Upset about another edition!

[nedjer]

On the other hand, has there been a release date set for 5E? It'll likely be, what? Next YEAR before we see it on a shelf? 6 months? And again, the fact that a new edition is on the way - even if it's NEXT month - that should not prevent anyone from getting every dimes worth out of what they HAVE. Even moreso when NOBODY can accurately say they like 5E - because even having liked your partication in a playtest doesn't mean that a year from now it'll turn out to still be all that and the chips.

Not saying people don't have a right to express concerns. I just get a bit tired of the hyperbole regarding new editions and players who want to be victims.

Yeah, I'm such a skinflint Personally, I'm off down a different route for now. $200 is enough for a KindleFire. Add New School clone Pathfinder at $9.99, Old School clone Corruption at $7, Tome of Monsters at something similar and it'll take a local version of Next without a subscription requirement to draw me in. But, I'm such a skinflint.

 

[blalien]

I'm holding out hope that 5e will be somehow reverse compatible to a large degree, so people who play past editions and stick with them and still use new products.

I wouldn't bet on this. Each edition is different enough that it would be very difficult to make any edition that was compatible with more than one of them, and favoring one edition over any other would just add more fuel to the edition wars. Not to mention, Wizards has little incentive to make their books compatible with books they never sold and will never be sold again.

 

[Is_907]

Personally I'd be a bit hacked-off if money went on Photoshop for the next version to appear a week later. One way to ease the arrival of 5e would have been to play like Windows, i.e. if you bought after a certain date you get a discount on the upgrade. Bit hard to do after the event, but there's always next time.

This analogy doesn't work. You're talking about updates to the same program... 3e and 4e are different games. 4e and 5e will also be different games.
Are you upset when your favourite band releases two albums in one year? Nope. You buy both, or just one if only one sounds good.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Watch out! WotC is coming to your home to take your 4E books away if you don't upgrade.

(As if. If you like it, play it -- that's why there are fans of all versions and editions of D&D on this board, even versions that not longer bear the name Dungeons & Dragons.)

 

[Greg K]

Personally I'd be a bit hacked-off if money went on Photoshop for the next version to appear a week later. .

Bad analogy. Under that circumstance, there is no reason to get upset. Adobe has a policy of giving a free upgrade if you purchase their products withing a certain time frame before or after a release and a discount on their upgrades if you fall within a certain time beyond those points.

 

[nedjer]

This analogy doesn't work. You're talking about updates to the same program... 3e and 4e are different games. 4e and 5e will also be different games.
Are you upset when your favourite band releases two albums in one year? Nope. You buy both, or just one if only one sounds good.

Depends on the functionality of the two versions.

 

[nedjer]

Bad analogy. Under that circumstance, there is no reason to get upset. Adobe has a policy of giving a free upgrade if you purchase their products withing a certain time frame before or after a release and a discount on their upgrades if you fall within a certain time beyond those points.

Doesn't work like that with the scheme I buy Adobe under - but, yes, I guess I'm embittered after the hoops I had to go through to get CS4 to run on Win7 x64

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I also invested more than 200 dollars since essentials came out... a little more than i invested in 3rd edition...
And now that 5e is announced, i am still happy and will most probably buy the next few releases. And I will most probably upgrade to 5e. I hope the money i spent will be invested well!

 

[Consonant Dude]

I do understand where the OP is coming from in a way.

It's about relevancy. I move around constantly with the military so new groups are always forming. Normally with the current edition. So when the masses move forward, so do I.

Yes, I could use my BECMI, my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books, because no one will ever take them away from me.

But as time passes I feel distanced from the "current" phase of players. I begin to not understand the terms, or I miss the new concepts that I can incorporate into my game.

I don't think the OP was trying to stay current as there was mention of "buying 4e recently". If one needs to stay current (I don't understand the concept myself), he'd probably buy the books closer to release date.

That would make for five years of 4e before the next version. I think that's not unreasonable at all.

But I maintain it's terribly unwise to follow trends "just because" and if one needs to incorporate new concepts, there's plenty of legally free RPG stuff on the net you can plug in your games.

New doesn't always mean better. It's up to each and everyone of us to buy products we will enjoy.

I empathize with your problem of a fractured player base and understand it can be tough finding groups under those circumstances, though. But IME, the most important thing to attract players is a DM who is comfortable with the system he uses, is enthusiastic about the campaigns he runs and makes a good pitch to attract players.

 

[Morrus]

Personally I'd be a bit hacked-off if money went on Photoshop for the next version to appear a week later.

Surely by that definition, no company can ever update their product?

At least WotC give you 18-months+ advance notice. They're hardly sprigning it on you a week later.