4E Dungeons & Dragons - Verdict?

[msa]

WotC is not trying to steal players. They know those players will continue to spend time/money playing WoW. What they DO want to do though is to steal some of THAT money and time.

Yeah, that's a statement I find much more agreeable. I'm sure they also learned a lot about developing a good game through their DDO experience.

IMO, 4e is just so much easier to learn, largely because its so much more consistent. No more special rules for every situation. Every version has done this. Reading 1st edition you see crazy rules about how to keep from drowning, bargaining for goods, etc. 2nd didn't do much to improve this, and also continued to use awful systems like the thieving skills. 3e went a long way to improve the inconsistency problem.

I feel like in 4e, MMOs finally seriously asked the question "why can't you use the same rules for *everything*". It makes the game so much easier to grasp and makes all classes much more accessible. And now that I see what that looks like, I'm glad they did.