A lot of flak is thrown at 4th Edition because "it's all about combat." Many claim that there is little to no roleplaying in 4e. While I personally disagree with that statement, I can understand the argument behind it: there are few pages dedicated to governing roleplay in 4e, and the number of pages spent on a given topic is a reflection of its importance.

I choose to see it as follows: instead of providing a ruleset that tries (and fails) to govern any scenario imaginable, 4e focuses on combat and leaves the rest to the DM. Combat is the wargaming aspect of D&D -- it needs structure and rules. RP is the creative aspect of D&D -- rules just limit our possibilities. Any set of rules that could completely govern roleplaying would either be too restrictive or so overwhelmingly lengthy that remembering or referencing the rules would require a team of researchers.

So where does 5th Edition come into play?

Mike Mearls, RPG Group Manager for the D&D Research & Development, raised this question:

"So what does the game look like if you strip everything away except for essential mechanics, and then orient them to support exploration, roleplay, and combat? What would D&D look like? We’ll start answering those questions next week."

Whether you agree that there is no roleplaying in 4e or not, one thing we all agree on is that the "essential mechanics" are not "oriented to support roleplay." Is Mike Mearls just raising a hypothetical question, or is his R&D team working on the next set of D&D rules?

Could this be a hint that 5e is in development, or perhaps the coming of a 4.5 rules overhaul?