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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 4291288" data-attributes="member: 1457">Everyone *hated* 3.5. Hated it. At least, hated the idea of it before it came out. Everyone complained that they'd already spent all this money on 3E, and grumbled about "having" to re-buy what was essentially the exact same system. Of course, these days, people have fond memories of 3.5.WotC learned its lesson. They'd have been crucified if they'd dared to come out with a minor increment, a "3.75E", and call it a new edition. They knew they had to come out with something that was more than just a few tweaks to the same old thing. They had to listen to the customer, and make the new edition an actual new Edition. Why not kill the old? Are you saying that you'd prefer to just re-buy what you already own? WotC had an opportunity to throw out all that baggage, and they took it. The articles that explain their reasoning are quite well thought out and revealing, but really, one just needs to look at other beloved genres like superheros, and James Bond, and so on. Essentially: you need to refresh your content, or it grows stale. It seems like JD is arguing that D&D should never innovate, and always just sort of lightly fluff the same old content every few years. That's... that's silly.Seriously, here's a quote from that LiveJournal:These are the words of a man who doesn't understand the concept of "brand." The popularity of D&D is not, was not, and never will be due to game mechanics. The reason people don't want to try Ars Magica, Pendragon, or Feng Shui isn't because those games use different systems. It's because those games aren't called "Dungeons & Dragons." If 4E had the exact same game mechanics as Pendragon--exact same--it'd blow Pendragon out of the water and be a huge success. 4E is a success because of the words in front of 4E: "Dungeons & Dragons." It's the new edition, everyone will buy it, and we'll come to love it.</blockquote>

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