D&D 3E/3.5 Will 3.5 hurt sales for 4E?

[sfgiants]

I think the points made about who will be in charge and around in a few years are good ones. Back in the day we had no idea that there would be the changes there were. As a result listening to anyone at Wizards in regards to a longer term issue is pointless.

I also wonder about all the addittional PHB, DMG etc they plan on doing on a yearly basis. How long can they go about doing this? 2 years? 3 years? What happens then?

Some say that they could keep doing them until PHB 10. I doubt it. They were scratching the bottom of the barrel of ideas for 3.5 by now. What will make 4.0 any different?

Finally, is there any functional difference between a version 4.5 in 3-5 years and a version 5.0 in 3 years? I don't think so. The result is the same-buy more books

Finally, about the issue of if we actually got confirmation 4.0 wasn't coming soon. I can't find a quote (haven't tried to be honest) but I think we can agree that the tone and implied info from Wizards was that 4.0 wasn't coming soon. That's just as bad. It means they knew it was coming and subtly tried to steer us away from it. Good business I guess. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth however

 

[grimslade]

Hyperbole

I believe that when all is said and done all of our posturing about not buying 4E until 4.5E will be bunk. It is all well and good to have reservations and be cynical about the next edition. To claim to be a '3.5 gronard' when 4E is 9 months from being released is a bit disingenuous. I suspect when the 4E PHB hits the shelves most of us will pick it up and the threads with "I have the 4E PHB in my hands" will be filled with posts. It is our nature.

I was all set to never buy another WotC product again when the Paizo license expired for Dungeon and Dragon. I have resigned myself that I might pick up a D&D Insider subscription to see what the new incarnation of the mags will be like. I will probably pick up the 4E PHB as well when it hits the shelves.

Will 4E sell as well as 3E? Heck no! There is no chance. 3E had a confluence of events. The 30th anniversary, the <shudder> D&D movie, LotR, a rollicking economy, and a bunch of nostalgic 30 and 40 somethings all fueled 3Es growth. 4E will sell well enough to keep us in pen and paper for a number of years. And most of us will help it by buying the first core.

 

[Glyfair]

I was digging through my various RPG stuff this weekend when I thought struck me about this edition change.

Pretty much everything I have for RPGs prior to 3.5 consisted of softback books and the occasional boxed set. 3.5 however largely consists of hardback books.

At least for me, it's much easier to store my softback books in such a way that I can pull out the ones I want, or simply browses through them, than it will be to store all those cursed hardback books. I have magazine boxes that I use for my RPG storage (like comic boxes, but magazine size). They are easy to look through, and easy to store away.

Hardback books, on the other hand, don't really fit well. Plus, weight is a big issue.

All the discussion about "I have all these books that I wouldn't use for 4E" makes more sense to me now. It's not the amount of product, but the weight of all those hardbacks.