Anyone else think 4th Ed is to combat WoW?

[Furtive Noise]

A D&D rogue is more fun to play during intrigue and personality driven segments of game.. but during combat they can be boring to play. Why would more interesting combat mechanics make them lose the current fun things they can do? Combat is almost all of WoW, but its a hefty chunk of D&D too.

 

[Grog]

Combat WoW ? No.

Take advantage of WoW by creating a game that has a familiar style and feel to MMORPG's? Oh hell yes.

Simplifying it so it appears similar to the twich attacks and casting of many MMORPG's seems the clearest example.

The comment that a wizard will never run out of magic missle's to cast is a prime example. Just Hot key MM to you #1 key and fire away until the mob is dead. Rinse and repeat.

WoW does not have unlimited spellcasting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

WoW does not have unlimited spellcasting.

Don't confuse things by introducing facts into the discussion.

 

[outsider]

Based on the other comments you made in your post, you probably wont be happy playing D&D online anyway as your WoW Rogue is much more fun to play than a D&D Rogue. It seems (also based on your post) that your favored vision of D&D would be better based on WoW due to more heavier action in a video game.

Playing a D&D spellcaster is alot more fun than playing a D&D rogue. I'd be perfectly satisfied if a rogue had the amount of choices in combat that a D&D spellcaster did. Or heck, not even that much. As I said, Book of 9 Swords is exactly what D&D melee characters needed(aside from flavor).

The amount of action in D&D is just fine with me. I love rping just as much as I love combat. If I could spend half a session on each, that would be perfect. I just want more variety on the melee side of the action. Fighter shouldn't be the class you hand to the noob that you think is too stupid to grasp how to play a real character. Doing the same thing(I attack the monster with my sword) over and over again in every round in every fight while other characters have dozens of options to choose from is terribly frustrating and boring.

RP and the ability to actually affect the world I'm playing in is what I miss about D&D. I like to build my character both mechanically and narratively. I find it fascinating to take numbers and mathematics and use them creatively to build something far beyond the simple numbers and equations they are. That's why I'm a programmer, and that's why I love D&D and rpgs in general. WoW(and mmorpgs in general) give me a bit of that, but not on the level I crave, which I've only found in actual roleplay.

 

[scourger]

I wouldn't say WotC is trying to use 4E to combat WoW, but they do compete for some of the same income stream. I agree with posters above that WotC has got to find a way to get players to pay that monthly fee that any business manager would love to get. That is the business aspect. WotC is a business, and its product--in this case 4E--has to make money.

At the same time, from a play perspective, D&D is a much different game. I actually think 3e & 3.5 model a computer game in many respects. I say that not as a computer gamer; I don't play MMORPGs, so I don't have a basis for true comparison. But I will echo the sentiment of the poster above who felt like a CPU just trying to crunch all the numbers in combat. This is the key difference in these 2 types of game. One has no computer to do all the math.

The challenge for WotC is to make 4E significantly easier to run while delivering relevant material via the digital initiative. I haven't heard those details yet. The options for players can be virutally unlimted. It is relatively easy to keep track of one character as a player. Applying those some complexities to the foes is what can make DMing so onerous. Foes need to be almost drag & drop, fire & forget, and plug & play. It would be nice if the digital initiative provided such foes, but it doesn't sound like it will. It sounds more like there will be tools to create adventures, but the DM will still have to create the module. I would find it more helpful to have a digital Dungeon.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

D&D is to WoW as a flea on the ass of a bear. MMO's owe EVERYTHING to D&D; they wouldn't exist without D&D having been there first. But the flea doesn't eat the salmon - the flea makes a microscopic bite and takes nourishment from the bears blood. THAT is what comes of MMO's having a millionne market size.

D&D can't compete with Wow. It can only DREAM of such a thing and it would require another 10 years of software and hardware development for either one to come close to really usurping the others territory in a meaningful fashion.