What would soften the blow?

[mhacdebhandia]

Now, I don't have access to figures, but if Eberron regional supplements are selling, it would take some heavy convincing and data-supported argumentation for me to accept that FR regional supplements wouldn't sell.

Hmm . . . Eberron "regional supplements" aren't really the same thing as Forgotten Realms regional supplements. Five Nations and Sharn: City of Towers are close to that mold, but Secrets of Xen'drik and Secrets of Sarlona are the only other "regional supplements", and as sourcebooks for continents other than the "default" they're closer to the books on Kara-Tur and Al'Qadim that certain people keep demanding than anything else.

The fact that they haven't announced a series of regional supplements covering places like the Shadow Marches, the Lhazaar Principalities, Q'barra, Darguun, et cetera, instead concentrating on thematic books like Magic of Eberron, The Forge of War, and Dragons of Eberron suggests to me that they don't have much confidence in regional supplements per se.

 

[Rogue765]

As long as they finally teach me how to use the real power!!

 

[was]

.....The only way that I would even consider switching to a new format, would be for it to be such an overwhelming improvement that it just knocked my socks off. Given the current rule set, despite its problems, I just don't see it happening.
.....Even if they did manage to convince me to switch, I can't see myself buying more than just the PHB, DMG and MM. There's simply no way I'm shelling out more money for the same supplements in a different format. I've got three other editions worth of material in my collection to draw from and convert.

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

• 
  Six ability scores, from 3-18, rolled randomly *with dice*
  Classes and levels, y'all.
  Elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and half-orcs. Humans too, I guess.
  Fighters, thieves, clerics, and magic-users.
  Vancian magic!!!!!
  Dungeons. Big ones.
  Hit points and armor class.
  Rust Monsters that rust, goldarnit!!
  Modules. Lots of 'em. Written by Bruce Cordell.
  Orcs. Orcs are way cool.
  Save or die.
  Make some of the spells dangerous again - teleport can stick you in a wall, haste ages, other stuff drains Con.
  Undead drain levels old-school
  And hey, put a friggin' giant slug in the rules somewhere!

 

[Ghendar]

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?

Make all of my 3.5 books backward compatible. That's the only way for me.

 

[Ghendar]

Wow, I'd say Eberron was pretty darn close to mainstream ideas of fantasy now and that it was much less far afield in D&D terms than, say, Arcana Unearthed.

Lord, I hope eberron is not what is now considered mainstream ideas of fantasy. I think eberron is a nice diversion and a very interesting setting. I particularly like the whole Xen'Drik thing, but core setting? No.

As far as "mainstream" is concerned, it all depends who you ask. To some (myself included) Tolkien type fantasy is and always will be the mainstream, or at least, the ideal. To others, it's an eberron type setting.

I have to agree with Mouseferatu's reasons why eberron should not be the core setting.

 

[Azgulor]

Since 3.5 and OGL games will serve me for more years and for more games than I'll likely get to run/play, nothing.

If we're talking pie-in-the-sky: a refund for all WotC 3 & 3.5 edition books. THEN, I'd consider buying 4E books.


Seriously, though, I buy a new edition only if I'm convinced that the new edition will correct things that I truly believe to be broken or need fixing. While D&D/d20 isn't perfect, for me and my group, it's got fewer problems than any other system we've played.

Plus, I've invested (God is it that much) thousands of dollars in rulebooks, OGL rulebooks, 3rd party supplements, & adventures. I can't justify repeating that every 6-10 years just to support WotC profit targets, especially when I don't feel there are enough problems with the current edition to warrant such a move.

Finally, it's taken years to get the coverage of topics, settings, and licenses that I want to play. If D&D gets a 4E reboot. It'll be years again before the game is mature enough that those "holes" are filled. No frakkin' way, thanks.

Azgulor

 

[Ghendar]

I'd go further. Strip out all the crap thats baggage from previous editions. Alignment, random character creation methods, random hit die, vancian casting.

