User:Spin-Out/Ruined FOREVER
Fans realize something Wizards of the Coast does not, that robust 52-year-old billion-dollar franchises, while seemingly healthy, are in actuality as fragile as two Adamantine blocks tied together with tissue paper. One mistake, one bad mis-step will cause the entire thing to corrode and fall apart; and D&D would be ruined forever.
Fortunately, there is hope. The D&D fanbase has resolved to remain ever vigilant against something that could Ruin D&D Forever, and call out a warning if they see something that could potentially do so.
Some D&D conservationists suggest a more extreme approach, that D&D should abandon all attempts at re-invention and instead cater exclusively to the old-school collectors. Though attractive, this approach may prove impractical as a long-term solution.
Ruined Forever remains a serious threat to D&D now and in the foreseeable future, though it's possible a proposed initiative requiring all Transformers fans to purchase an annual plastic offset could ensure our fragile brand's existence through the mid-21st century.
Things that have Ruined D&D Forever in the past
- "Advanced" rules
- Baby unicorns
- THAC0
- Good-aligned Drow
- Lorraine Williams
- New management
- Hollywood
- Ivory Tower Game Design
- CoDzilla
- Magic trains
- Weeaboo Fightan Magic
- WoW
- Dumbed-down WoW
- Modular game design
In other words... pretty much everything.
Trivia
- While 3.5 is the most popular edition (to the point Pathfinder outsells D&D Fourth Edition), Third Edition is arguably the worst edition of the game in its original form. While it removed stupid ideas like THAC0 and racial level caps, it was broken in favor of Casters, and intentionally so to emulate the "Timmy options" of Magic: The Gathering. For comparison, Fourth Edition's "Essentials" subline is completely compatible with existing 4E rules, while 3.5 had to restat the intentionally poor design choices. This effectively makes 3E's original form the shortest lived edition, lasting a measly three years.
- Even then, the problems couldn't completely be removed, and Casters are still overpowered even in Pathfinder, which is the best the 3.X system's ever gotten. Complicating matters is the face that the head of Paizo has stated that "bad choices" (READ: anything that isn't a full Caster) shouldn't be rewarded, blatantly stating that Paizo doesn't plan on fixing the inherent problems of 3.X. It doesn't help that head 3.X designer Monte Cook said the god-awful balance was intentional to "reward" players for making the "right choices."
- The "right choices" are, of course, Casters, as Cook has stated Wizards are his favorite class. He's even gone as far to suggest the 3.X Fighter (an absolutely terrible class with no real features until Paizo tried to fix it) needed to be Nerfed, despite being one of the worst Core classes.
- Plus, putting Timmy Options in a roleplaying game is an extremely bad idea. It discourages new players from getting started with the game (which the 3E design team intentionally did to reward "game mastery"), and makes any and all non-Casters useless at higher levels, which kinda defeats the point of them existing. Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D, didn't mince words when he said 3.X "bastardized the class system" (ouch) and "took away the group cooperative aspect," obviously referring to the idea of "game mastery" that made anyone who played a half-decent Caster able to break the game in two.
- Even then, the problems couldn't completely be removed, and Casters are still overpowered even in Pathfinder, which is the best the 3.X system's ever gotten. Complicating matters is the face that the head of Paizo has stated that "bad choices" (READ: anything that isn't a full Caster) shouldn't be rewarded, blatantly stating that Paizo doesn't plan on fixing the inherent problems of 3.X. It doesn't help that head 3.X designer Monte Cook said the god-awful balance was intentional to "reward" players for making the "right choices."
- Ideally, a good D&D system would include the "power sources" of 4E (basically making Fighters, Rogues and such "Martial Adepts" like the Tome of Battle, which is easily the best splatbook for 3.X), the simplicity and open-endedness 1E and 2E offered (not requiring miniatures or grids, allowing for an "arena of the mind" effect not seen in the system since 2E), and the strong balance of 4E (especially when it comes to Core classes - having splatbook classes being unbalanced isn't as much of a problem as having a wide power difference between Wizards and Fighters, which are arguably the most iconic classes in the game).
- Yes, the irony of an article that negatively compares 3.X to every other edition of D&D making fun of the Ruined FOREVER mindset isn't lost. Then again, there are some aspects of the franchise that TFwiki doesn't particularly care for.
External links
- Ruined FOREVER on TVTropes (because TFwiki is the trope namer)
