Howdy Tony Vargas:
I claim that D&D 4th edition breaks down at high level.
How do I know this? I played straight through in 4e from 1st level to 20th level (I am, of course, defining high-level as anything above level 12 per Monte's column). The PCs consisted of a human wizard (stunlock style though not quite broken), human archer ranger, human (super-teleport-optimized) warlock, halfling paladin (with lost-in-the-crowd insane Armor Class), and dragonborn warlord. Combat took too long. 15th+ level combat took FOREVER. Each PC turn was very complicated. By 20th level the ranger took minutes just to add up all her conditional, temporary, and warlord-granted damage modifiers and then add multiple successful hits together (plus crits).
The "math" of 4e does not work so they had to "fix" it. I still don't think they got it right. Once milestones determine PC capabilities it is totally up to the DM's style whether the players can reach milestones and activate magic rings or other milestone-limited abilities. Combat is so SLOW that you don't want to play through extra filler combats just to hit milestones.
* - emphasis addedOnce again, in his haste to throw 4e under the bus, Monte is mis-representing it. 4e, alone among the extant versions of the game, does not break down, mechanically at high levels. It has a kluge or two in place to make 'The Math' work out, but it chugs right along at all levels. Classes remain balanced, encounters remain balanced, the game remains playable. No one claims that high-level play breaks down in 4e.* Even the 'h4ters' don't bother trying a whopper like that, prefering to claim that the game doesn't change apreciably with tier (also false, but not nearly as far from the truth).
I claim that D&D 4th edition breaks down at high level.
How do I know this? I played straight through in 4e from 1st level to 20th level (I am, of course, defining high-level as anything above level 12 per Monte's column). The PCs consisted of a human wizard (stunlock style though not quite broken), human archer ranger, human (super-teleport-optimized) warlock, halfling paladin (with lost-in-the-crowd insane Armor Class), and dragonborn warlord. Combat took too long. 15th+ level combat took FOREVER. Each PC turn was very complicated. By 20th level the ranger took minutes just to add up all her conditional, temporary, and warlord-granted damage modifiers and then add multiple successful hits together (plus crits).
The "math" of 4e does not work so they had to "fix" it. I still don't think they got it right. Once milestones determine PC capabilities it is totally up to the DM's style whether the players can reach milestones and activate magic rings or other milestone-limited abilities. Combat is so SLOW that you don't want to play through extra filler combats just to hit milestones.