lets just hope i can buy it, i am in México and i cant seem to find it anywhere over here…

Well said.

@ico

Totally agree.

I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Essentials isn’t doing what 3.5 did. Sure, if you use the software analogy, you can call it 4. x or whatever, but that analogy is broken. What matters is whether or not this is a change that will split the line the way 3.5 did, and clearly that’s not the case.

Anyone still clinging to the complaint that Essentials is anything other than a marketing play tied to some rules tweaks for newbies and lapsed players likely has a bone to pick with WotC or D&D, and/or simply isn’t looking at this objectively.

But the Essentials products aren’t “compatible with” D&D 4e, they are D&D 4e. WotC personnel have used the phrase “compatible,” but only because questions and objections have come up in those terms. Builds from Heroes of the Fallen Lands are “compatible” with builds in the Player’s Handbook in the same sense that builds from Player’s Handbook 3 are “compatible” with builds in the Player’s Handbook.

“Essentials” boils down to a sticker (so to speak) that Wizards can put on ten products—four of which, the dice and dungeon tiles, are completely system-neutral—as a stocking guide for retailers and a buying guide for new or returning players. Otherwise, everything in the books is a simple stepwise evolution of the game of the sort we’ve already seen over the last two years.

What I’m suggesting is (presumably) a way to fix some of the bigger problems while turning a profit at the same time. Some of the more vocal complainers might see “turning a profit” as an ulterior motive, but WotC is part of Hasbro, and Hasbro is a publicly traded corporation, so maximizing profit for the shareholders is, by law, one of its primary obligations. I’m OK with that too.

I totally agree. I’d add one thing: Nobody is every satisfied.

While I would get in line with you for the updated products you mention, I’m quite certain there would be vociferous complaints at reusing art from previous editions, or that the books should be free since we should have gotten “proper” books to begin with etc. Also, do they stop printing the existing core books and go to a soft cover only option? Or do they reprint the hardcovers with the updates as well? There’s really no good way for them to make everybody happy AND keep it simple. But yeah, I think I want what you want.

I welcome the Essentials line as a way to introduce new players to the game without getting them mired in off-putting quantity of content and errata. I think, given that there’s only a few weeks before the box set comes out, I’m going to wait for that before running that one-shot.

There’s something more I want to see though: with the upcoming Rules Compendium, it appears we’ve reached a milestone for rules updates and WotC is at least moderately confident in the rules as they stand. So what I’m suggesting is that, over the course of a few months, they re-release the core rulebooks in paperback (read: cheaper) format, with all the various tweaks and nerfs and updates streamlined in. That doesn’t seem too unwieldy of a task; almost all of the errata is of the “replace X text with Y text” or “change the values in chart Z to…” varieties, and they could probably reuse all of the old layouts and art exactly as they are. If they went in and fixed some or all of the many, many typos in the books, that would just be gravy. I don’t think the various ___ Powers books need the same treatment, just the PHB, DMG, MM, and perhaps their various sequels. I for one would gladly pay for that.

I think what we’re seeing here is just the ever-evolving nature of RPG’s combined with the 21st century world of real-time communication. When I was playing as a kid in the early 80′s there was no way I was going to get some sort of errata or rules update for my game, if such a thing even existed. These days a company like WotC is constantly recieving feedback and opinion from us. They can update, clarify, change, or alter things quickly and have it back to us over the course of weeks or months. Turn-around time on game improvement and evolution is a fraction of what it was 10, 20, or 30 years ago.

It can be a little overwhelming but with things like DDI it’s completely manageable. I for one like participating in the “evolution” of my favorite hobby.

We operate under a false notion that because the essentials line is compatible that it must not be a new 4.25 or 4.5. The only reason we think this is due to haw badly 3 to 3.5 was botched. Just because the move from 3 to 3.5 was not compatible does not mean that a “version” is defined by compatibility.

In the programing world new software versions are released all the time with little fan fair or worry as long as they are still compatible with previous versions and the over all OS. a new “Version” is defined by the addition or subtraction of features, the manipulation of functionality and the repair of bugs or broken function in the previous version. All things I see in the essentials line.

The truth is I’m not worried about a new version, I would love to see some things fixed. I’m not worried about buying new books, I love buying new books. I’m not worried and I don’t think others should be either, but I do think it’s funny that to avoid a word that WotC kind of gave a bad name they are once again trying to redefine it. the word “Version” never had a bad connotation until 3.5 and to me it still doesn’t, Hell if 5th edition comes out and is compatible with 4th it’s still 5th edition, wouldn’t that be awesome though.