Well the obvious answer is that TTL version of 4th edition would essentially be Pathfinder but I don't know enough about the design phase of that game to know if they would have stayed so closely to 3.5 without 4th edition going off in a very different direction.
I have to admit I'd probably have left D&D entirely if this happened - I already felt 3.5 was too crunchy and obsessively focused on character optimisation and Pathfinder presses that even further.
of course, every version after 2E was an abomination, so it would still be horrible...![]()
to be honest, from what I remember about 2E days, it was indeed a glorious game... for the first half of it's life. Lots of new settings, new books, new kits, etc. But the second half of it's life, it just got to be too much... too many settings, too many books, too many variant rules, etc. Considering how TSR declined in that second half, it's not really surprising that WOTC decided to revamp the line. That said, I was really not impressed with 3E; never did look at any of the later stuff...I long for the days of 2E. I stopped playing for years when it was still 2E.
to be honest, from what I remember about 2E days, it was indeed a glorious game... for the first half of it's life. Lots of new settings, new books, new kits, etc. But the second half of it's life, it just got to be too much... too many settings, too many books, too many variant rules, etc. Considering how TSR declined in that second half, it's not really surprising that WOTC decided to revamp the line. That said, I was really not impressed with 3E; never did look at any of the later stuff...