There won't be a 4.5 because WotC doesn't need a 4.5

[Tony Vargas]

But of course, many fans have been cynically predicting a 4.5e ever since 4e was released. And no wonder - they still remember being burned by the 3.5 fiasco, even if it was nigh on ten years ago. Forcing your customers to repurchase all the core books within two years of the release of the originals is a pretty serious party foul.

Yep. And, for that reason, alone, WotC will never append ".5" to anything, ever again. They may very well do exactly the same thing again - or skate as close to it as they dare - but they can't ever afford to admit it.

Even in something as trivial as publishing time sinks for nerds, there is value in 'plausible deniability.'

But it's also blinding you to the fact that 4e is not 3e, and not just because it nerfed wizards. Not only is 4e completely different from 3e and 3.5, it's different from 2e and 1e and all the other D&D games that have come before it.

Very true. For one thing, it's balanced. At all levels, even. Mind-boggling.

But since the rules are written in stone, or at least inked on a billion cheaply printed pages, you can't call them back and change them. Your only choice is to eventually come out with a new edition of your game.

Not really, no. Suplements would routinely add to or override rules, and 'variants' were widespread and blythely accepted. If someone wanted to use 'spell points' instead of memorization, he just did it - and it got around and a lot of other variations on it sprang up. If you got your 'hey, let's roll a d10 for initiative instead of a d6' variant into the pages of Dragon, it got picked up by tons of other DMs.

While Dragon was unofficial, it was heavily consulted, and while new products were mercifully infrequent, new variants were a continuous thing.

It wasn't until the RPGA that D&D started getting truely 'static.' You had to have a common set of rules for all these jokers, so they settled on a set and stuck to it.

Now that we have an on-line community bellowing it's collective opinions constantly, the preasure to standardize on the 'official' line is, paradoxically, overwhelming.

 

[Echohawk]

I agree with what Dungeoneer said. In addition, I think that WotC should eventually drop the numbered edition thing (or at the very least, de-emphasize it) and just call it D&D.

How much more could they really de-emphasize the numbering? A typical 4e book makes only two references to the edition number. Once on the back "For use with these 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons products" and once on the credits page.

 

[Kildran]

With the release of HS1&2, I believe 4.5e will be released sometime after they release ES3 (of course after HS3, PS1, etc.). to just cut it off for 4.5e midway through would just be a arrogant move on WotC's part. But for something that started in 2008, it's inevitable that the end of 4e is coming soon.

 

[Dannager]

With the release of HS1&2, I believe 4.5e will be released sometime after they release ES3 (of course after HS3, PS1, etc.). to just cut it off for 4.5e midway through would just be a arrogant move on WotC's part. But for something that started in 2008, it's inevitable that the end of 4e is coming soon.

Er... what?

"Inevitable" is not the proper word choice, there. Especially since they've stated, explicitly, that there will not be a 4.5.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

with the release of hs1&2, i believe 4.5e will be released sometime after they release es3 (of course after hs3, ps1, etc.). To just cut it off for 4.5e midway through would just be a arrogant move on wotc's part. But for something that started in 2008, it's inevitable that the end of 4e is coming soon.

2/10

 

[Dungeoneer]

Thanks for the nice words guys (and gals).

[MENTION=91595]cavalier973[/MENTION] - I don't have a blog, at least not one about D&D. But thanks for asking!

One other thought: given the pace of change in 4e and the designers obvious willingness to experiment and try new things, I would expect that the current round of changes, culminating with the release of Essentials in September, will not be the last 'tweaks' we'll see to the game.

So 4.5ers, you might not want to jump the gun just yet. If there are even bigger changes to come, what on earth will you call them?!?

 

[ggroy]

One other thought: given the pace of change in 4e and the designers obvious willingness to experiment and try new things, I would expect that the current round of changes, culminating with the release of Essentials in September, will not be the last 'tweaks' we'll see to the game.

So 4.5ers, you might not want to jump the gun just yet. If there are even bigger changes to come, what on earth will you call them?!?

The "Book of 10 Swords".

 

[holywhitetrash]

i didn't really read your whole post but the parts i did made me laugh.
wotc not putting out a new system(whether it is or is not essentials) priceless.
even better they won't do this because 4th ed has a living rule system(probably the worst thing about 4th)

 

[Aloïsius]

even better they won't do this because 4th ed has a living rule system(probably the worst thing about 4th)

I hate the constant stream of erratas, corrections, erratas of erratas and corrections of corrections. Talk about fractioning the player base... "which rules doe you use ? Ad&d, D&D3 or D&D4 ?" >> "We are using D&D 4, with the July 2010 erratas."

The rules are already big and fat, with a lot of things to learn. If they change them every three months, it's impossible. I already hated that in 3e, with all the polymorph erratas. Most of those are due to the neverending quest for Absolute Balance.
Eeck. Throw balance in hell. Min-maxer will always find a way to abuse the system. The more rigidly balanced it is, the more they will be excited. The more erratas there is, the more loophole one can find, especially if the DM is not "errata-aware".


Dear WotC : Give us something stable, fun and evocative. Don't scorch the game with never-ending erratas and a steril, modronesque, quest for ultimate balance. Use your brain power to make new books about new things, not to re-re-re-rechange the book we juste learned to use.

And then, after a few years, start a new cycle, without too much modification, but with all the erratas in one cohesive block.

The main difference between RPG and CRPG is that patching our brain is tiring and painful, while patching a computer software is fast and painless. We are not machines, do no hope we will assimilate 174 pages of erratas each year when we are having fun with what we have.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Dear WotC : Give us something stable, fun and evocative. Don't scorch the game with never-ending erratas and a steril, modronesque, quest for ultimate balance. Use your brain power to make new books about new things, not to re-re-re-rechange the book we juste learned to use.

If they did that, everyone would cry out: foul, you promised that this edition would last longer.

Why did noone care about balance back in the last milennium? Because there was no internet. Every group played DnD for oneself. Everyone expected houserules at a table. Switching groups was a pain, as you had to learn the game again and again. Which books do you allow? All but skills and powers, as skills and powers is only for powergamers. But we use the psionics rules in it, becasue they are omplemented better. Do you use spells and magic? No, but you still gain bonus spells as a mage. It is just fair.

I don´t see why updates are considered worse than houserules. A way to make the system work more fluently. If you don´t agree with a change, don´t use it. If you use character builder, its a bit more problematic, but still manageable.

Live with it, wizard tried to give as a sufficiently well balanced rules system. We all see some problems. Maybe a clean new start with 4.5 or 5e was a good solution. But on the other hand, patching the current rules is not the worst idea, since they have built a framework where it is possible. Dismissing all of it would be terrible from a business point of view. And with such a move, they would lose a lot of their customer base.