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Probability, Critical Hits, and the Illusion of Importance
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8756705" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>The main issue is, if the rules <em>on the net</em> don't actually work toward the intended design goal (aka, poorly balanced), then you get an issue that...I guess you could call "insidious design." It's design that <em>looks</em> good, design that <em>seems</em> good when you use it, but which actually fights against you and you may not even realize it.</p><p></p><p>That's very much what happened to me with 3rd edition. I kept trying and trying and trying to get it to work the way I wanted. For easily 4-5 years, I thought the problem was bad specifics: a fault in Paladin, or in the spell list, or something of that nature. It took me sitting down and actually reading 4e (which I was only doing, at the time, in order to give someone an <em>informed</em> "take that" about how 4e was obviously horrible!) for me to realize exactly what I was <em>missing</em> from 3e. Because it's subtle! It's hard to see just by looking at it--superficially, 3e <em>looks</em> fine. It <em>seems</em> fine in play. But its underlying faults are so deep and so severe, they really do get in the way. WotC saw it, and eventually Paizo was forced to admit the same.</p><p></p><p>Now, this DOES NOT mean that a balanced mechanic is automatically better! It just means that a "feels right" mechanic isn't automatically better either.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8756705, member: 6790260"] The main issue is, if the rules [I]on the net[/I] don't actually work toward the intended design goal (aka, poorly balanced), then you get an issue that...I guess you could call "insidious design." It's design that [I]looks[/I] good, design that [I]seems[/I] good when you use it, but which actually fights against you and you may not even realize it. That's very much what happened to me with 3rd edition. I kept trying and trying and trying to get it to work the way I wanted. For easily 4-5 years, I thought the problem was bad specifics: a fault in Paladin, or in the spell list, or something of that nature. It took me sitting down and actually reading 4e (which I was only doing, at the time, in order to give someone an [I]informed[/I] "take that" about how 4e was obviously horrible!) for me to realize exactly what I was [I]missing[/I] from 3e. Because it's subtle! It's hard to see just by looking at it--superficially, 3e [I]looks[/I] fine. It [I]seems[/I] fine in play. But its underlying faults are so deep and so severe, they really do get in the way. WotC saw it, and eventually Paizo was forced to admit the same. Now, this DOES NOT mean that a balanced mechanic is automatically better! It just means that a "feels right" mechanic isn't automatically better either. [/QUOTE]
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