Personally, I tend to agree with El Mahdi, but I don't want to turn this into an edition whine thread.
As for a DMG 3 or general Epic tier book, I will say that I agree that I am disappointed that one almost certainly will not be coming out. The writing's been on that wall for some time now though unfortunately. I think its quite likely that WotC's numbers showed that there was relatively little in the way of Epic Tier games being played. My own highly unscientific analysis has suggested this as well as not too many people seem to have played Epic.
To be fair though, I also think that a lot of this has to do with a chicken or the egg scenario. Are people not playing Epic because there isn't much support, or is there a lack of support because people aren't playing epic? I think the number of people playing Epic has to be evaluated by WotC though in deciding whether or not to publish an Epic book. They likely can't really afford to publish a DMG 3 that only sells (as an extreme example) 100 copies. I trust that WotC knows where the profit line is in this regard and has a fair idea as to whether or not they can reach it. Personally, I think that if WotC were convinced that a DMG 3 would be hugely successful for them, we'd have already seen it.
I think another issue here is that the necessary Epic Tier "support" likely isn't exactly a simple fix either. 4ed does a great job of providing a host of tactical options. Unfortunately, as you get into late paragon and certainly epic tier, this creates all kinds of headaches with regard to the system as it was initially designed. I know in my last session, the party was fighting a balor husk and the fight went something like this:
Inovker: I hit, so its prone and dazed till end of it's next turn
Cleric: I hit, so its dazed til end of my next turn
Rogue: I hit, its dazed until end of my next turn
Invoker: I hit, the next ally to attack it gets +X to hit, and the next time an ally hits it before the end of my next turn its dazed til . . .
Invoker: Action Point. I hit again, its now vulnerable 5 to all damage, etc.
Near the end of the fight, we were all actually surprised when the balor stood up. "I didn't know it could stand, lol" etc. Thing was, it took that long for the balor to become undazed and thus make standing up worthwhile. The party is 18th level btw. Now sure, we can start giving some protection against status effects (and its practically mandatory on solos to do so) but there's also the issue of the party is simply not missing because they get so many conditional bonuses to attacks, etc. Now, my players are pretty good tacticians and that's part of it, and a less tactical driven group maybe won't have as many bonuses to hit, etc. And that right there is a big part of the rub. A simple fix for my group is to simply up the defenses on the monsters by a couple of points, but for another group that could make combat incredibly drawn out. In other words, it comes down to each DM needing to adjust things for his or her particular group anyway, and if few people are going to buy the book to begin with, then you really have a recipe for failure on WotC's part.
Now, of course the question still remains as to why people are not playing epic. Personally, I think that the lack of support is a part of it, but not all of it. As I mentioned, my group is now level 18. We play every other week. In three weeks, we will have been playing for 3 years and the party will likely be at 19 at that point. At that pace, it also means its likely another 2 years until we cap out at 30. Simply put, for a group of 35+ year old players with families, jobs, etc., that's a long time committed to a single campaign, PC, etc. Don't get me wrong, we love the campaign, and I love that its had this sustained success. But I also know that a large percentage of campaigns (both from anecdotal evidence and personal experience) flame out long before the three year mark, much less the five year mark. Players want to try different characters. DM's want to try different settings. Groups want to try different systems. Etc., etc.
As for a DMG 3 or general Epic tier book, I will say that I agree that I am disappointed that one almost certainly will not be coming out. The writing's been on that wall for some time now though unfortunately. I think its quite likely that WotC's numbers showed that there was relatively little in the way of Epic Tier games being played. My own highly unscientific analysis has suggested this as well as not too many people seem to have played Epic.
To be fair though, I also think that a lot of this has to do with a chicken or the egg scenario. Are people not playing Epic because there isn't much support, or is there a lack of support because people aren't playing epic? I think the number of people playing Epic has to be evaluated by WotC though in deciding whether or not to publish an Epic book. They likely can't really afford to publish a DMG 3 that only sells (as an extreme example) 100 copies. I trust that WotC knows where the profit line is in this regard and has a fair idea as to whether or not they can reach it. Personally, I think that if WotC were convinced that a DMG 3 would be hugely successful for them, we'd have already seen it.
I think another issue here is that the necessary Epic Tier "support" likely isn't exactly a simple fix either. 4ed does a great job of providing a host of tactical options. Unfortunately, as you get into late paragon and certainly epic tier, this creates all kinds of headaches with regard to the system as it was initially designed. I know in my last session, the party was fighting a balor husk and the fight went something like this:
Inovker: I hit, so its prone and dazed till end of it's next turn
Cleric: I hit, so its dazed til end of my next turn
Rogue: I hit, its dazed until end of my next turn
Invoker: I hit, the next ally to attack it gets +X to hit, and the next time an ally hits it before the end of my next turn its dazed til . . .
Invoker: Action Point. I hit again, its now vulnerable 5 to all damage, etc.
Near the end of the fight, we were all actually surprised when the balor stood up. "I didn't know it could stand, lol" etc. Thing was, it took that long for the balor to become undazed and thus make standing up worthwhile. The party is 18th level btw. Now sure, we can start giving some protection against status effects (and its practically mandatory on solos to do so) but there's also the issue of the party is simply not missing because they get so many conditional bonuses to attacks, etc. Now, my players are pretty good tacticians and that's part of it, and a less tactical driven group maybe won't have as many bonuses to hit, etc. And that right there is a big part of the rub. A simple fix for my group is to simply up the defenses on the monsters by a couple of points, but for another group that could make combat incredibly drawn out. In other words, it comes down to each DM needing to adjust things for his or her particular group anyway, and if few people are going to buy the book to begin with, then you really have a recipe for failure on WotC's part.
Now, of course the question still remains as to why people are not playing epic. Personally, I think that the lack of support is a part of it, but not all of it. As I mentioned, my group is now level 18. We play every other week. In three weeks, we will have been playing for 3 years and the party will likely be at 19 at that point. At that pace, it also means its likely another 2 years until we cap out at 30. Simply put, for a group of 35+ year old players with families, jobs, etc., that's a long time committed to a single campaign, PC, etc. Don't get me wrong, we love the campaign, and I love that its had this sustained success. But I also know that a large percentage of campaigns (both from anecdotal evidence and personal experience) flame out long before the three year mark, much less the five year mark. Players want to try different characters. DM's want to try different settings. Groups want to try different systems. Etc., etc.
