The Battle of 5 Armies (er...editions)!

[wedgeski]

Isn't it a bit premature to be asking whether you prefer an older edition to one that isn't even out yet? sheesh. No way do we know enough about 4ed to make a judgement about it.

 

[delericho]

Isn't it a bit premature to be asking whether you prefer an older edition to one that isn't even out yet? sheesh. No way do we know enough about 4ed to make a judgement about it.

Very true.

 

[wingsandsword]

Isn't it a bit premature to be asking whether you prefer an older edition to one that isn't even out yet? sheesh. No way do we know enough about 4ed to make a judgement about it.

For many of us, we've seen enough to know that we don't like it. Even though we haven't eseen it all, we dislike more of what we've seen of 4e than we dislike of whatever edition we prefer more.

After all, Wizards has been trying to show us what is best about 4e, they are trying to sell us on it, to show us what is new and different. When some of us read that advertising and realize it actually makes us less wanting to play the game than before we read it, that's a bad sign about us actually liking the game. When the advertising for a product makes you desire that product less than before, that's bad.

I'm sticking with 3.5, and I have plenty of reasons.

1. It has enough of the classical feel elements of previous editions of D&D to have that critical D&D feel, elements that 4e has already gleefully chucked out and said weren't good to begin with. Sacred cows were sacred to some of us for a reason.

2. I already know 3.5 and don't have to re-learn a whole new game. I don't really see the point in learning yet another RPG when I am quite happy with the existing ones.

3. I already have dozens of 3.5 books, and I realized a couple of years ago I have enough books to game for decades. In the last year I've bought only 5 D&D books, ones that I really wanted or got really good deals on. Paying $120 for the 2008 model year D&D core books, then a DDI subscription every months, then another ~$120 for the next years D&D core books and so on until 5e comes out has no appeal to me whatsoever.

4. The people I game with are also unenthused about 4e and have either felt offended by the 4e marketing saying that 3e was wrongbadfun, or don't like the idea that WotC now openly considers D&D a game that <i>must</i> have a new edition every few years so they figure there is no reason to buy 4e when 5e will come out in a few more years, or they just plain don't like what they've seen from the previews. When the people I game with don't want to play 4e, then I've got no reason to switch over myself.

5. I am much more of a simulationist and narritivist in terms of my D&D tastes. The openly gamist structure of 4e over those play styles means that the underlying philosophy the game is designed on will conflict with what I want from a D&D edition. 3.5 may have been a little more gamist than other editions, but when balanced against some of it's strengths it still came out superior to me.

Essentially, there are those of us out there who are not sold on the underlying concept that a new edition was needed, and haven't seen anything

3.5 might not be perfect: I don't like pokemounts, and I really don't like darkness spells that light up pitch-black rooms, but it's closer to my idea of perfection than any other edition.

 

[Valdrax]

Isn't it a bit premature to be asking whether you prefer an older edition to one that isn't even out yet? sheesh. No way do we know enough about 4ed to make a judgement about it.

Not really. Most people who aren't switching have made that decision based on preconceived notions of the game in absence of having actually read it. They don't need to read it -- they know enough based on rumors and half-knowledge to have firmly made up their minds.

What, in your experience, makes you think that that will change once they actually have the option to read it?

 

[Jim Williams]

I did vote even though it appears I will be moving on to 4E. My selection was for BD&D, or perhaps some BD&D/AD&D fusion.

BD&D has enough structure to the game without becoming burdensome. The time it takes a DM to prepare for, and run, a game - mechanically - is minimal. This means that a greater percentage of time may be spent on fleshing out the details of the next session. Details such as the motivations for the villains, the quirks of the NPCs, and adding additional hooks for future adventures. Character creation is also a much quicker process.

As a hard-working professional and married father of two little girls my time now has an inestimable value.

There are some negative aspects to BD&D such as limited player choice within the mechanics of the game (especially when compared to 3E) and a high reliance on DM rulings. If a group can look past these limits, though, I feel there is no version of D&D that can match its tempo or potential for fun.

Your opinion my certainly differ.

 

[Lanefan]

1e, modified, is my game of choice. It's what I started with, and what I've spent 25+ years helping to build.

After that, I'd go 0e before anything else.

Remains to be seen where 4e will end up on my preference scale; from what we've seen so far it's not looking like it'll make the playoffs. But the season's not over yet...

Lanefan

 

[CleverNickName]

Well, I *was* very excited about moving up to 4E, and so was my gaming group...but then we started doing the math. Now we have decided that we will be staying with 3.5 indefinitely...at least for another couple of years. Since you asked, I'll tell you why.

My 3.5 game is played online, for no monthly fee, using FantasyGrounds software. It would seem that to play 4E online, we will each need to subscribe to D&D Insider...which will be around $15 per month, per player (or $75/month for our gaming group). The lack of an OGL will make it very hard to shop around for competitors, and the lack of an SRD will make it very hard to tweak FantasyGrounds to support 4E.

On top of that, my 3.5 Edition campaign has druids and barbarians in the party, and relies heavily on a couple of monsters that aren't in 4E (or at least not yet, such as the frost giant). I don't expect it will be very easy to just house-rule them into a game on D&D Insider.

Druids, barbarians, and frost giants might be coming along in later books, and that is fine. And I seem to remember a podcast saying that new material in later-released books would be immediately accessable on D&D Insider by entering a code...which also sounds great. But if that means everyone in the group having to buy a copy of the new book in order to log into the same game with one druid, I will have mutiny on my hands. (I know that we haven't been told yet if this will be the case...but this hypothetical scenario sounds plausible to me.)

3.5E is paid for, has no monthly fee, and does exactly what we need. It looks like we will be staying with it until 4E can do likewise.

 

[The Little Raven]

I don't expect it will be very easy to just house-rule them into a game on D&D Insider.

The game table doesn't adjudicate any rules of any kind, so I don't see how this is a problem in the slightest, if you can write up what you want and use it. All it is is a battlemat, a chat interface, and a dice roller.

I think you should look at the collected 4e information page about the Insider, as well as the recent demo video from the D&D Experience, because you have have some misconceptions about exactly what it's going to be, and getting that info straight from the source would be best.

 

[hong]

Is there a reason you couldn't play 4E on FantasyGrounds?

 

[Minicol]

Not really. Most people who aren't switching have made that decision based on preconceived notions of the game in absence of having actually read it. They don't need to read it -- they know enough based on rumors and half-knowledge to have firmly made up their minds.

What, in your experience, makes you think that that will change once they actually have the option to read it?

Are they not the same rumors and half-truths knowledge that was supposed to SELL it to us, and did sell it to the pro-4e crowd ?