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even though eighteen months ago you would have been very hard pressed to find even one person on these boards who wanted a new edition.

I'll take issue with this one. A year and a half ago I'm positive you could have found a group of us who were ready for a new edition -- providing they altered some of the aspects that we were having problems with (such as weak non-casters characters at higher levels as an example.)

Would we have thought that we are fine with 3.5 and can make do? Sure. But at that point, the Bo9S was out, and people had a chance to look at a new way of structuring things (as the powers in here and how they are set up do resemble how powers in 4E are.) The MIC wasn't quite out yet, and that also changed the paradigm that some people ended up playing in ... and that can leave a taste for a differently structured rule set -- which 4E has demonstrated.

The very same people who championed 3E and hated 2E once 3E came out seem to now be convinced that our national nightmare is over and the awful 3E has been supplanted by the wonderful 4E.

It's new, and all new rule sets look new and wonderful at first. Only after a while do you find the problems that you have with the system. So yes, it makes perfect sense that some people are like that. Especially when each edition seems to have addressed some of the concerns you had with the previous edition. That's not to say that the edition that they are favoring is without any faults ... just that it is (in their eyes) better than what they had been using previously.

The new rules are infusing me with a sense of "Oh, I can do this!" and "Hey, this would be cool to do." Just like 3.0 did when it first came out.

Additionally, the way that I DM has changed in the last 8 years. What I want in a system has changed. 4E has (seemingly) met many of my desired changes.

Tarondor: That's just wonderful proof of what you linked to -- a random poll on a random website (even if it is this one.)

First of all, that's not wholly indicative of everyone on the boards, as I know that I for one never visit that forum on these boards.

Secondly, that thread was also posted almost 2 years ago ... strangely, people's opinions can change in a mere 2 years. And someone's opinion based on some nebulous "new version" will often be different once they have the actual new version, and can see if it is worth investing in at all. It's like saying "Do you want to invest in a company I'm thinking about doing?" vs "There's this new company, have a look at it's products, testimonies, and market penetration ... do you want to invest in it?"

My statement was about this board during that time period. Seems like a reasonable bit o' evidence to me, and not at all random.

Okay, perhaps not quite random -- but it's not particularly telling, as not everyone on the boards voted.

That's okay with me. What is not okay with me is that for so many players, in order to embrace 4E they must first go through the weird cleansing ritual of trashing 3E.

If you can get the people to stop "trashing" 4E, then you'll have to stop having people "trash" 3.x. I mean, I'm sure a fair portion of the 3.x trashing is people defending why they prefer 4E to the people who say it's no good. And there's a difference between "trashing" and constructively talking about the flaws that something has. And just saying that Item A is better than Item Z, doesn't mean that you are trashing Item Z.