D&D 4E A player's perspective on 4e

[Deimodius]

Well, my group (the "meh" people) have played from red box through every edition. In fact, the rest of the people in my group got in to 3ed way before I did. Same with 3.5 (I was annoyed at having to buy new books) So I was really surprised that they _didn't_ want to try 4th. I expected them to be eager to at least try it given they eagerness to try new things regularly (we also play different RPGs, and a plethora of board games. We ll met in a games club at university).

and speaking of video games, when I showed them the demo PCs and rules two of them remarked on the similarity to WoW (they both play WoW, and neither of them spend much time reading the forum chatter about 4th).

I have a lot of reservations, about 4th, and I still haven't decided whether to buy it, but I wanted at least to give it a try before making the final decision.

 

[Immolate]

I might be less enthusiastic about a new edition of D&D if 3.5 wasn't so terribly broken. As it stands, we each have to take personal responsibility to not overpower our characters so that they make it impossible for the DM to offer a reasonable challenge or so that the other characters feel as if they've been relegated to secondary status. I'm playing a druid in the current campaign, and it takes effort to avoid both of these undesirable outcomes. I've gotten to the point that I let the encounter unfold and only roll out the heavy artillery if the party gets into trouble. Up to that point, I play the support role with a buff here, and heal there and the occasional thumping of something upon the head. Our cleric and sorcerer have both reached the point where they are doing a lion's share of the damage now and have to self-police as I've been doing (14th level).

It will be a lot more fun playing my character to the fullest extent of the his abilities.

 

[Shazman]

When we ran this the other night and I ruled that the Divine Challenge only did damage to the target if they attacked someone other than the Paladin on the monsters turn.

I believe that I'll just house-rule away marks. They seem to be excessively gamist and complex. They are only there to make defenders "more sticky" or strikers "more accurate" which is very lame. If a rule's only reason for existence is that is makes x class better at y combat role without very good and believeable flavor behind it, it needs to go.

 

[kennew142]

My group (average age 42) has tried the 4e playtest characters in the Secon Son adventure. We were all so excited by the game that those of us who GM regularly are under pressure to write more playtest scenarios. My brother-in-law has written one for our Saturday group this weekend. Another friend is writing one for our Friday group to run in two weeks. At this rate, we may trouble finishing all of our 3.5 campaigns.

The conclusion that we all reached was: we don't want to be playing 3e after June. I feel like freezing myself in the snow so I don't have to wait.

 

[Shazman]

Funny, that's exactly how I read the ability to work in the first place *scratches head* Doesn't make sense otherwise *shrugs*

I don't think that whole idea behind the mechanic makes any sense at all. Why would the paladin's God punish an enemy for not attacking the paladin? Shouldn't they be punsihed for attacking the paladin if at all? Can anyone else see how ludicrous this is? Either blast the enemy with divine power or smite him.

 

[FadedC]

Maybe, but you have to agree that the difference between the "normal D&D world" and "combat D&D world" is much bigger in 4E than to 3E thanks to the less accurate geometry approximation. And when you use cut scene logic (Things which are impossible in combat or maybe even otherwise still can happen in cut scenes because of the story) it becomes even more apparent.

So comparing D&D encounters to Final Fantasy ones where the game stops and switches to a completely new mode which follows completely different rules is not that far fetched.

Actually I find the emphasis on combats taking place over the course of multiple rooms, with monsters running to reinforce and opening doors to other monsters to be more immersive, and less "cut to combat" then D&D is. Older versions of D&D (particularly 1e) seemed the more FF like in their greater emphasis on enter the room and fight the monsters. Enter the second room and fight the monsters.

As for "cut scenes" I've seen those in every version of D&D. There are always things you want to do for cinematic/story reasons that are impossible by the rules. At least 4e spells out that npcs don't necesarily have the same rules as pcs. So if you want the king to be killed by a single stab from a disgruntled peasant you can. You don't have to worry about how d4 damage is incapable of reducing somebody to -10 in 1 shot.

 

[The Little Raven]

the game stops and switches to a completely new mode which follows completely different rules is not that far fetched.

You mean like when you go from sitting around the table, chatting and roleplaying to hovering over the miniatures for tactical combat?

Oh my god, Gygax ripped off Final Fantasy!

 

[mach1.9pants]

WoW and Final Fantasy!
That is so anime, so videogamey!

Thankfully I never have (and never will) be involved with those two genres, so it won't worry me how much 4E is MMO or cartoony......
Or maybe by playing 4E I am playing my first anime mmo for the first time.....
I am confused

 

[Oldtimer]

Things I did not like too much: combining a daily power with an encounter
power for Maximized result and still fizzling because I rolled a 1.
Nothing is more brutal then losing two big powers on a bad role.

If you were playing Erais and tried to use Power of Amaunator together with Cascade of Light, you would not lose the encounter power if you missed. Power of Amaunator is only triggered if you hit with a Radiant power.

Still sucks to roll a 1, though.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, my group (the "meh" people) have played from red box through every edition.

Wait, your group is compose of late 20s people, and they played all versions?

Does not compute.