Or maybe if the first years subscription was free when you bought the game. You could decide after a year if it was worth it and not feel you were trapped into paying hidden costs after you just bought half a game.
Yes that's not unreasonable, seeing as you're getting a physical product anyway.
From the sound of it, 4th ed would have done better if they'd called it something other than D&D. Old players don't like it as it's nothing like the game they are used to and the WoW kids could see it as the RP Boardgame that it really is, without the D&D association.
Hmm the name "Dungeons and Dragons" still has a lot of power in it in RPG circles. I think they were reeling from the OGL with 3.5 and Paizo pulling the rug under their feet with Pathfinder and stealing loads of their customers.
IMO they just decided what people wanted and abandoned their 3.5 fans (not that I ever played 3.5, The last version of DnD I played before PF was ADnD) and it turned out that Paizo made the right choice with PF.
I do think that 4th Ed was pretty popular, but there was a VERY vocal opposition to it as well. I reckon it just didn't make as much money as Hasbro wanted it to make rather than WotC themselves.
To my mind the best option is what I think Hailak pointed out earlier that Hasbro/WotC drop/sell DnD and let some other more dedicated company to the DnD name pick up the mantle to make a better game.
Maybe that WILL happen if next fails.
Still I WANT to like DnD next, so if reliable reviews give it a decent overview I might get it just for old times sake even if I never run it.