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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5427886" data-attributes="member: 58197">I hate to say it, but the theme I see is &quot;desperation.&quot;Companies with healthy, thriving product lines don't thrash around like this. When you have a successful product with good sales, you tinker and tweak, you don't make sweeping changes over and over again. D&amp;D is evidently in trouble and WotC is searching for the magic formula that will turn things around. Compare to their other big product line, M:tG. Magic has undergone plenty of tinkering and improvement, but the core product and mode of delivery are much as they were 15 years ago. You can play modern Magic with cards from the first edition.I've hesitated to jump on the &quot;split base&quot; bandwagon--the plural of anecdote is not data, after all--but I'm starting to come around to the idea that 4E really did split the player base down the middle, and WotC is trying to grapple with that fact. It's not an easy problem to solve. To embrace Pathfinder or go back to 3E would accomplish nothing at this point; they'd just lose even more customers (me, for one). And it's too early for a new edition.Assuming the product line doesn't tank entirely, I think the next few years will see a lot of experimentation. Then 5E will be released to much fanfare, in a bid to revive the brand much as 3E did. 5E will try to address the key complaints of 3E/Pathfinder players, without reviving the issues that 4E adoptees wanted to leave behind.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 5427886, member: 58197"] I hate to say it, but the theme I see is "desperation." Companies with healthy, thriving product lines don't thrash around like this. When you have a successful product with good sales, you tinker and tweak, you don't make sweeping changes over and over again. D&D is evidently in trouble and WotC is searching for the magic formula that will turn things around. Compare to their other big product line, M:tG. Magic has undergone plenty of tinkering and improvement, but the core product and mode of delivery are much as they were 15 years ago. You can play modern Magic with cards from the first edition. I've hesitated to jump on the "split base" bandwagon--the plural of anecdote is not data, after all--but I'm starting to come around to the idea that 4E really did split the player base down the middle, and WotC is trying to grapple with that fact. It's not an easy problem to solve. To embrace Pathfinder or go back to 3E would accomplish nothing at this point; they'd just lose even [i]more[/i] customers (me, for one). And it's too early for a new edition. Assuming the product line doesn't tank entirely, I think the next few years will see a lot of experimentation. Then 5E will be released to much fanfare, in a bid to revive the brand much as 3E did. 5E will try to address the key complaints of 3E/Pathfinder players, without reviving the issues that 4E adoptees wanted to leave behind. [/QUOTE]

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