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<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5988641" data-attributes="member: 17106">I very much disagree. Current 3.5 players use the system because they feel it is currently the best on the market (even though it's a secondhand market). I suspect many use importations from PF (as I do), but still play an essentially 3.5; it's hard to look at PF and say that it clearly improved the game. There are some improvements, but a lot of setting-specific junk and some mechanical steps backwards. There's not a lot of real innovation; it's still basically the same system.If anything, I think the combined 3.5/PF market is the one that represents the most potential profit, by being the largest of the groups, and, more importantly, the most potential swing in profits, being the group that is most likely to make conscientious purchasing decisions based on mechanics, based on their rejection of mechanics they don't like. It's also probably the only subgroup that might actually be experiencing a net growth (largely due to PF's introductory products). I doubt there are a lot of new old-schoolers out there, and 4e seems to be losing market share pretty rapidly.I could, however, categorize 4e fans into two groups. One is the group of people who explicitly dislike other versions of D&amp;D or who think 4e is superior (and are very unlikely to be satisfied with any system that caters to the larger D&amp;D audience). The other (the one that WotC is gambling is much larger) is those who simply play whatever's available, whatever their friends are playing, or whatever has &quot;D&amp;D&quot; on the cover. Given that they handled the switch from 3e to 4e; it is unlikely that any change will be radical enough to lose them. Thus, I conclude that &quot;4e fans should therefore be almost entirely ignored from a&nbsp; business decision perspective.&nbsp; Or possibly given adventures and splats occasionally.&quot; It is unlikely that any decision WotC makes will affect their profit margins from this group.By contrast, I think there's a very large 3e audience still looking for the perfect game that is very open to genuine innovation.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 5988641, member: 17106"] I very much disagree. Current 3.5 players use the system because they feel it is currently the best on the market (even though it's a secondhand market). I suspect many use importations from PF (as I do), but still play an essentially 3.5; it's hard to look at PF and say that it clearly improved the game. There are some improvements, but a lot of setting-specific junk and some mechanical steps backwards. There's not a lot of real innovation; it's still basically the same system. If anything, I think the combined 3.5/PF market is the one that represents the most potential profit, by being the largest of the groups, and, more importantly, the most potential swing in profits, being the group that is most likely to make conscientious purchasing decisions based on mechanics, based on their rejection of mechanics they don't like. It's also probably the only subgroup that might actually be experiencing a net growth (largely due to PF's introductory products). I doubt there are a lot of new old-schoolers out there, and 4e seems to be losing market share pretty rapidly. I could, however, categorize 4e fans into two groups. One is the group of people who explicitly dislike other versions of D&D or who think 4e is superior (and are very unlikely to be satisfied with any system that caters to the larger D&D audience). The other (the one that WotC is gambling is much larger) is those who simply play whatever's available, whatever their friends are playing, or whatever has "D&D" on the cover. Given that they handled the switch from 3e to 4e; it is unlikely that any change will be radical enough to lose them. Thus, I conclude that "4e fans should therefore be almost entirely ignored from a business decision perspective. Or possibly given adventures and splats occasionally." It is unlikely that any decision WotC makes will affect their profit margins from this group. By contrast, I think there's a very large 3e audience still looking for the perfect game that is very open to genuine innovation. [/QUOTE]

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