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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SHARK" data-source="post: 4611842" data-attributes="member: 1131">Greetings!Well, I think some of the whole process leading up to and including 4E was wrong. I think--strange as it may seem--that there are some things that are good for the hobby, and good for D&D--but not necessarily good for profits for WOTC.Two things leap to mind--(1) Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Yeah, I know it's the digital age, blah, blah, blah--and I also know that having the magazines online also increases the magazines' *functionality*--but at a loss, overall. Many, many people like having the actual *magazines*. I think while increasing the functionality of the magazines by going online is cool--but it probably lost many more fans than what being online actually pleases. Ending the Dragon and Dungeon magazines after such a long and famous career, at the end of the day, seems like a very poor decision.(2) Short-circuiting the OGL--Failure to bringing 3pp onboard. The OGL is simply, hands down--the most revolutionary aspect to hit the RPG hobby in decades, if forever since the very introduction of the RPG genre in general. Trying to short-circuit that huge infusion of ongoing creativity and dynamic openness to the hobby is just piss-poor on WOTC's part. Now, these two things are important preliminary points to consider. Then, there is the whole marketing fiasco of aiming for the *under 25 group*--and ignoring, or otherwise angering the *Old Guard*. Yeah, the *Old Guard* is important. Despite whatever relative size in numbers we may actually represent, if I am any representative of that segment, then WOTC risks losing a huge amount by pissing people like us off. I have a absolutely huge library of game books, not to mention the damned miniatures. I am not bragging in the least when I say I own a larger library of game books--and a better depth of selection--than most commercial game stores. I, and many other members of the *Old Guard* spend literally *thousands* of dollars on the game over a few years. We would, I imagine, outspend the casual gamer by at least x10, and probably much, much more.4E should have looked at ways to improve 3.5E, without alienating such a huge percentage of the *Old Guard*. Certainly, make improvements to the system, but look for ways to improve it--without killing off or throwing out so many ideas, things, and concepts that are viewed by *most* to be essential to the D&D game.As for "attracting the new audience"? Well, yeah, that's important, I guess. But honestly, as a corporate venture, the damned companies *TSR/WOTC*--have been chasing that unicorn forever now. They've consistently botched it, and they keep trying to recapture the adolescent explosion in popularity of D&D from 1978-1984. I really think "Getting new gamers" into the hobby has always been better served by *US* doing just that. Far more effective and enduring than whatever efforts the corporations have sought to do. The problem with that potential *fact*--is that it is an incremental and gradual approach to growing and sustaining the HOBBY--as opposed to growing and sustaining the company's quarterly and yearly profit margins.Oh, and another thing. Remember ETOOLS????<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm    :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":mad:" title="Mad    :mad:"  data-smilie="4"data-shortname=":mad:" />You'd think after all these years that the folks up at WOTC would have said..."Hmmm...ok, well, before we actually release a 4E, why don't we make damned sure we have an entire digital suite of character generators, adventure thingies, etc, etc, all done and ready to go before we release any new edition?" They effed that up back in 3.0, and they still can't get it right. That, would be a big selling point I'm sure, to make any transition to 4E for the *Old Guard* easier. To this day--they *still* don't have that off the ground!!!<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm    :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" />Well, I'm rambling, as it is late. There are several different things that WOTC has flubbed up on in this whole process, that makes moving to 4E so distasteful, problematic, and difficult for many members of the *Old Guard* that include whole mechanical aspects of the game, flavour, etc, but also include other issues that mix in with it, and are distinct. It seems to actually repair the damage now is, well, I guess too little, too late. They've changed the game so drastically, and combined with several other large issues that I noted, that it's like trying to get a yolk back into the egg once it has been broken.Semper Fidelis,SHARK</blockquote>

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