3.5 has persisted, by way of comparison. So, how long will 4E last after the actual release of 5E?
But, if 5e does manage to keep the best parts of 4e and improve the bad bits, we might make the switch. It'll be a group decision. That being said, even we switch to 5e I will probably always play 4e off and on, just as I sometimes play 1e, 2e, and 3.x if the group wants to.
But all in all I'm sure like the other editions 4th will still continue to be played well after 5th has gone on, especially given how the economy is right now people might not be able to afford to buy the 5th ed books when they come out. I know at least right now I'm jobless and broke so if 5th ed came out this year I most likely wouldn't be buying the books even if it seemed cool.
I'm pissed! I'm not getting on the DND Next bandwagon and everyone else that I have talked to seems to be in the same boat as me.
Of course, we'll likely have IKRPG Mk. II around the same time as DDN, so Privateer may make my "what books should I invest in?" decision for me.
4e is already dead, folks're already dancing and spitting on its grave.
No D&D Next products in 2012, only 4e. Nothing about 2013 of course.
There's not surprise here, just confirmation that 4e has a minimum of 12 months left in it. There's still some exciting products coming out to keep me buying and playing.
I just hope they wrap up 4e nicely and finish all of the necessary erratta and class support so the game can be left in as stable a form as possible.
Look how active this forum is compared to the the 5e forums.
4e is already dead, folks're already dancing and spitting on its grave.
There is definitely a feeling that 4e is on the countdown. It's funny how 20 days can make such a big difference in the life of an internet forum. The 4e general forum is a ghostland compared to what it was just one month ago.
I should say, however, that there's still a lot of 4e support on the D&D Next forums. Not everyone is dancing and spitting.
ps 4e is forever
4e general being a ghostland is great, no more trolling crapola that made up the majority of the posts. the best thing that ever happened to 4e gd is d&d next
ps 4e is forever
+1
Without a proper OGL for 4th, I don't see a strong fan base backing of the edition once 5th is released.
Meh, I don't know that 4e will see it's own Pathfinder (especially since most 4e fans don't see the need for as many fixes as 3e required), but people can still play it and publishers can still produce supplements for it. But of course how many people convert to 5e will matter greatly in determining how viable the 4e market will be.
There's not surprise here, just confirmation that 4e has a minimum of 12 months left in it. There's still some exciting products coming out to keep me buying and playing.
I just hope they wrap up 4e nicely and finish all of the necessary erratta and class support so the game can be left in as stable a form as possible.
^This.
I've got a 4e campaign that I started at level 1 and is now at level 17. I'd like to take it all the way to 30 using 4e if my group is willing....
Keep going and good luck!
My party just hit 19 this last week and we're making a push for 30 as well. They started at Lv. 1... I.. I'm just so proud of them (sniff)
Without a proper OGL for 4th, I don't see a strong fan base backing of the edition once 5th is released.
I don't see why someone couldn't use the 3e OGL to make a 4e clone the way OSRIC used the 3e OGL to make a AD&D clone. The biggest problem would be you that if the 4e DDi is turned off, you'll be playing 4e without electronic support.
Without a proper OGL for 4th, I don't see a strong fan base backing of the edition once 5th is released.
Nonsense... there was no OGL for Original Recipe, Basic, 1st or 2nd Editions and yet fans of those games are still playing them. Those gamers have been surviving for more than a decade without an ounce of official support for their preferred game system.
Why would 4E be any different?
Sure, WotC will probably pull the DDi stuff eventually, but only a fraction of people who bought the books ever used those anyway. It IS possible to play the game without access to DDi. I'm the only member of the two D&D campaigns I'm in who even has a subscription to it (and even then I only use the character builder for reference since I prefer the layout of my homemade sheets) while our DM prefers to copy the monsters stats she plans to use from the books BY HAND into her game notes (she used to just read them out of the books, but found that writing them out helped her to get familiar with all their abilities).
By the same token, there exist an array of unofficial tools (character/monster builders, map tools, GM aids, etc.) and content for ALL the prior editions out there despite their not being an OGL that specifically covers them. The GSL isn't going to stop individual fans from posting their own ideas for 4E powers, feats, items, monster designs, and so forth on their websites/blogs and ALL those things are just a google search away.
The ONLY way you wouldn't see some portion of the fanbase hold onto 4E after the release of 5E is if the new edition was just a cleanup of the 4E ruleset... and that's NOT what we're hearing about 5E at all.
For all their claims of "One D&D to rule them all" 5E is just going to fracture the base even further. The people who still play 0E, 1E, and 2E aren't going to switch... they've been happy with what they already have for a decade. The people who love 4E are going to do the same (some already do... there's already a subset of 4E players who use only Pre-E material). Meanwhile the people who still play 3E have Pathfinder to supply everything they'd need.
That leaves only dissatisfied 4E players and new blood as a potential market. 4E already tried the "new blood" approach and it clearly was NOT sufficient to appease their Hasbro Overlords... yet they think a system designed more to appeal to the grognards will appeal where 4E failed?
Another factor I don't think WotC/Hasbro has considered is that, by continuing to shorten the lifespan of their D&D editions, they also discourage people who are not absolutely enthusiastic about the new system from buying into it. After all... if you don't like it, its not like you'll have to wait another decade for another edition that might be more to your liking... you just need to hold out for 2-5 years (our low-level campaign probably won't even be into epic tier by then).
Of course, I have no illusions that if 5E does poorly Hasbro would likely decide to just shelve the licence for a decade instead of going for a 6E... but that just means that Hasbro will care even LESS what random fans are putting up on the internet from 4E (at least not any more than they care about random fans putting up artwork or fanfics based on their other properties... which seems to be "not at all").
tl;dr ... for those who love 4E for what 4E is (especially the pre-E version) I expect it to stick around just as long as all the other previous versions of D&D have (i.e. for at least the lifespan of the gamers who cut their teeth on the edition).