Neonchameleon
Legend
One of the aspects of being much better is that 4th Ed E-classes do not all bleed into each other as O-4th Ed classes/roles do, with features you slap on and powers that suit, the 4th Ed AEDU system is as close as we've got to class-less D&D (which is great for those who want it).
Evidence? I disagree that a 4e fighter (mark everyone, controlled damage) is closer to a 4e barbarian (mobile lunatic who can summon spirits into himself) than a 3e fighter (hit + feats) is to a 3e barbarian (hit + fewer feats + rage for some static modifiers). The very way the fighter and the barbarian move is different.
but nerds generally have a difficult time articulating themselves
I disagree that this is nerd-exclusive. I'd have said people have a hard time articulating themselves.
Secondly, there is no real distinction between magical abilities and martial abilities. 1[W] + Strength vs. 1d8 + Int? Not much in the way of difference.
And I just don't get why this is a problem. Why it should be that an arrow shot from a bow is almost the same as the swing of a sword but the two should be very different from a ray of frost. Me, I'd have said that the arrow should be closer to the ray than the sword.
If one wants to engage in discussions or research in astrophysics, the person should take the time to actually read up on astrophysics and remember it. The same applies to D&D.
But this is excluding huge swathes of people. I play with people who want to play D&D. And I play with people who want to play an RPG with friends - who happen to play D&D because that's what their friends are playing or running.
This seems to be an argument that most spell casters, in most fantasy RPG systems - and especially in non-4e versions of D&D - are poorly designed, because they require a lot of complex decision-making.
I stand by my comment - there is nothing about playing a martial PC, as opposed to a spellcaster, that makes complex decision-making especially inapt or poor design.
There is one thing. When someone has Ice Bolt and Fireball as their two spells it is easy to see what one does, what the other does, and why you would use one as against the other. They stake out distinctly different territory. The difference between Brash Strike and Reaping Strike is conceptually much, much smaller. They are both minor variations on "I hit him, making doubly sure not to miss".
Maybe it's just me, but I actually found the Essentials books harder to read than the early 4E books. I always felt as though it took me a really long time to find the information I needed in Essentials. I could glance at a 4E power and have a pretty good understanding of what it did.
This isn't just you. If you get 4e powers it makes it much faster and easier to see what's going on than embedding them in a wall of almost irrelevant text the way e.g. the 3.5 fireball spell does. Essentials veered back to the wall of text model.