Is the War Over?

[Kichwas]

Imagine war by long range missile. Two planets in the same system have fired all their nukes at each other. It's going to take about 8 months to a year until the nukes reach their targets. Now all we can do is sit on our respective planets and watch the incoming doom. The war has been fought, but it will take a long time for us to know who's winning, who got off a better shot, or even a casualty report.

We now have 4e, True20, C&C, soon Pathfinder, and there are the various old systems out there. We won't really know the result until everyone has had time to actually digest these new things, get past their egoes and their fanboy reactions and just see what happens.

The conflict isn't gone by a long shot, it's just that the results are delayed.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Don't you know that the 3.x/4e edition war was a scheme concocted by those TERRORISTS at White Wolf to destroy the DnD Gamer community?

 

[Grazzt]

Could be worse. At least they're not alignment threads.

Give it time. It is the internet after all.

 

[Ginnel]

Can those that have decided to move forward with 3e/3.5 be left in peace?

depends if those 2nd ed fanboys have shushed up yet or not

my interpretation of going forwards is going on to something new and unexplored you don't usually go forwards into an old thing

I think
"Can those that have moved on to 4e be left in peace"
and
"Can those that have decided to stay with 3e/3.5 be left in peace" helps my fragile mind a bit better

Running 3.5 on Tues, every other week playing 4th ed the alternate Tues and playing 3.5 every wednesday

 

[Heselbine]

You're all talking like this argument about 3e/4e has been a bad thing.

It's been great! Come on, you all know you've enjoyed it whatever side you're on. Stop pretending you're one of those people who disapproves of it. It's been a laugh.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't think it's over, unfortunately. While a moratorium was called for where 4e edition wars are concerned, today several 'clever' instigators found a way to work around that moratorium by indulging in admittedly hyperbolic and unflattering comparisons of D&D4e with M:TG or otherwise negatively comparing the new edition to games other than older editions of D&D.

As I post elsewhere, while I'm sick to death of " you 4e players!" threads (which there seem to have been dozens of lately), I think it's the most brilliant free marketing that Hasbro could have hoped for. Two months ago, I had zero interest in D&D 4e. Today, I'm convinced that if I buy it and play it, I'll exponentially increase my chance of never sitting down at a game table with certain people who post here.

This makes D&D4e more valuable to me than soild gold.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

There was a war? Why wasn't I invited?

 

[JohnRTroy]

It will end - this strife and bickering. But how long, I ask you, until it ends? Am I being too optimistic when I state that I believe the roughest waters have passed? Am I foolish to actually assume that the train has pulled out the station and, therefore, there's no longer a need to argue about how or when it will arrive?

If the so-called war continues, it might be a sign that this isn't just a "vocal minority" just venting, but a large group of disenfranchised fans who feel they have been abandoned. I'm seeing a lot of people dismiss this change as inevitable.

Yes, 4e is out, but if sales end up falling 6 months later at WoTC or people don't pick up PHB2 or FR or whatever comes out the pike. It's a possibility. Nothing inevitable and if you study business there are many cases of product changes irreparably hurting the business or market.

And it seems like both sides are fighting for "hearts and minds". Like I've said before, both 3e and 4e seem to have a fear. The 3e fans are afraid that the majority will go for 4e, but the 4e fans seem afraid that if too much protest is done towards 4e, momentum or sales might slip, or WoTC might change their mind, if not now but then someday 5e comes out and goes back to earlier game roots.

Or maybe people are just more insecure these days. I notice there is a lot more compulsion to debate people these days, attack or shun people for daring to have a different opinion, or attack the person or methodology (all these "don't trust polls" or "the Internet is a minority"). This isn't just a gamer or "geek" thing, it seems prevelant in this culture. Factions and arguments are more common, politicians seems to engage in wars more, special interests shut out opinions other than their own, etc.

If you want this conflict to stop, you have to look at the man in the mirror. Don't feel compelled to attack others, or feel compelled to respond to one guys opinion about the game.

 

[The_Fan]

The war seems to have died here at Enworld, or at least settled into a cold war status, with high border tensions. A lot like North and South Korea. Like there, occasionally someone will get trigger happy and blood will be shed, but cooler heads will prevail and the incident will get swept under the rug.

On Wizards, it's a different story. It's more like Iraq there, with 4e officially controlling the situation, but with 3e insurgents appearing out of nowhere and setting off violent flame wars almost daily, only to vanish before defense can be mobilized against them.

Okay, I'm stretching my metaphor a bit far, but I'd rather be here than over there right now.

 

[jdrakeh]

Okay, I'm stretching my metaphor a bit far, but I'd rather be here than over there right now.

You know, I hadn't ventured to the WotC forums since the announcement of 4e until very recently. In retrospect, after doing so, I agree that all ENWorld posters should count themselves lucky.