@vanderbilt_grad - I believe a lot of the diehard gamers prefer 3.5 over 4.0 for the reasons you gave. Every group i see at local shops and the university's play 3.5.
3.5 is in my mind the best medium for new players and expert players alike.
Hmm. I actually think that 4.0 is the better game in several ways.
It is actually fun to play a 1st level character of any class in 4.0 for instance. In 3.5 1st level is a pain & we usually just started somewhere between 3rd & 5th level instead.
In 3.5 low level Wizards are lame ... but as they level they swiftly overpower the melee based classes most of the time. In 4.0 I would say that there is better balance over all levels for all classes though the "controllers" like the Wizard are probably a bit weaker than they need to be.
In 4.0 everyone can shine in combat and out of it. In 3.5 you have "combat" classes like the Fighter who fight well but don't do anything special outside of combat. Rogues on the other hand are amazing out of combat but are glass cannons in a fight who get taken out with ease.
In 3.5 spellcasting classes have amazing in game flexibility ... and are able to change their spells to suit a given adventure. They have powers that have both combat and non-combat utility. Non-casting classes have their most flexible choices only when they are leveling up. In 4.0 everyone has options during in game play.
Like I said ... I think that 4.0 did a lot of stuff right and this is coming from someone who played for years.
On the other hand 3.5 is much closer to the games origins and is still fun. You can have some character concept builds in 3.5 that you simply can't do in 4.0. 3.5 is still a very playable system and I had lots of fun in the games where I played using it. I'm also a huge psionics fan and think that 3.5 did a better job with that system than 4.0 did.
The issue I have currently with 4.0 is that they are moving away from the stuff that really made the game innovative and interesting. Ironically I think that some of the changes are being made specifically to appeal to the folks that didn't make the transition from 3.5.
I'm also pretty irked at the changes being made to the character builder program and some other external stuff. At this point I'm mostly angry with the folks in charge of DnD and don't feel much need to support them at all. I have all the books and other stuff I need if I really want to play again. I'm just holding off on all new purchases until I feel like they've gotten their act together again.
