Were you a 3.x hater when it was announced and are glad you made the switch?

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I hated 2E from the start, eventually switched to it because that's what everyone else was playing, and hated the direction it went near the end. I jumped for joy and couldn't wait for 3E. I bought it and loved it. I still like it, but I sense the tension in our group, the burnout, the bogged down feeling. I'm ready to be impressed by 4E and have liked what I've read so far. But I've also hopefully learned my lesson from 3E and I'll be more careful what I buy so my new game doesn't get too bogged down all over again.

 

[Psion]

I never hated it, but I was skeptical, and planned to merely pull bits in I liked as house rules.

But I got the MM and the markedly superior way of handling creatures sold me on the game. I had just barely started a 2e game, but I started a 3e game just to try it out with a different group.

After a month, I was hooked. It was simply a much better, more enjoyable play experience for us. I switched my other game to 3e as well.

 

[Nifft]

I wasn't considering getting back into D&D at all until I saw 3e. (It was the fact that 3e came to my attention right as I was getting bored re-playing Baldur's Gate II which I blame for my current hobby... )

Cheers, -- N

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I didn't like it until I read a PH. Then I was hooked.

 

[smootrk]

I liked it initially... a lot. It soured slowly over time, although there are a great many things about it that I do like (rules and options). It was the gaming experience itself (prep time, combat length, too complex in some areas) that makes me yearn to go backwards to older editions (or mods of those earlier editions).

 

[Moon_Goddess]

I was a vehemonite hater.

"How dare they change my game. How dare they do this, I'll never, never never ever. Feats? Skills? PRICES ON MAGIC ITEMS!!!! NO MORE THAC0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??!?!?!1"

Then I found Eric Noah's site. Then I bought the PHB the day it came out....

The other day I tried to explain Thac0 to someone who started with 3.5... um... I got lost. I was an idiot about my complaints and probably will change my mind about 4.0 too. But not yet.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I was skeptical, then I read the PH - I loved the multiclassing system, the versatility of that and feats, and the way playing monsters was built into the base of the system (even if they needed to work out some bugs first).

An RPG first and foremost for me has to have broad and versatile character creation - hey HERO is my main game, there is my preferences.

I was skeptical at first because I was a 2e hater. I played 1st ed with house rules until I made the switch to 3rd. Part of that was the system, and part setting (I detested Dark Sun, Planescape and Ravenloft, and was neutral towards much else - although I love Spelljammer).

So when 3rd came out, and it was a great improvement, I jumped on it.

 

[thedungeondelver]

AD&D and to the same extent D&D* and the various flavors of "basic" D&D prior to the release of the RULES CYCLOPEDIA were, to me, very organic. Things were added to or taken off on individual merit. The mood of the designers affected what fit in the game system: witness Gary admonishing the DM to go after players hammer and tongs in the DUNGEON MASTER'S GUIDE. I do not think any of this is a bad thing.

3rd Edition and 3.5 on the other hand seem to me to be more programmed, more designed by committee, with much more minute tolerances. Whether you think this is a good or bad thing is entirely up to you but I greatly disliked it. After a year and a half or so of playing various third edition games I lost patience with it. It never got very enjoyable.

The announcment of 4th ed. has left me cold. I won't be giving it a try. Sorry.

*=you know, 1974

 

[blargney the second]

I loved 3e when it came out - it was the first gaming I had done in donkeys' years. 3.5 was another matter altogether, and it took me a while to come around.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I wasn't playing many tabletop RPGs at the time, and wasn't playing D&D at all.

I didn't actually get back into the game until I got interested in writing for Dragon, which is when I discovered how much better I liked 3e than I had its predecessors.