Is it just me?

Or is D&D 3e more complex than Rolemaster?  I have just built the character du jour from scratch using the World of Warcraft roleplaying game and Advanced d20 Magic.  It took me about three hours to build; and I didn't pay attention to getting everything correct.

On that note, I wonder if D&D 3e is actually more complex than we could even imagine.  "We got this theory that Dungeons and Dragons is the best roleplaying game out there!"  If it is, then why all the complexity?  D&D 3.5 is absolutely, and needlessly complex.  In fact I think it is so complex that you need a spreadsheet or something to calculate all your skill bonuses.

So, that makes the strong case for retro-clones: Swords and Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and Castles and Crusades.  Even microlite d20.  So, what is it with D&D?  Why does it have to get complex with every generation?  I mean, 4e is complex enough.  With fourth edition, you definitely need software in order work it (DDI, anyone?).  Why do you need software to work fourth edition anyway?  But alas, that's the way it goes.

I think this is a good point to explain that I am beginning to see no point in complexity in a Roleplaying Game. Especially a game like Dungeons and Dragons.  However, as the game evolved and changed over many hands, we got complexity.  D&D 3e has even surpassed the complexity of the Fuzion system.  D&D 4e doubly so.  So, why the complexity in rules?  D&D is never going to compete par to par, and hand to hand with other Roleplaying Games if it keeps this up.  D&D should go back, way back, to the original games the Retroclones copy in order to stay competitive.  From D&D white box comes 4th Edition, whom people laud as perfect.  Sorry, sirs, I think the D&D White Box is much more perfect.