We’ll see how DA3 does, but DA2 has really turned people off to BioWare as a whole.

There’s a cottage industry of remaking old versions of D&D out there now, giving new material to those who cherish a previous edition. WotC has changed their DDI and 4E so rapidly that the general complaint on their forums is that you can’t trust what they offer today will resemble what they offer in 6 months.

Somehow the new D&D could be some great unifying force. But I doubt it. Not only are the various editions of D&D vastly different, the fandom has decidedly been split strongly in twain (as it was back in 2000 with 3E) and most of those who left will never, ever come back.

I love 4E… it has it’s issues, I agree, but unlike most people who say such the issues I have with 4E are carry-over from 3E so yeah, there’s that.
I had already stopped buying D&D books due to “too-many” syndrome. A new edition of rules and such? No thanks. It’s too soon (4th, honestly, was probably 2 years too soon) and I’m not spending the money, no matter how good it may be.

Unless the very unlikely scenario occurs in which they actually do create what they are trying to hype, and that is a universal system that works with all the previous editions of D&D. I have NO CLUE how that’s possible, but I’ll look at what they release. If it’s compatible with 1E and 2E, I might even give up 4E to go back… or stick with the mountain of 4E books me and my current gaming circle own.

This is a bigger mistake on WotC’s part than 4E could ever have been. They risk alienating their current base, and with Pathfinder so successful they are NOT going to win back most of their old fans. It’s a mistake that makes me wonder if they are TRYING to emulate BioWare (or vice-versa) on how to tick off your loyal fanbase the quickest.

Like BioWare, they bad mouth 3E when talking up 4E. Now that 5E is coming (whatever they want to call it) they are starting to bad mouth 4E as well. I (naively?) believed them last time that they had realized problems their game system had had. Now I know it’s a shady marketing tactic – make your customers believe they are holding onto crap and that they NEED to buy the new, improved stuff.

Pass. Seriously. I won’t be buying a new edition of D&D until at least 2018 (will it be 6th ED by then?) If at all – I’m getting old enough and the memory is getting spotty enough that learning ANOTHER set of rules may be out of my comfort zone.

I’m glad for the open playtests, but they’re also the thing that worries me the most, because there’s no way the game will please everybody and I worry it could entrench people into their preferred rules system even more if it backfires too much.

I gave 4E a chance because my alternatives were 3E, which I hate, and 2E, which it’d be a chore to get enough willing players together to give it a go. My 2E books were old, so buying new books was fine.

I am NOT buying another edition of D&D, regardless of quality, for at least another five years.

Screw.
This.

Ken Levine and Irrational never disappoint me.