Ultimately why did D&D 4.0 fail?
Now that 5.0 is getting long in the edition, will another ambitious reboot happen?
Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 was a radial jump in terms of the game structure- turning the game into a tactical monster bash with an RPG as a lay-over to it.
Daily powers, at will powers, once use powers- turning the abilities of the classes into MMO clicky consumables.
This literally *changes* how the game played, with the biggest change being all the characters tended to play the same.
D&D 4.0 failed because it was only half a product.
What was *supposed* to follow quickly after the release was a suite of online and virtual tabletop tools- allowing you to play and connect with online players, dungeon masters, and group.
Essentially an online version of living Greyhawk for all of us.
The MMO switch to the rules was optimal for this experience, but as it never evolved, players didn’t take to the change and it bombed quickly- leading to D&D Next AKA 5.0 taking hold…
…which was really just a streamlining of D&D 3.5.
That said, I still enjoy 4.0 for what it is- a quick tactical MMO version of D&D.
And at least it was the first time to get proper dragonborn outside of a Krynn like universe.