The cursed 4th edition is being replaced so new D&D fanboy rage can rule.

Yep. Been watching the fallout on various forums. It hasn't even been four years yet and they're announcing a new edition. Some folks have already tried out a playtest version, so who knows how long they've had this in the works.

It does kinda suck, though, coming out with a new one already. I haven't played much of 4e, so I don't have a lot of emotional investment in it, but I do have a number of books. There were some good ideas there. And Gamma World looks fun and silly.

I'll probably get the core of 5e to check it out, but like 4e, I likely won't have anyone willing to play. (and like 4e I'll end up buying a lot of books I won't ever use... )

I stuck with 3.5 and I am content.

I really will not be needing anything from WotC D&D-wise anymore and haven't for awhile. Even their miniatures aren't worth purchasing. Their last set (the chromatic dragons) were just rehashes of previously released mini's and of a poor quality paint job.

It seems way to fast to have a new edition coming out. I haven't bought a D&D book in a long time. Can't imagine what 3.5 players who went to 4 are feeling.

It's not really that fast. Not from Wizard's perspective.

The reality is that the economy of RPG publishing depends on new core books released every 3-5 years. When a new game comes out, if it sells at all, it does its best sales on release, then slowly loses sales momentum over time. Think about it: new game comes out, every body who wants to play it runs right out and buys a copy. But once they've bought it, they rarely will buy a second copy. New players and late adopters will give you some sales, but never the numbers you see on first release. Supplements count for some income, but never anywhere near what the sale of core books get, and if you're lucky enough to expand your audience, you'll see more, but those sales will slowly taper out over time.

How much time? Right around 3-5 years.

So looking at WotC's publishing history, we see:

3.0: released in 2000
3.5: released in 2003, only three years later; little short, but it was very necessary to patch up several key issues in the game
4.0: released in 2008, five years. An eternity in publishing, but right on track.
5.0: released in ???, 2013 at the earliest, but more realistically 2014. By either estimation that's 5-6 years between the two editions, which is right at the tail end of what's feasible

So you can't say it's too soon from Wizards. They need those sales; they're at the tail end of their cycle, and effectively no one is buying 4e anymore. Plus, some sectors are reporting that 4e is being outsold by Pathfinder, so you know that's got Wizards worried. It's a business, and they need to make money, and the best way to make money is ... to release new core books.

I'm looking forward to see what happens with it, and I got my sign-up in. Until I see more though ... make mine Savage.

Can't tell ya... but those of us who SKIPPED 4e are feeling fine. In fact, I'm a bit more generous than I was when 4e launched. I'm willing to give WotC a chance. The problem is, I'm REALLY happy with Pathfinder so 5e will need to be exceptionally good to capture me. The "DnD NEXT" will have to run the gambit from tight, mini's heavy combat to expansive social action (ala Burning Wheel Gold). I wish them well.

I feel happy to have skipped it.... They might need me to buy a whole new set of books every few years but I get by fine with ThacO

What they need to do, and I feel was a mistake with 4e, is make 4e still relevant in 5e. A different model than buying a whole new edition every 3-5 years might be OK for WotC but it angers their customer base.

Immensely. When 4e was announced I was gathering books to update for 3ish and just stopped.

I can agree here, to a point. 4e had some very odd design choices, IMO, but there were business reasons behind them. Check out this interview with Ryan Dancey, who goes into some of those details. In short, 4e and DDI were meant to transmogrify into an MMO model, but they failed. The system would have been better suited for that, but it wasn't meant to be.

I'm still interested to see what comes out of it. Strange days, indeed...