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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark" data-source="post: 936856" data-attributes="member: 5">It's always been true (since the little white box set in '74) that as a new edition arrives on the scene a few folks remain with the older edition and a few folks become disenchanted with D&D and move toward another system.  In regard to the former, this can be a financial consideration or a preference for the system as it stands.  In regard to the latter, this can depend on the amount of market penetration in their area a rival system or offshoot can achieve.  In both cases this can also be attributed to feeling that the owner of the D&D system has abandoned its customer base in favor of profits.  The largest portion of the customer base moves along with the times and upgrades to the newest edition.What differs with the coming of 3.5E is its relatively strong adherence to its immediate predecesor compared to previous edition upgrades.  Whether this has the effect of a slightly larger portion of people staying behind with 3E (perhaps only for an extended period of time) or smoother transition to the newer edition with fewer bumps in the road, remains to be seen but I am leaning toward the latter.  While new materials produced in the market will be fairly simple to use with the previous edition this time around, switching to the new edition will hold fewer obstacles.  The wider array of materials supporting the new edition through the d20SL will have some influence over this market shift.It's also been true that with each new edition the market has grown in general and the new edition winds up with an overall larger customer base than the previous edition.  In the larger picture, the growth of the market as a whole will mean that 90% of the future market is akin to 110% of today's market.  The amount of time at takes for the market to grow to that level is largely a function of the support the new edition gets from Hasbro, WotC and third party publishers.Nearly everyone knows that 3E was a huge improvement over previous editions but nearly everyone also knows it was in no way perfect.  The changes that come with 3.5E will have a similar degree of being viewed as an overall improvement with some amount of the changes viewed as going too far or not going far enough.  In the end more people will gravitate toward the hobby and roleplay gaming will see another period of growth.</blockquote>

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