What would soften the blow?

[Gundark]

4th edition is most likely coming. When it'll happen is all speculation until WotC sez something. There are those who are ready for 4th ed., those who aren't but would grudgingly buy, and those who would hold out. The question is for you people who would be upset with a 4th ed. release what would make you ready for 4th ed? Or at the very least soften the blow?

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

For WOTC to come out and say your old books (3e/3.5 that is) are still good with no conversion necessary. Simply open them up and play. The new edition is just a re-vamp which you can use or not use, much like 3e > 3.5. Basically a 4e in name only.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

The minis size scale stays the same so all the D&D minis I just bought are still useable if I want to play D&D using 4E rules.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Shemeska]

FR going back to its proper cosmology in 4e would certainly soften the blow.

Miniatures being explicitely optional in the rules would also make it an easy landing.

 

[Cutty Sark]

We still have two years of playtesting left?

 

[megamania]

Leave Eberron as 3.5.



Otherwise you will have really hacked me off. Wizkids was the last to do that and I have not bought any Heroclix in nearly 3 years because of it and I am a comicbook fan and collector.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I'm not really aghast at the prospect of Fourth Edition being released this decade, even if I'd prefer otherwise, but there are a few things which would make me smile:

• Keep it within the OGL and broadly compatible with Third Edition. I think the game could use a revamp with everything that Wizards of the Coast has learned about d20 design firmly in mind, but I wouldn't like to see a change on the order of Second Edition to Third unless it were just as spectacular an improvement.
• Maintain a consistent, understandable schedule of releases. Wizards of the Coast should have an understanding of what kind of books are welcomed by their player base as useful additions to the core rules, and their product schedule should leaven these "essential" books with some more experimental products such as the Tome of Battle so as to keep the game fresh even as it otherwise expands in a steady and reliable manner.
• Strengthen the overarching flavour of the core rules. I don't really care whether they hew closely to the original Greyhawk flavour or create something "uniquely Fourth Edition", but the flavour elements of books like Races of Stone and Complete Warrior feel comparatively incoherent, rather than pleasingly generic. It's possible to come up with pleasingly coherent, generic flavour that doesn't seem full of dissonance like the "core rules" flavour currently does.
• Establish a new book-design direction for the core line. Third Edition was a big step up from Second Edition, but I think that if Fourth Edition is to succeed it really needs to establish its own aesthetic identity. That doesn't necessarily mean abandoning "dungeonpunk" or returning to oldschool faux-medieval aesthetics, but it does mean something different from the fake-tome covers and red-brown page frames that dominate Third Edition design. Likewise, Forgotten Realms and Eberron books (if either line are supported to the same extent in Fourth Edition) should establish their own, fresh "look" without dropping everything that was successful about their Third Edition design. For instance, maintaining the tradition of a two-page action spread inside every Eberron book is a good idea, even if Wayne Reynolds doesn't paint them.

 

[kenobi65]

If people would quit posting "sky is falling" threads on the topic.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

The question is for you people who would be upset with a 4th ed. release what would make you ready for 4th ed? Or at the very least soften the blow?

Well, knowing the future release date of 4.5e would really soften the blow for 4e. I mean, will any experienced gamer really buy 4e knowing that 4.5e is just around the corner ... and probably in less than 1,000 days from the release of 4e?

Having said that, I'll likely stay in 3.5 anyway. I like my system that won't need to change without my desiring it. 3.5 will finally be static once WotC moves on to 4e! Hmmm. In that respect the sooner they advertise for 4e the better I'll feel about life!

 

[Wraith-Hunter]

I'm not really aghast at the prospect of Fourth Edition being released this decade, even if I'd prefer otherwise, but there are a few things which would make me smile:

• Keep it within the OGL and broadly compatible with Third Edition. I think the game could use a revamp with everything that Wizards of the Coast has learned about d20 design firmly in mind, but I wouldn't like to see a change on the order of Second Edition to Third unless it were just as spectacular an improvement.
• Maintain a consistent, understandable schedule of releases. Wizards of the Coast should have an understanding of what kind of books are welcomed by their player base as useful additions to the core rules, and their product schedule should leaven these "essential" books with some more experimental products such as the Tome of Battle so as to keep the game fresh even as it otherwise expands in a steady and reliable manner.
• Strengthen the overarching flavour of the core rules. I don't really care whether they hew closely to the original Greyhawk flavour or create something "uniquely Fourth Edition", but the flavour elements of books like Races of Stone and Complete Warrior feel comparatively incoherent, rather than pleasingly generic. It's possible to come up with pleasingly coherent, generic flavour that doesn't seem full of dissonance like the "core rules" flavour currently does.
• Establish a new book-design direction for the core line. Third Edition was a big step up from Second Edition, but I think that if Fourth Edition is to succeed it really needs to establish its own aesthetic identity. That doesn't necessarily mean abandoning "dungeonpunk" or returning to oldschool faux-medieval aesthetics, but it does mean something different from the fake-tome covers and red-brown page frames that dominate Third Edition design. Likewise, Forgotten Realms and Eberron books (if either line are supported to the same extent in Fourth Edition) should establish their own, fresh "look" without dropping everything that was successful about their Third Edition design. For instance, maintaining the tradition of a two-page action spread inside every Eberron book is a good idea, even if Wayne Reynolds doesn't paint them.

What he said!