D&D 4E Who else is going to be a deserter when 4e comes out?

[Masked Otaku]

I imagine that D&D 4E will respond to it's biggest threat: online RPGs such as World of WarCraft and EverQuest. So, we'll see:

* A deck of feats, but a limited hand size (example: have 10 feats but can only play with 4 at a time). The current feat system punishes players; if you play a guy with a bunch of mounted feats and the adventure is underwater the game's response is "tough luck, chump". That's no fun.
* School of magic treated like feat chains (example: just like you have point blank shot > rapid shot > manyshot, you'll have basic evocation > improved evocation > major evocation)

I like those ideas.

I also imagine they'll offer an alternative to those heavy rulebooks. Those things are intimidating to new gamers. In any event, they should bundle a CD-Rom (or make available free online) a form that allows a player to make character choices, apply equipment, autocalculate all modifiers, and print out onto one page.

WotC's refusal/inability to provide a clean, simple, auto-calculating character generator/updator is a great mystery to me. Even gamers with 20+ years of experience sometimes screw up a character sheet.

Get this, true story. I know some folks who ran a small RPG shop, when 3.0 was released they had a bunch of people return the Players Handbook ranting that you had to use the CD in the back to play the game.

This turned them [the shop owners] against 3.0, I had a hard fight to get them to try it. They never read the thing to see if what their customers said was true.

In short: 4E should lower the barrier to entry. Make it like Magic or the MMORPGS: simple core gameplay, with depth coming from situational tactical choices (positioning, which feats to take with you at the moment, etc.) as opposed to permanent strategic choics (the current "few, permanent" feat system, the current x spells/day system, etc.).

Enough rambling. To answer the original post: of course I'll try 4E, and so will you. Whether we keep buying 4E books depends on the changes and personal taste.

-z

Looking back at other editions, the split of rules between the Players Handbook and the GMs Guide was more heavily weighted toward the GMs guide. With 3.x the page count and rules content is more evenly split. Perhaps they need to redistribute the rules as they were in older editions.

 

[Gundark]

I see it's the weekly 4th ed. post...Sigh....I'm going to be on board with 4th ed.

 

[WayneLigon]

So many people said the same things when 2E and 3E came out. The vast majority will follow to 4E, pretty much regardless of what it offers unless somehow it's a titanic step backwards or just a total mess. It's very likely I will, depending on what it's like. I say I probably would not, but I know it's a lie Most likely I would not be a first adopter but I'd get it eventually unless something weird and unforseen happened, like collectable rules books or sending WOTC my first pinky joint or something.

 

[JustKim]

When we heard about "3.5" (God, what a stupid name), a lot of people said, "WTF? They just released 3rd!"

But when "3.5" came out, all the zombies marched out obediently and bought it. WotC could release 4th edition tomorrow and it would be a huge success.

Fools. I hate hive minds.

My, aren't you judgemental?
I don't see what gives you the right to call me a zombie for buying a book. I don't know any people who went out and bought the 3.5 books out of obedience, how many do you know? Consequently, how many people are you accusing of being drones simply for buying something you don't personally want? I'll tell you why I bought the revised books. I bought them because after reading through them with a very good grasp of the d20 system and the shortcomings of 3E, I realized that the core classes are better balanced. The DMG is useful beyond just its reward tables. The Monster Manual is much more balanced, particularly when it comes to the outsiders, and I knew when I read it I wouldn't want to go back to vrocks who are always one critical hit away from death. The Expanded Psionics Handbook is the first time in the history of D&D psionics have been done right. I'd say my case for buying 3.5 books is pretty good.

And can I just say, thank god for 4th edition threads? These thinly veiled excuses for edition wars never get old. Every week for the last three years I've looked forward to the next "Oh no 4E" thread, and there are always new insights being brought to the discussion, I can hardly keep up!

 

[diaglo]

My D&D experience will stop at 3.5.

my D&D experience hasn't stopped and i still play OD&D(1974) in spite of the drivel produced since.

 

[Gorilla726]

I myself may or may not pick it up when it comes out. Maybe by then though I'll have finally picked up the 3E DMG and Monster Manual... I don't see how you would have to abandon D&D when a new version comes out. I myself play Basic and 2nd Ed. and even though I'm not a huge fan of 3E, I still play the game. You can just choose to keep playing 3E if that's your fancy. No reason to be forced into a system you don't like.

Gorilla

 

[Turjan]

But when "3.5" came out, all the zombies marched out obediently and bought it. WotC could release 4th edition tomorrow and it would be a huge success.

Some people had other reasons. Actually, I thought it would be some reprint with slight changes (e.g, those three spells everyone was talking about), corrected errata and some reorganization of the DMG. That's actually why I bought it. I got angry when I finally read it...

 

[Dark Jezter]

If it actually looks good, then I'm in.

If it diverges WAAAY too much from 3E, then I don't know if I will, because 3.5 is damned near perfect. (For reference I call 3.0 and 3.5 '3E'.)

If they create a separate set of consistent "DM rules" for NPCs that was both simplified AND balanced with respect to the PC creation options, then I'm definitely in.

Ditto here. IMO, D&D is pretty much perfect the way it is right now. I'm having trouble thinking of any changes they could make to significantly improve the system, let alone enough to warrant a new edition. However, if I feel that 4e is an improvment over the current edition, I'll definately buy it.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I will probably keep using 3.5 for my group, but keep buying the 4.0 books for design purposes.

.... that is unless I've made it as a novelist by then, in which case I'll probably just get the 4.0 core rules so I know what everything means, and then keep following the Forgotten Realms and Eberron lines.

Seriously, I have enough 3.0 and 3.5 stuff (and yes, I see nothing wrong with mixing the two if we're talking adventures and fluff material) to keep me going the rest of my life.

 

[danzig138]

I'm pretty happy with 3.5 and d20 in general. 3rd edition brought me back to D&D. The current edition and system is pretty easy to customize, so I really don't see myself buying into a new edition when it comes out. All I can really see a 4th edition doing for me is making the current sourcebooks cheaper so I can actually pick them up.