Yeah. I guess I just need to find a churlish gaggle of disgruntled, disenfranchised greybeards who, like me, will be damned to a succubus-free hell if they're gonna suck for that 4.0 crap.
I am with you Captain!Tonite We Dine In Hell!
I have been perusing the WotC site for the last several months and even with the new look and the new "content" I must say "Fie!" Firstly, the content of the site has gone downhill (mind you, short one, with almost no slope, but still a decline) at an alarmingly steady rate even non-dwarves can detect. Secondly, I agree with DaveMage in his idea that this "preview" period is a craptacular attempt to wow us with the coming product line. Thirdly, lastly for this post at least, what I do see is exceptionally vague or is almost a blatant rehash of previous editions' information.
The current free content has become very unappealing to me. There have been several articles in some of the actual columns I did like has become extremely... ill-thought and oddly immature, from a development viewpoint. The frequency of recurring articles is disheartening at best, with as much as three months between articles that are supposed to have a continuing theme. Quite frankly, I am absolutely tired of seeing design and development articles that really read as more of a conversation between designers at a bar. It might be interesting when D+D becomes its own prime-time soap opera, but please, give me the game, not a couple of individuals quibbling over game mechanics and the flavor chips they're bringing to the next office game.
This preview period has come out a full year after the decision to put the axe to our favorite magazines was made. Why in the Nine Hells are we seeing smoke and mirrors, half-images and ghostly sounds, instead of hard-core, in-your-face material that would grab each of us by our tenderest bits (wallets, purses and credit cards) instead of these echoingly empty promises? Come on WotC! Get your crap together and dazzle me ( and a few thouseand others that might think about paying for more of your product).
If you are going to promise us totally new ideas, show us the new ideas. The recent article on Elves was so very disappointing to me, because I thought maybe I'd at least see the first five levels or so of the new racial mechanics adding flavor to the race. They want to make elves cool again for the people who would rather eat them than talk to them (me included). I didn't see anything that impressed me one bit. Admittedly, I was so disappointed with what I began to read that I didn't finish the article, but I did do a quick scan and still didn't see anything that grabbed me as interesting. The last interesting thing I saw about elves was the "Ghost Elves" article in Dragon. Those I liked immensely, but still stuck my magic finger into to stir in some more special ingredients.
I guess, like many, I will wait and see if Wizards will ever actually do at least most of what we've heard about before I spend any good money it. Until then I will keep tracking behind the hints of 4.0 and try to actually stay on its trail.
So far, I think I'll just keep going with the 50 or so 3.5 books I've got until Wizards kicks in my door and tries to take them away. Hehe, I'd enjoy that.
Truthfully, $1 a person per game isn't really that much, is it? To use the chip example with six players, that could be a 12 pack of soda, bag of chips, and some generic mild cheddar dip per game session. In Miniatures, that's almost a PH over 5 game sessions that everyone can be using.
I play with my friends. I learned as a child that to be churlish and cheap with ones friends does not make you closer. And that is why I am sure that when we play someone will bring some beer and someone will bring some snacks because the cycle of reciprocity is working and noone is being a baby about who spent a dollar less on the snacks.
I call it sharing, but some call it Shirley.