Why won't you switch?

[PoeticJustice]

I also would like to thank, nay, congratulate everyone in thread for maintaining civility by not saying anything too disparaging about 4E. It acquits us well to be nice to one another.

I also was bummed about Dungeon and Dragon going away, though I hear Kobold Quarterly is doing a good job filling the void. In any case, the magazines' cancellation also factored into my decision.

 

[Khairn]

Why won't I switch? Well my final decision hasn't been made yet as I've signed up for a friends playtest when the rules come out. But for now its looking like my interest in 4E is minimal at best. I could go into specifics, but many of the reasons have already been mentioned. So here are a few generalities.

-To start with I haven't seen any really innovative or exciting rules that I feel will improve my game either on its own or without an accompanying negative to a feature of D&D that I currently enjoy.

-I've seen a number of new rules that appear very arbitrary and more designed for the sake of change than for any real improvement in our gaming experience.

-I've been very disappointed with how WotC has managed their customers expectations, and their overall level of support, responsiveness and service to the D&D community. Especially those who raise anything but a totally positive voice to what they have seen so far.

-I'm also upset with many of the dramatic changes that have been made to the magazines, the Realms and other elements of "D&D" that were not directly linked to the system itself. I see the iconic magazines turned into an atrociously managed (to date) collection of generally poor pdf articles ... I see another iconic element of D&D, Forgotten Realms, be hacked apart and then various pieces thrown away while others are tied together with thread from a really bad storyline... and I see honest efforts to communicate (even civilly at times ) be ignored so often that it almost appears to be part of a business plan.

Even though I have a large collection of 3E books, the money is not an issue for me. Gaming is my major vice and I usually like to buy a couple of new books each month. Whether its new settings or new systems I like to read about them and play them. But only the ones that can attract my imagination.

Unfortunately 4E doesn't just have to attract my imagination and sense of wonder, but WotC has to make me disregard all the negatives they have created. Its not that I hold a grudge against 4E. Its just that in todays market, with so many good settings, good systems and companies actually communicating & interested in making my gaming experience more enjoyable, WotC & 4E aren't setting the standard anymore. IMO, they are being measured against the competition, and in many places found lacking.

I hope I didn't ramble too much.

 

[Jayouzts]

Digital Initiative

Details for me are posted on my blog. Main topics:

(1) Continuity of rules
(2) Digital initiative
(3) Promise of OGL

http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/10/probably-no-4e-for-me.html

Your blog on the Digital Initiative is one of the best gaming-related pieces I have read in a while.

 

[Arkhandus]

The reasons are many and varied, in general.

..........You know what, I had typed up this long, descriptive post explaining my reasons, but after that I thought that it might somehow inflame the "4E is awesome and everything else is badwrongfun!" crowd, just because anything praising 3E with non-enthusiasm for 4E tends to do so. So I deleted it. :\

In short, my reasons are mostly the same as some of the other posters already mentioned. I was just going to be a lot more wordy and detailed about the "why" of each point.

 

[PoeticJustice]

The reasons are many and varied, in general.

..........You know what, I had typed up this long, descriptive post explaining my reasons, but after that I thought that it might somehow inflame the "4E is awesome and everything else is badwrongfun!" crowd, just because anything praising 3E with non-enthusiasm for 4E tends to do so. So I deleted it. :\

In short, my reasons are mostly the same as some of the other posters already mentioned. I was just going to be a lot more wordy and detailed about the "why" of each point.

I heartily thank you for your exercise in restraint. As I said earlier, doing so acquits all community members on either side of the issue well.

 

[Rabelais]

I'm probably going to make the switch... I'm still pretty ambivalent about it though.

First and foremost... It's the cost of the thing. I've invested hundreds in source materials... It irks me that that money is expended

The problems about the game design qualms and it being gamist and such are certainly valid for many of the people likely to respond, but are not even secondary concerns to me. It's dollars and cents for me, all the way.


Why AM I switching then? I've played 3.x long enough... I want to play a different game for awhile.

not the best reason I guess, but it's all I have.

 

[Delta]

Your blog on the Digital Initiative is one of the best gaming-related pieces I have read in a while.

Thank you!

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I will look at 4E eventually but I am satisfied with 3E and I see no reason to switch as of yet.

 

[Vegepygmy]

All the previews have given me significant confidence in the ability of the designers and almost everything I've heard thus far about the changes are positive in my mind...

Therefore I bring this question to you: why won't you switch?

I could list many of the same things previous posters have mentioned, but it really boils down to this: my impression is almost the exact opposite of yours. The previews I have seen have given me little or no confidence in the ability of the designers, and the majority of what I've seen and heard thus far about the changes to the game is negative in my mind. <shrug>

 

[Aus_Snow]

Let me try that one again. . . (sig now gone)

* I don't like what I've seen of 4e, on the balance of it, both in terms of 'crunch' and in terms of 'fluff'.
* The marketing effort and some of the decisions/events surrounding it have been by turns uninteresting and distasteful (to me.)
* I don't have a burning need for yet another version of D&D in the first place.
* In fact, I own systems of sufficient individual quality and collective scope, that I might not need another system, full stop.
* The advances in rules symmetry and transparency that finally came about with 3e (in D&D, for the first time ever) will be mostly done away with. I *very* strongly dislike that uh, 'feature' (i.e., slide backwards.)
* GSL != OGL, all the rest of that sorry state of affairs, and the implications of that.
* In order to run something I might like running, it might well be that I'd be waiting for a very long time indeed for all the sourcebooks to 'catch up'. No way am I waiting years to have D&D where I - being extremely optimistic here - might not be so limited by default that it would irritate me to the point of simply seeking and using a different, more complete system. Hm. . . 3e++?

I think that pretty much covers it.