Piratecat said:
Actually, that's what many people originally said about 3e! I read that exact statement over a hundred times here on the earliest edition of Eric's boards and on rec.games.frp.dnd. Since I don't feel that's what happened in 3e, I'd be cautious about reaching a conclusion before having a chance to play for a bit.
I'm not going to question your recollection, but I see this a lot:
"That's what hundreds/thousands/millions of people said about [prior version]"
- - I guess if I multiply [topics being complained about] times [prior versions that came out for discussion], it seems like there must be no room on any boards anywhere for discussions of any other type.
As far as not reaching a conclusion before having a chance to play a bit, I can understand where you're coming from, but I'm a Small Town Dude (TM), and so to get a chance to play a bit, I would need to buy a set of Core Books, sinking a substantial amount of cash into a game just to try it.
My other option is to get KOTS - which I did at the cost of $30, and frankly I hate what I've read....and NOW of course I assume everyone's retort to my dislike for aspects of KOTS is 'well, it's really more of a combat demo and not how the game will really play out'....so I'm back to buying all the books to really 'get it', or just ignoring 4e.
I think they really dropped the ball (with ME) by releasing an ADVENTURE for $30 that (if these forums are to be believed) gives no clearer picture of 4E than reading forum rants.