I feel sorry for the designers. I know that, were I one of the designers right now, I would be saying, “Making up a new edition was a horrible, horrible mistake. I wish we hadn’t done this; oh, how I wish we hadn’t done this.” Because the playtest packet brings home the simple devastating truth about D&D Next: it’s going to be a boring game. There’s nothing new here to entice one to buy the game. I’m sorry, but it’s just not happening. Looking at the packet, I’m thinking, “I can already get this with Swords and Wizardry, or Dark Dungeons, or even (my favorite pseudo-retroclone) Microlite 20.”
There are a few half-clever rules for fighters, but it’s completely irrelevant, because caster supremecy is firmly in the driver’s seat now. Here’s an article that pretty much sums up everything wrong with D&D Next. I’ll be sticking with “real D&D”: 4th edition, of course.
Greymerry Faire 