As the sun sets on 4e and moves towards 5e, I see a lot of the old Edition War canards revised, but with the scenarios flipped.
For instance, you saw a lot of "I like 4e because you couldn't do X in 3e". The response would be "Well of course you could, you just have to do a lot of Y and jiggle a little z" "But that's too much work." Or "I don't like 3e because there's so much of A" "But you don't even NEED a - just take it out." Now I see similar comments said, but it's now 4e in the "It can't do that" seat.
I find myself in much the situation that many of the 3e guard were, and it adds a bit of perspective - I get the impression how the Edition Warriors on that side of the trenches felt. Now, instead of trying to justify an existing playstyle to be validated, it seems more like that playstyle has been tossed to the wayside and one has to try and get some of it in the next edition, like a dumped ex-husband trying to get some of his stuff back. Seems like there's a lot of badmouthing coming from the last edition and the new one.
Not to mention that I don't want to see the designers say anything cross about my preferred edition - acknowledging its faults are fine, but being insensitive isn't - which sheds light on the reactions of those who had 3e dumped on.
While I haven't changed my preferences and the reasons for them, I can now see where a lot of folks were coming from.
For instance, you saw a lot of "I like 4e because you couldn't do X in 3e". The response would be "Well of course you could, you just have to do a lot of Y and jiggle a little z" "But that's too much work." Or "I don't like 3e because there's so much of A" "But you don't even NEED a - just take it out." Now I see similar comments said, but it's now 4e in the "It can't do that" seat.
I find myself in much the situation that many of the 3e guard were, and it adds a bit of perspective - I get the impression how the Edition Warriors on that side of the trenches felt. Now, instead of trying to justify an existing playstyle to be validated, it seems more like that playstyle has been tossed to the wayside and one has to try and get some of it in the next edition, like a dumped ex-husband trying to get some of his stuff back. Seems like there's a lot of badmouthing coming from the last edition and the new one.
Not to mention that I don't want to see the designers say anything cross about my preferred edition - acknowledging its faults are fine, but being insensitive isn't - which sheds light on the reactions of those who had 3e dumped on.
While I haven't changed my preferences and the reasons for them, I can now see where a lot of folks were coming from.
I can't say I relate. I mean how would someone badmouthing 3.5 hurt my feelings? I was expecting more from 4e because 3.5 wasn't good enough. It just happened that I liked 4e less than 3.5 when I tried it.