.

And while we're at it, let's just change everything about D&D that makes it D&D. Hell, let's even change the name so it's not called D&D anymore.

What you consider baggage is stuff lots of other people consider the stuff that makes D&D what it is. There's nothing wrong with your ideas, but to me, it's not D&D.

 

[satori01]

And while we're at it, let's just change everything about D&D that makes it D&D. Hell, let's even change the name so it's not called D&D anymore.

What you consider baggage is stuff lots of other people consider the stuff that makes D&D what it is. There's nothing wrong with your ideas, but to me, it's not D&D.

I just do not think the essence of D&D is the Fighter rolling a '1' on his HP roll going up a level. I do not think a DM telling a player, 'that is against your alignment' is quintessential to the experience of D&D, or role playing in general.

What is essential, are players and DMs getting together to create a fun time, with some degree of randomness. There should always be "To Hit Rolls" and Saving Throws, other aspects of randomness are unnecessary. Your opinion might differ, and I respect that, but if in any given circumstances if 80%+ DMs would allow a re-roll or grant say half of max HP, in the case of the low HP roll for going up a level, than the players of the game have already auto corrected for the fickleness of randomness, and eliminating that aspect of it does not dramatically change the game.

 

[Larcen]

.....The only way that I would even consider switching to a new format, would be for it to be such an overwhelming improvement that it just knocked my socks off. Given the current rule set, despite its problems, I just don't see it happening.
.....Even if they did manage to convince me to switch, I can't see myself buying more than just the PHB, DMG and MM. There's simply no way I'm shelling out more money for the same supplements in a different format. I've got three other editions worth of material in my collection to draw from and convert.

Ha. Not for nothing, but this made me chuckle. You say all this no no no stuff and then end it with “I've got three other editions”. I wonder how many other people are saying the same thing… and have said it for all the previous editions as well? There are quite a few on this thread already. I would imagine most people who think they won’t buy 4E will eventually buy it when all the boards and conventions and bookshelves and supplements and video games will soon be about it.

But I hear you dude. I said the same thing for the last 3 editions myself.

• 
  Six ability scores, from 3-18, rolled randomly *with dice*
  Classes and levels, y'all.
  Elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and half-orcs. Humans too, I guess.
  Fighters, thieves, clerics, and magic-users.
  Vancian magic!!!!!
  Dungeons. Big ones.
  Hit points and armor class.
  Rust Monsters that rust, goldarnit!!
  Modules. Lots of 'em. Written by Bruce Cordell.
  Orcs. Orcs are way cool.
  Save or die.
  Make some of the spells dangerous again - teleport can stick you in a wall, haste ages, other stuff drains Con.
  Undead drain levels old-school
  And hey, put a friggin' giant slug in the rules somewhere!

A-frippin-men, brother. I say slap 4E on the cover of the Rules Cyclopedia and call it a day. Ok, ok, maybe update it a little with some unified play mechanics.

If we're talking pie-in-the-sky: a refund for all WotC 3 & 3.5 edition books. THEN, I'd consider buying 4E books.

Dang. I wonder if my car maker would consider this policy too, despite the fact that my current model has served me well and I have gotten use out of it for all these years…

I just do not think the essence of D&D is the Fighter rolling a '1' on his HP roll going up a level. I do not think a DM telling a player, 'that is against your alignment' is quintessential to the experience of D&D, or role playing in general.

The current editions did not just spring out of thin air. They were created on the foundations of the very successful, playable, and fun, previous editions. And those editions contained the sort of stuff you now consider unimportant. But who’s to say what is quintessential and what’s not? For instance I happen to think that sort of stuff is quintessential to D&D.

Seems to me the current edition and they way its been heading has a lot of people looking to revisit older systems, or outside systems, or simpler systems, or even new systems like 4E. Myself included.

OMG, that sounded like an edition war. Sorry, nevermind. Carry on…