D&D 4E Should WotC take a Step Back and Reevaluate 4E?

[whydirt]

This right here says he believes this game is perfect, and that's hard for me to take at face value. That's not just saying majority is positive, that's saying this game is so revolutionary and perfectly designed that it has no flaws.

Near perfect is not the same as completely perfect, so it seems you're exaggerating the reviewer's words for your own purposes.

 

[Roland55]

Hmm.

A lot of emotion here.

I wonder ... has anyone's opinion been changed by what has been reported from D&D Experience? Perhaps it will just take more time for it to settle in?

Or perhaps it is too late? Perhaps no one will pay any attention to anyone who does not already share their point of view? That would be a shame.

If all you can do is question the motives of whoever appears to disagree with you ...

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Not only have I seen no sign it's needed, it would be business and corporate suicide. I could hardly think of a worse strategy for them to pursue. So, in my opinion, no.

Doug, don't turn this into a personal attack, please. Discuss the substance of the post, not the person behind it.

Hey, PC, you were there when 3e was in pre-release. Was it enthusiastically embraced by all, or were there some reservations expressed by players used to the AD&D style of game?

This is, of course, a rhetorical question, but it might be worth putting things into perspective for some people.

 

[Imaro]

Near perfect is not the same as completely perfect, so it seems you're exaggerating the reviewer's words for your own purposes.

So then what does zero complaints mean? And why are whatever he thinks aren't perfect in the actual rules ever addressed in his review?

 

[Hathorym]

So then what does zero complaints mean? And why are whatever he thinks aren't perfect in the actual rules ever addressed in his review?

Who knows, maybe he believes the rules are streamlined enough that interpretation will be less, thereby, in his eyes, being perfect. It's difficult to know what one reviewer finds objectionable compared to another, and why. And, because I want to pound it home some more, we haven't seen the whole system yet, so how can ANY of us make a judgment about it?

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Re: 'appealing to the younger crowd'... well, I don't know exactly where I stand in relationship to most people here, but I'm 31 and have played D&D for at least 20 years. If you want to see a zero-sum approach where an item must suffer in one area to excel in another, that's fine.

Ha ha! That's great. Listening to some of these "WotC is pandering to [group of which I do not consider myself a member]" posts, you'd think that there was a finite quantity of quality, and that they needed to parcel it out between the various customer demographics.

 

[Delta]

So, should WotC re-evaluate the game? Granted, this would mean a hit in the release, but it seems like there are some fundamental issues that should be addressed.

That's utterly impossible. The books are in some state of going to the printers, the marketing is mapped out for all of this year and next. There's a post on the front news page about how the overall direction of the published product is mapped out 2 years in advance of actually releasing it.

Any attempt to review "fundamental" issues can't show up in a product until 2010 according to this business setup. I won't touch 4E with a 10-foot pole, but it's a complete fantasy to imagine that WOTC's publishing schedule can be changed at this point.

 

[The_Universe]

I played it. I dug it.

I'll want to see the full game, of course, but it's the most fun I've had playing D&D in a long time.

I don't think there's anything they need to hold back for. The game may not be to everyone's taste (hey, what is?), but I didn't detect any irreconcilable flaws.

 

[Halivar]

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. I don't know why everyone is so busy building up a pile of prejudices of the game (good or bad).

Having sat down with the characters and some kobolds and run through a few rounds, I find 1st level to be fun and exciting. It's not scientific, it's just how me and my group feels. We'll therefore make the switch. Previously, we ranged from ambivalent to skeptical.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

However, in this set:

2,000 2 5 4 3,345 7 6,532 10 5,432 12 4,123

Even though the numbers are quite extreme, none of the numbers can be considered outliers, they are valid data points in the set, and you cannot just throw them out (again, you would have to run the appropriate equations to be sure).

Holy bimodal distribution, Batman!