Comments on: The Launch: Fourth Edition vs Third Edition

By: Deputy Plow

Deputy Plow — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:42:30 +0000

I really feel that the jump between 2nd edition and 3rd edition was to far of a jump. It would have been better for the game if it went the route of the players options guide. This to me has been great. You still get the feeling that each level has a noticable change but you don’t get the loose gameplay that 3 and 3.5 have. To me 4th edition is just a way for wizards to say look we screwed up everybody likes the MMO games so we will make a table top version. They continue to get farther and farther away from the role playing part and go straight to the game part.

By: evermarsh

evermarsh — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:47:53 +0000

I’ve been playing DnD since 1978 and It took me a long time to upgrade to 3.5 wich I thought was allright. The 4th edition seems to me that it had to be done for them to remain competitive. Wow and all it’s clones have changed the landscape and what I liked about the game, Story, Roleplay was gutted quite a while ago. It seems to me that it’s all about combat and leveling up. I guess I’ll stick with my first edition and ocassionaly 3.5 wich I’ve integrated with the 1st and my group and I will stay in the past and enjoy good old DnD another 30 years. (hopefully) sorry to be so long winded but, its a cool site and I think 4th edition is just a way to stay in competition with WoW.

By: Jonathan Drain

Jonathan Drain — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:44:51 +0000

Andy: I haven’t seen it yet. What elements do you think make it resemble World of Warcraft and the Eberron setting?

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:52:37 +0000

I got hold of some of the promo stuff for 4th, and it looks like they made an RPG out of World of Warcraft and then themed it to resemble the D&D world – specifically eberron
it doesn’t feel like a new version of D&D, it feels like a different game that they called the same thing. this wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t mean discontinuation of D&D 3.5 as a product line

By: 21yrDMandRUNNING

21yrDMandRUNNING — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:45:10 +0000

if ever there was a trueness to anything it ti that every dungeoun master has a small to large form of control of his “characters” this control spills over into the rl more often than not. how many times have you gone to your dungeon master after a game because hes a”good listener” or “give great advice”? the simple fact is 4rth eddition will be bought and procreate the world as we know it fight it if u want but there will be dm’s that will embrace it because unless u modify the rules 3.5 gave all the power to the players. that is unless uve forgotten your training. i digress. i say all hail the prolonged life of what has to be the greatest game ever to hit the face of our pathetic little world we call home.

By: darkbhudda

darkbhudda — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:53:05 +0000

Some of the 4th ed stuff is exciting. Other parts, it’s a feeling of deja vu because I recognise the original source. The OGL was the best thing WotC did. Gave them plenty of free material for their splat books.

3.5 wasn’t different enough. But it was different enough to be confusing about what had changed.

My former group is just about to kick off Iron Heroes, so I suspect they won’t be upgrading for a while.

By: Branitar

Branitar — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:42:34 +0000

What I didn’t like about the 3.x Ed. PHBs was the fact that they didn’t have an actual “walkthrough” for character creation. Most other systems PHBs have chapters just for “do this first then compute that value” etc. For someone that doesn’t already know the rules en detail it’s incredibly hard to create a character in his or her own…

By: Dungeon Scout

Dungeon Scout — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:18:21 +0000

Whether or not I buy the new edition will be completely dependent on whether those I play with migrate to the new edition. I would still be playing 1st edition if I hadn’t started playing with a new group that used 3rd (they told me they used 2nd and I went out and bought a used player’s handbook, but the DM had gone out and upgraded to 3rd before the first game). If it still works and you’re having fun, there’s no reason to change. On the other hand, if the new stuff is good, there’s no reason not to upgrade other than the cost.

The local library tends to get D&D manuals, so I can probably take the player’s handbook out and see the rules before I make any decisions on whether Wizards screwed up. I reserve judgment until then.

By: Yax

Yax — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:26:06 +0000

I like book that aren’t geared toward characters. I feel that the core rulebook give 100s of options. However I am a big fan of DMing books like Cityscape and I will keep using them for ideas and inspiration through 4th and 5th edition of D&D.

By: Jonathan Drain

Jonathan Drain — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:59:46 +0000

I still have my 2nd edition books, and I’ve actually bought PDFs of others. Old Dungeon Master’s Guides are good for the advice alone, and other sourcebooks are still excellent sources of inspiration.

Not all 3e books are as big keepers, though. You have a lot of splatbooks that feel as if are only there to beef up your character rather than provide inspiration for new ideas, and that’s a shame. I sold off my copies of Complete Arcane and Book of Exalted Deeds, for example, but I’m keeping my Dungeon Master’s Guide.