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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mneme" data-source="post: 5597696" data-attributes="member: 59248">Re not mentioning the PHB, DMG, and MM...that's pretty obvious.PHB, DMG, and MM are no longer the core books of the system, as of Essentials.  They -said- they wouldn't be the core books of the system, and they aren't.  90% + of the info in them is still totally pertintent, of course, but what Wizards did is what we in software development-land called a refactoring.Prior to the Essentials material, the PHB classes were core; all other material was built on them and required PHB for a full gaming experience.Post-essentials, post online Class Compendium, the Essentials material is core, the Compendium material builds upon it and extends it; the new books also build on it and are compatable with the Compendium materials.So new materials don't mention the obsolete books, despite being technically compatible with them.  Of course they don't mention obsolete books!  They're obsolete!  The -content- in the obsolete books is still valid, naturally, and still fits into the structure, but the Essentials material has been placed under it in the logical structure of the game.So new players can be happy -- they can buy new, somewhat simpler materials that haven't been significantly eratted, and pull in more interesting, complicated options as their comfort allows.Existing players can be happy -- all the classes and options they liked before are still in the game, and new options are still being printed for them.  They're just not the core of the game any more; they're compatible with Essentials, and therefore compatable with new materials, rather than new materials being -directly- compatible with them.And cranky players can be cranky; sorry, but since Wizards had a reason to release a new set of core rules (because they'd learned some things from the 4e release, and because, frankly, the game had undergone enough changes that it really needed a new rules document), they decided to also release a new structure, and since they're in the business of selling books (I hear), they decided to make that the entry point rather than the books that aren't in print any more.  So it goes--but the game's still the same!</blockquote>

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