D&D 5E Your First Reaction to the 5E Announcement

[tlantl]

I actually felt vindicated. I hated 4e from the moment I cracked open the players handbook and saw the carnage.

They're developing another game system to try to stem the hemorrhage. I guess a lot of loyal followers jumped ship and WotC is desperate to keep their franchise afloat.

My feelings about the company haven't changed, I think they suffer from the corporate apathy for their customers. The pressure from stock holders and their parent company to constantly increase revenues and their limited product line forces them to do desperate and stupid things. It's their own fault.

If the same people who decided that 4e was the right thing to do are still making the decisions in that company I fear the same will happen with their D&D Next.

Maybe this time they can trust in the gaming community and make a product that will sell. There's a lot of emotional attachment involved with the game. By changing the formula and trying to reinvent the game they caused a rift that I think will never be repaired and the game I grew old with has suffered because of it.

 

[Elf Witch]

My first reaction was "Aw man, not THIS crap again..." (fatigue).

When I read it I was thinking great here come the edition wars again just when they seemed to have settled down some. 4E fans had their game, the rest of us had our old books, retro clones and Pathfinder.

Now I am intrigued to see if they can really pull it off. I think it would be awesome if they do make a game that appeals to us a whole.

 

[jbear]

I actually felt vindicated. I hated 4e from the moment I cracked open the players handbook and saw the carnage.

My feelings about the company haven't changed

It's their own fault.

they caused a rift that I think will never be repaired and the game I grew old with has suffered because of it.

Do you think that your feelings lend towards repairing the rift or deepening it? Reading your post, I would say the latter. If 5e is going to work we are all going to have to let go a little. WotC can't do that for us. We are going to have to do it. Each of us. If we want to be part of it, it can't be with a simmering sense of vindication.

Re: The Poll

My first reaction was of surprise. I didn't think the announcement would come so soon, but I was interested by what I heard.

I love D&D. I don't love fighting about it.

I'd love it if the rift between gamers could to some degree be mended.

So, I'll happily be part of the creative process and share my experiences and opinions. I just hope we can all put our egos down and share our ideas in a constructive way, making an effort to find a common ground, to come closer, and not use this as a reason to vindicate ourselves, thus pushing us further apart.

In my particular case, I love 4e. True, I use it as my springboard, doing with the system what I will. But I don't have any intentions of just dropping 4e for the new and shiney.

Recently thanks to pbp gaming here on LPF (Living Pathfinder at EnWorld) I have been enjoying playing Pathfinder, which in turn has lead me to check out GURPS as well, which I think looks interesting.

So I guess I'm at a place where I'm open to new/good ideas about RPGs. SO lets see what they come up with. When we see that, lets see how we can make it even better.

 

[Nagol]

Aw man, now I owe my friend $20! I said it wouldn't be announced until GenCon!

 

[Lhorgrim]

I voted the New Toys option, but my first reaction was Hope.

I want to spin the wheel one more time. And, I'll keep wanting to spin the wheel each time a new edition of D&D is announced because I know there won't ever be a version that is perfect for ME. I'm ok with that though. I can tell by the discussions on the boards this week that my D&D would not excite many of you folks. I'm ok with that too. I just want a D&D that I can enjoy at the same time you do, even if we're playing it in very different ways.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

"I've spent many hundreds of dollars on 4E and suddenly 3+ years later, it's not good enough???"

For a lot of folks it wasn't sudden - they saw 4e and WotC losing marketshare to an update of their older engine.

I think that Essentials was an attempt at recapturing that share, but it did not succeed - in spite of a very nice price point for entering the game. (I actually expected Essentials to do well, but apparently it just muddied the waters.)

Book sales in my area were way down, Amazon listed Pathfinder above 4e, and then ICv2....

This decision was not made because folks at WotC felt that it was time for a new game, it is driven by the fact that sales were down. 4e peaked early, then began losing ground.

I am happy enough with Pathfinder that I hope that 5e concentrates more on the 4e players; I am lost, not likely to come back to the fold. But I do not know how likely that is.

The Auld Grump

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I voted Hooray, new toys, although my first reaction actually was finally.

Let me explain:
I like 4e and I used to like 3rd edition a lot. I invested heavily into 4e only after essentials both finacial reasons, as well as beeing more excited about the general design decisions.
When Mearls took over 4e really drove into a direction i really like. Less equality and more openness... Montes design of 3rd edition was in a certain way a lot better than the following 3.5... so when 5e was announced, I thought: finally, the 5e rumors are over and we soon get facts.
But it is not a relief, that 4e is finally put away... instead i hope, 4e tools will stay up and running, D&D 5e will be the best edition ever, incorporating good things from AdnD to 4e (all editions have benefits over the others). So I am sure, D&D will be another Toy to play with.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I've spent many hundreds of dollars on 4E and suddenly 3+ years later, it's not good enough??? What about all of that hype when 4E came out? Were they just kidding?

Good enough for what?

Is there some social stigma you're afraid of? Like if you stick with 4E and everyone else moves onto D&D Next that you're no longer one of the "cool kids", playing the latest and greatest?

If you're happy playing 4E but still feel compelled to move onto D&D Next, not because you want to, but because you don't think WotC thinks 4E is "good enough" anymore... doesn't that say more about you than them? They have a legitimate reason to make a new game... earn more money. What would be your reason for switching if you don't actually want to?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

New is always better...

As i said elsewhere: If the hold true to their promises... and they would be well adviced... 4e tools will be maintained... this way you can have your cake and eat it.
Shiny new edition, beeing able to have fun with 4e.

 

[KarinsDad]

Good enough for what?

Is there some social stigma you're afraid of? Like if you stick with 4E and everyone else moves onto D&D Next that you're no longer one of the "cool kids", playing the latest and greatest?

If you're happy playing 4E but still feel compelled to move onto D&D Next, not because you want to, but because you don't think WotC thinks 4E is "good enough" anymore... doesn't that say more about you than them? They have a legitimate reason to make a new game... earn more money. What would be your reason for switching if you don't actually want to?

When I moved to 4E, a few of my fellow gamers moved on to Pathfinder. A major part of that was them not liking many 4E elements, but a lot of it was also the cost. Not everyone can afford the plethora of books and the compendium didn't actually exist right away. And even some players cannot afford or do not want to pay the WotC fee for the compendium and character builder. They look at is as an unnecessary cost to play the game.

It sucked that after gaming with one guy for nearly a decade, we were not gaming anymore because I wanted to try the new system (and was a bit discouraged with some of the old system elements) and he wanted to avoid the new system, so he moved to PathFinder to play a slightly better version of the 3.5 game that he had played for a long time (and for which a ton of his current books were compatible).

In real life, a new edition can cause schisms. I'd hate to see some of the current gamers stick with 4E while others move on to 5E.

If this happens infrequently (like once per decade), it's not as jarring as if it happens once every 5 years.

For those of you whose group did not break up when 4E was introduced, great. Good for you. Isn't that special. I just think that in the almighty effort to gain dollars, there can be detrimental side effects that occur in the real world when new editions come out. I'd prefer it if those potential detrimental effects were fewer and further between.