AWizardInDallas said:
D&D isn't as cool as it used to be when it wasn't popular.
To be honest, this sentence reads like a heap of elitism. It's like "becoming too mainstream". And that's why you've lost me in the second paragraph.
However, I partially agree with the first paragraph: D&D v3.5 is a great system, full of variety and with many different and good supplementary material. If it floats your boat, stay with it by all means.
Some dislike the shortcomings of 3E/3.5E, and see these shortcomings fixed in 4E - but one person's shortcomings are another person's minor flaws are another person's advantages.
4E promises development of parts of 3E many dislike, making access to the game easier, probably reducing bookkeeping, and making encounters more dynamic, less forced on the CR/per-day system.
But this doesn't make 3E worse. And probably makes 3E even better for certain people, like you (obviously). In this case, stay with 3E - if you don't like 4E, don't buy it. 3E was a different beast than 2E, and 4E will be a different beast than 3E.
Choose whatever floats your boat - choose 3E, just as other people choose Savage Worlds, storyteller system, or WEG d6. If 3E is your *perfect* game, more power to you!
For me: I like many things about 4E. And I'll buy it, simply to read it - if it turns out to be a great game - that's just the extra gravy. I admit: I'm a gearhead. I tinker, I houserule a lot, I still try to find my *perfect* RPG. And 4E offers me a new resource, even if I just kill it and take its stuff for a homebrew d20. But that's me, not you - and that's perfectly fine. In fact, it's pretty cool that you've found your *perfect* RPG - but I haven't yet, therefore I like to see 4E.
Cheers, LT.