What do you like about 4E? (not a battle in the Edition Wars :^) )

[Dannyalcatraz]

I like that you get spells and powers at the same level as you level.

IOW, you get 3rd level spells/powers at 3rd level, 4th level powers at 4th level, etc., unlike earlier editions' 3rd level spells coming at 5th or 6th level.

It may not sound significant, but oddly enough, that is one of the areas that has confused the people I've brought into the hobby the most often.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Formatting. D&D has always had a problem with a decent format. There are still rules in AD&D that I didn't know about because you have to read every single paragraph to understand them. All of 4E's mechanics are contained in a giant box with bold lettering and bullets. I don't want to call this genius but very, very few RPGs across the board can boast having a decent format.

1000 times this. Readability is NOT optional in RPGs, it´s essential.

 

[billd91]

I also like the formatting. Easiest PH to use in any edition I've played.

I like the idea of encounter powers for martial characters though I don't like the daily powers at all. Given my druthers, I'd write up each encounter power with daily options and just give PCs a certain number of times they can push their standard encounter powers to "daily" levels of achievement.

I like the idea of rituals but think they should have been implented with a quick-cast version that can be done in a standard action, costs less, and has a substantially reduced effect. A combat-time use of a ritual, if you will. Something like a hold portal version to go with the arcane lock ritual. Reduced cast time, reduced effect, useful in emergencies.

I like the promotion of complex skill tasks to the main rules via skill challenges, though I think they needed more work before release.

I like the treasure parcel idea as a tool for managing how much treasure you distribute.

I like the clarity of the streamlined action types and conditions.

I can't say I like much else, unfortunately.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I like the clarity of rules. And the balance - the end of Linear Fighter, Quadratic Wizard is a good thing. And the idea that everyone should be doing a bit of everything rather than giving the rogue his own minigame.

The kinaesthetic combat is wonderful. The way pit traps aren't something you either fall in or you don't, they are something to try and push people down.

The end of L1 Wizard vs Housecat being won by the housecat is a good thing.

At Wills provide so much flavour to a PC.

Marks - now at last we have a plausible way for the Meatshields to do their job. (And no, it isn't an aggro mechanic - it's the opposite. No forcing the monster's actions, merely having bad things happen if they don't do what the defender wants).

DM Prep Time. Setting up a balanced and interesting encounter is now easy.

Skill Challenges. Not the best implementation (and in a game of well implemented ideas that sticks out like a sore thumb). But the idea is wonderful and they are the first time I've seen any edition of D&D try something in the base rules that wasn't a combat spinoff.

No Wizard-fix-it. Spells to make everyone else redundant are a bad thing.

 

[vagabundo]

I'd concur with 90% of the posters above and add: I love how tweakable the whole system is, I feel the ruleset is very transparent and this makes me want to make changes. From new monsters, rituals, artefacts, everythins just screams Make Stuff!!

I just wish that the CB would support this more, I'd love to send around a custom campaign file and have everyone roll up new characters with it. It would be awesome sauce on an awesome cake...

 

[Hussar]

Well, I've played exactly 2 session of 4e now and done a bit of stuff on the gaming forum we're using. So far, it's been a couple of very slow combats - still very much learning the mechanics and have a couple of players who are really not into rules. And, now just completed one skill challenge.

The challenge was very cool. The party had just killed an ogre and his two hobgoblin cohorts that were chucking barrels of burning oil through the town as a group of golinoids raided the town. After the fight, everyone kind of went on their own way to deal with personal character stuff leaving my doppleganger feylock (they don't know he's a doppleganger yet) standing pretty much alone with the dead ogre.

Along comes a guardsman who asks who killed the ogre. Of course, I decide to take all the credit. This then leads me to ask about these skill challenges I had heard about but never actually done. I asked the DM if I could, in conjuction with my shape changing abilities, do a bit of a tour around the town, extolling the virtues of my character, in a brazen attempt to garner fame and possibly some free room and board and any women of less than virtuous temperment. An easy skill challenge (4 wins over 2 losses) later and I am now being sung about as the sole slayer of the massive ogre and his small army of cohorts.

This was very, very cool. We played out each roll, I built a sort of story around what the dice were telling me and it turned out great. I really can't wait until the next session when the rest of the group finds out what I've done.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the Skill Challenges.

 

[JediSoth]

The tools at DDI made prepping my 4E game a snap; I think I shall miss that most about 4E when I move on to a different system.

The character builder was also pretty nice. Useful, too!

I also liked the use of minions, though my own ineptitude made it easy for my players to metagame with them, though.

 

[lexoanvil]

mostly i like 2 things. as a DM i love how easy it is to run the game. i need a monster encounter? bam just grab a bunch of monsters to an exp total thats appropriate. magic items? all of them have lvs and a gold value within line with each other. DDI is also great. the character builder is great for me because many of my players are not experts on the rules. I feel good knowing they will by in large have a playable character, with all the math involved on their character sheet; and wont feel the need to ask me to figure out what to add to their dice rolls or spend 5 min trying to figure out the details of a spell.

as a player i love powers and the game balance and roles. powers are great to me because they make combat feel far more epic to me. roles are great because far too often ive been stuck in groups that have had been god-awful due to everyone at the table picking similar or undefined roles. and in general the gap between a newbie and a vet was smaller(in my exp at least) same goes for the class it was always disappointing to me to that certian classes had clear and game breaking differences in power,

 

[joela]

I'd concur with 90% of the posters above and add: I love how tweakable the whole system is, I feel the ruleset is very transparent....

This. Except the magic items. Borrrrrinnnn....

 

[Wiseblood]

Spell levels coinciding with character levels is pretty good. Why it took thirty years I'll never know..

Monster statblocks everything is right there... and it doesn't follow a poinless layout. By that I mean they don't have stuff filled out that is useless.

Examples would include the listings under the AD&D Monster manual told you that the monster had Psionic Defenses: Nil.