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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4291812" data-attributes="member: 22779">No.The "crowd" they are designing 4e for didn't exist when 3e was released.  Living RPGA play is a 3e invention.  RPGA numbers were tiny back then.  Certainly nowhere near the over one hundred thousand members they have now.When 3e came out, they marketted to lapsed gamers, and to gamers who were tired of 2e.  4e has not been marketed, particularly to people tired of 3e, but rather to create a new market - the RPGA.  From a business perspective, it's a good move on WOTC's part.  They design a game specifically targeted at their greatest consumers, create a space where those consumers can congregate in even greater numbers, more easily and then charge rent.If it works, they have a bread and butter revenue stream that is more or less independent of selling more books.  They can piggyback on the MMORPG model.  No, they will never have numbers like WOW, but, they don't need those numbers.  They need a nice solid core of DDI subscribers playing RPGA games and they're set.If you think I'm overstating the case, look at my evidence.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What elements are most problematic in tournament play?  Open ended spells like polymorph and summoning.  Solution, remove them from play.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What play issues hurt tournament gaming the most?  Unbalanced classes like CoDzilla.  Solution, class parity.  All classes are now casters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If someone plays in RPGA games, how much do they care about world building and simulationism?  Answer, probably very little, unless they are designing RPGA adventures, which is a small number of members anyway.  Solution, take the simulationist cow into the pasture and put a gun in its ear.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What is the number one difficulty in Living Campaign design?  Answer, adventure design.  The need for balanced encounters that follow the rules is paramount.  Erik Mona commented on this in a Fear the Boot interview - numerous Living adventures being chucked because of design flaws.  Solution, craft rules that make adventure design very simple, very easy and difficult to screw up.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Several options in play made the game grind to a halt.  Special combat moves like grapple for example.  Solution, strip them out of the game, or make them very specific powers that are not usable by everyone.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Several build options are decidedly subpar, meaning that players coming to a tournament, may wind up being sidelined because of poor choices.  Solution, strip out subpar options and design classes that make it very hard to outright suck.</li> </ul>To me, this adds up to pretty strong proof that you and me are not the target audience for 4e.  WOTC is banking on the RPGA to drive this edition.  And why not?  The RPGA has been driving 3e for the past couple of years.  PHB 2, polymorph errata, whatnot, all results of RPGA game issues.This is why, when you read some of the changes, you think, "What the Hell?  Why did they change that?  I never had any problems with that at my table."  You didn't.  Sure.  But, the RPGA did.  That's why it got changed.</blockquote>

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