4e to Pathfinder.

I have no doubt that Pathfinder is able to get new players (as 3.x did and as 4e does), but I'm not seeing an overwhelming amount of new gamers (who are by definition ignorant about the various editions) who decided on their own to play Pathfinder.

For the few new Pathfinder players I know of, they're introduced by Pathfinder vets and thus, only playing Pathfinder because someone else told them to.

I would hazard that the same is true for a lot of new 4e players, or indeed 3rd.


I would caution at using the term "4e defections" as whether they tried 4e and didn't like it, or saw no need to move on from 3.x, the end result is the same, I wager - most people playing Pathfinder exclusively are those who don't want to play 4e (and yes, there are some who simply haven't been exposed to 4e).

 

[BrockBallingdark]

Our original big group split into two separate groups a year prior to 4e announcement. The other group is still playing 3.5 while my current group is playing Pathfinder. When 4e came out, I was excited and the only one excited about it in our group.
We continued on with 3.5 but I wanted to give 4e a shot, my group agreed to let me run 4e. It flew flat after 3-4 months, I won't be fueling hate on 4e other than it wasn't for our group. I too as a DM found it boring and then one of the players mentioned Pathfinder. We went and tried it and it was what we liked about D&D, was it perfect, no... still needs things changed but it was way closer than 4e was to us.

So I mentioned 5e was in the works, my group shrugged it off, they honestly didn't care. The groups thoughts, we have what works for us, what could 5e possibly bring?

I'm thinking as the OP stated, at least for my group.. we aren't jumping to 5e from Pathfinder but I also believe 4e fans won't be jumping to 5e either.

Brock

 

[foolish_mortals]

my god, do you think Paizo could do their own version of 4E and keep that community fed after WOTC completely moves on? I know it seems daft but it seems to have worked for PaffFinder.

foolish_mortals