I am kind of surprised that people are “addicted” to WotC at all - D&D always was one of the least recurring cost sort of thing I ever did. I think I played 2e for 6 years with 3 books. 3e for 6 years with 15 books, of which half or more were third party. But once you have the core books, it’s hard to see what more one needs? I remember in the old days Dragon Magazine would give more extra content than you’d need, and the net must certainly now provide all the house rules discussion etc one could ever need.
And to show how curmudgeonly I am, I think D&D peaked with 3.5e anyway. 2e to 3e had obvious benefits. 3e to 3.5e refined things if you cared that much. But 4e sucked and 5e is still overly simplified IMHO vs 3.5e. It still feels too much like “just play a video game” then. Yes, I’m butthurt about what they did with skills.
Anyway, maybe this is indicative of how much we’ve fallen from DIY stuff in the masses. We used to be able to modify stuff we bought to let us do more and new stuff compared to how it came. Now it’s not thought of, the companies try to make it illegial, or it’s seen as the new “nerdyness” of being a “maker” I guess. But for a fricken game or finding a different website? For entertainment? I just don’t know how or why people can’t handle going to a new site it seems.
I am kind of surprised that people are “addicted” to WotC at all - D&D always was one of the least recurring cost sort of thing I ever did. I think I played 2e for 6 years with 3 books. 3e for 6 years with 15 books, of which half or more were third party. But once you have the core books, it’s hard to see what more one needs? I remember in the old days Dragon Magazine would give more extra content than you’d need, and the net must certainly now provide all the house rules discussion etc one could ever need.
And to show how curmudgeonly I am, I think D&D peaked with 3.5e anyway. 2e to 3e had obvious benefits. 3e to 3.5e refined things if you cared that much. But 4e sucked and 5e is still overly simplified IMHO vs 3.5e. It still feels too much like “just play a video game” then. Yes, I’m butthurt about what they did with skills.
Anyway, maybe this is indicative of how much we’ve fallen from DIY stuff in the masses. We used to be able to modify stuff we bought to let us do more and new stuff compared to how it came. Now it’s not thought of, the companies try to make it illegial, or it’s seen as the new “nerdyness” of being a “maker” I guess. But for a fricken game or finding a different website? For entertainment? I just don’t know how or why people can’t handle going to a new site it seems.