This is going to be very blunt. Where to start. First 2E is an attempt to make money. Let’s be clear on this. Paizo, like any other business has to grow. Now there is a smart way and a stupid way to grow. Paizo has decided to follow the second option. 2E is nothing more than a repackaged version of the terrible, failed D&D 4.0 system with some elements of a watered down vanilla 5.0 system. Someone at Paizo decided they needed a “New Coke” moment and they are driving that car off the cliff to prove their commitment. Now there are a few elements of 2E worth keeping but those are few and they could be grafted seamlessly into the current system. Sadly, the result in my area has been a loathing of 2E with playtest numbers to match.
Experienced players that have been loyal to Paizo are nervous. They are nervous because they believe Paizo will give us all the collective middle finger and say sucks to be you it’s 2E or nothing. As one player told me, if I wanted to play 5.0 that’s what I’d be playing. Another one told me, if I wanted vanilla I’d be playing 5.0. Still another told me, if I wanted mindless simplicity where every class is equal and there is nothing great about the races I’d be playing 5.0. Frightening stuff from heavily invested players.
At the end of the day I started playing Pathfinder because of 3.5 and being treated so poorly by 4.0 I walked away from a 30 plus year relationship with D&D because of 4.0 and I’ve never looked back. I don’t want to play a system that nerf bats everything because someone decided tthat every race and class had to be fair and the same. I play 1E because I am sick and tired of this asinine belief that nothing can be greater than anything else. I want to play heroes and duds because I choose the combinations to make them so. I play 1E because at the end of the day being equally lame is wrong. The 2E system goes the wrong direction. It’s trying too hard to be WoTC.
Paizo needs to grow and stay fresh, I get that. So far with the play test there seems to be a schism at Paizo. The changes in the play test have been nice but they feel periferal, kind of a token let’s give them something to shut them up but it’s pedal to the metal. The core issues still are the same. I can’t help but wonder if there is a huge divide in the creative team.
Give me a reason to spend my hard earned dollars and I’ll stay. Give me a repackaged 4.0 hybrid? Most likely I will move on to a company that puts players first in their products and systems. A company that balances the needs of the business and the consumer to create an amazing product. Paizo has a chance to do that but so far the jury is out.
