Mercurius
Legend
The RPG ecology thread inspired this question. Let me better explain this post's title.
It seems that every edition of D&D, at least the last few (if we include the "sub-editions" of 3E and 4E) inspired varying degrees of nerdrage, especially 4E, with rather specific reasons. For instance, with 4E the main complaint seemed to boil down to the view that 4E killed real D&D and took its stuff. Secondary complaints included that it was too reliant on the battle grid, emphasized simulation over imagination, was too video gamey, veered too far away from traditional D&D in terms of fluff (e.g. dragonborn, shardminds, etc), was too tightly designed to easily allow for customization, etc.
The outrage around 3E was relatively mild, but if I remember correctly there was a small group of "grognards" who protested that its streamlined core took away from some of the character of AD&D (the same complaint might have been waged at 2E). 3.5E's main complaint was that it came so quickly on the heels of 3E and thus "required" everyone to enter another expensive spending cycle. But really, the biggest outcry came from 4E (If I remember, the outcry around Essentials was relatively minor, and more of a "Wow, that's a dead-cat bounce if I've every seen one").
So what will it be with D&D 5E, aka Next? We can probably see the beginnings of nerdrage stirring, but as I have largely been out of the conversation for the last year, I'm asking you to fill me in. What are the main complaints? And, from what we can tell, what are people complaining about now that likely won't change when Next is actually published? Can we predict what the inevitable outcry will be like relative to previous editions?
One thing that comes to mind is this, which is more of a possibility than a prediction: Next will be the game that, in trying to please too many, pleases no one. While it seems like it will be a very good game and not truly offend anyone, or at least only those inevitably few that are offended by anything, it also won't make many absolutely fall in love with it, perhaps by being too generic. Again, I'm not saying this is likely but that it could end up being the case.
It seems that every edition of D&D, at least the last few (if we include the "sub-editions" of 3E and 4E) inspired varying degrees of nerdrage, especially 4E, with rather specific reasons. For instance, with 4E the main complaint seemed to boil down to the view that 4E killed real D&D and took its stuff. Secondary complaints included that it was too reliant on the battle grid, emphasized simulation over imagination, was too video gamey, veered too far away from traditional D&D in terms of fluff (e.g. dragonborn, shardminds, etc), was too tightly designed to easily allow for customization, etc.
The outrage around 3E was relatively mild, but if I remember correctly there was a small group of "grognards" who protested that its streamlined core took away from some of the character of AD&D (the same complaint might have been waged at 2E). 3.5E's main complaint was that it came so quickly on the heels of 3E and thus "required" everyone to enter another expensive spending cycle. But really, the biggest outcry came from 4E (If I remember, the outcry around Essentials was relatively minor, and more of a "Wow, that's a dead-cat bounce if I've every seen one").
So what will it be with D&D 5E, aka Next? We can probably see the beginnings of nerdrage stirring, but as I have largely been out of the conversation for the last year, I'm asking you to fill me in. What are the main complaints? And, from what we can tell, what are people complaining about now that likely won't change when Next is actually published? Can we predict what the inevitable outcry will be like relative to previous editions?
One thing that comes to mind is this, which is more of a possibility than a prediction: Next will be the game that, in trying to please too many, pleases no one. While it seems like it will be a very good game and not truly offend anyone, or at least only those inevitably few that are offended by anything, it also won't make many absolutely fall in love with it, perhaps by being too generic. Again, I'm not saying this is likely but that it could end up being the case.