The heart of the debate - 3.5 v 4e (just a case of disappointment at change)

Just saying here, at the top, this isn't meant as an argument for or against 3.5 or 4e. It's offering a reason to why people are arguing about 3.5 or 4e because each side knows why its system works but they don't seem to see why the other side feels that way. (3.5s don't see why 4s like 4; and 4s don't see why 3.5s like 3.5 - 3.5s do know why they don't like 4; 4s do know why they don't like 3.5)

It's speculative and not quite my opinion on the issue, I don't have too big a problem with 4e.

I think that most of it is that 4e marked the death of 3.5. There's never going to be a new 3.5 book with new feats or classes. No new items or new settings. 3.5 DnD is now dead, it will only have everything it does now. Riding on that bitterness, the replacement system was different and aimed at a different market that many 3.5 players didn't like.

It would be like if MC Chris decided that he wanted to be more available to other groups than those who enjoy nerdcore rap. He may have decided that he should go for a larger pop sound, using their instruments and their rhythms. It wouldn't be unique anymore, it would be more of the same music that the RIAA is pushing out these days. MC Chris fans would hate it. "It's not really an MC Chris album", "I can't believe he'd change it", "This new album sucks", "This is boring". And there would be people who listen to MC Chris for the first time and like the album and don't understand why it's hated. They can relate to the music and compare it to other things that they like.

It is like how Nintendo, a staple in the gaming industry, decided to release a console (not just a game or 'module'; a whole new system to replace their old) directed towards a different audience. That audience ate it up and continue to while the gaming community proclaims their hatred for it because its "too simple", "not fun", "not what they wanted", "they feel ignored by the company". And there are people who bought the Wii for their first console and they can't see why it's so hated by gamers. They can play the games and feel like they know the entire game and they can relate it to activities they know/like to do.

Wizards released a new system; a replacement for the old. They wanted to make it more accessable, and broaden their market. Aside from the money of an untapped market, they want D&D to be a more common name in households. This required the rules to be "Less Complicated", and they made the system more like games that people are playing (WoW and all of it's clones for example). They gave everyone powers and make all of the characters able to work more independently (Playing in a group and playing as a team are VERY different; Three players working together in Co-op Halo has a much different strategy than Three players playing Team Fortress 2). They made it easier to roleplay by giving a simple slider between [Extreme Evil]====>>[Exterme Good] instead of a complicated grid where people need to explain the difference between neutral good and true neutral.

The old players feel that the system wasn't complicated; that it made sense; it worked well (Old game players feel that the controllers had no issues; the games were easy to play; the system worked well). What I don't think old players remember is the difficulty of learning how to roll a character in 3.5. The difficulty of looking at the weapons table and saying "I see that I do a 1d8 of damage, but how do I know if I hit". I remember first reading through the 3.5 PHB, with no other player there who knew the rules to help me, and not understanding a damn thing, and starting people all the time reminds me of how difficult 3.5 can really be to pick up and really know. I also remember when I was first playing a game on the SNES and the shoulder buttons were always so hard to use because it wasn't just my thumbs anymore. I'd lose races in Mario Kart because I couldn't hop because it was hard to learn to use that finger. Now I can deal with two shoulder buttons combined with two triggers and I get confused when people pick up an Xbox360 controller and have a problem using two analog sticks at the same time. I also can deal with the process of getting into and out of a grapple in 3.5 without even thinking and its hard to see why people can't wrap their heads around it.

What I offer from all of this, again, isn't argument but more a reason why things are hated. 4e is hated by 3.5 players; the Wii is hated by gamers. I, personally, can play 4e with no problems, and I enjoy a good amount of the titles for the Wii. The 3.5 players feel that Wizards forgot about them and they're sad that the books that they liked will soon be out of print and much harder to find. On top of this disappointment, they feel that Wizards rubbed salt in the wound by releasing a new system that doesn't even apply to them and how they want to play. To finish up the metaphor; Gamers were sad that Nintendo was going in a new direction and that their new audience didn't really include them.

4e D&D isn't bad as a game. It's just different and marketed to a different audience. It has easier rules, and is more like current popular games so more people will feel like they can play it without getting a headache every thirty seconds because there's some new complicated thing to figure out. This simplifying bothers 3.5 players because they liked the old rules; the old alignments; the complexity (which to them isn't too complex because they've forgotten how difficult it is to learn)

4e players who argue about how it makes more sense, and how its perfect and better, need to realize that they feel that way because it was probably the first system they understood and don't see why people like the complexity. If they had a bad experience with 3.5 (and never understood it) they'll especially cling to 4e because its the one that they can understand and they have the opinion that 3.5 is way too complex. [NOTE: I'm not saying 4e players are simple minded, or can't understand 3.5; Anyone can understand 3.5, its just more work like playing the xbox is more work than playing the wii]

TLDR (Please read above though to get full meanings);

3.5 players hate 4e like gamers hate the Wii. They hate it because its different and they feel like the company is leaving them out. 4e players dislike 3.5 because they know dnd to be easier and simpler and 3.5 has a lot of not needed complexity.

I hope this helps some of you who read this have a little more compassion for "the other" (3.5 or 4e, whichever side you're not on) and maybe these arguments can make themselves a little more scarce.