Non-4e D&D Players...will the new Essentials products get you to try (or retry) 4e?
No, the Essentials products will not change my mind.
Adding nostalgia names and callbacks aren't going to change the basic gameplay...
This is one of the reasons for me, a secondary reason. 4E doesn't work for me because of the mechanical chasis of the system. Adding in some class features that are throwbacks to earlier editions, doesn't change the underlying game system. I still think there are some parts of 4E that are sheer genius...and I've shamelessly stolen them for my houserules...but the system skeleton that works for me is 3E, and only 3E.
However, that doesn't mean that I will never play a 4E game...
Historically, I don't think gamers as a whole sit tight on whatever they're playing. We are, largely, people who like to... fiddle with stuff. If the buy-in isn't huge (say, to start with, one book) I would expect there to be any number of folks who will pick it up just to see what the noise is about.
Umbran is 100% right. And a year and a half ago, this would have been me. I have the the three core books, am interested in getting DMGII, and possibly would have gotten some of these Essential books just to play around with and steal parts I like (along with probably having a DDI sub). If I have the opportunity to play in a game with friends, that happens to be 4E, I'll play...but because of the friends, not 4E.
But even though I'm interested, I will not buy a product from WotC until they resume sale of older edition products in some kind of electronic format...period. They can change all the marketing they want, add in nostalgia features to their system, or even revert wholesale back to the 3E mechanics, and I still won't buy in to any WotC products until the older edition materials return. The day those products are available again, will be the day I immediately get a DDI sub, and once-again start buying 4E products that pique my interest, including the Essentials products.
However, their willingness to try and woo back some fans that didn't initially cotton to 4E, leaves me with optimism they'll be willing to bring back those products for the same reason.
Here's to Hoping...
