WotC Dave posts about "Prison Break" Playtesting

[Bishmon]

Chill out on the sarcasm guys. It should be pretty easy to disagree with a comment you don't like without resorting to seething sarcasm.

 

[Rechan]

Go Bears! (though I have no idea what that is)

I assume he means the Chicago Bears, a US football (not soccer) team.

 

[Gloombunny]

Wizard 2 vs. Room 1: 14/7, 8, 0, 10, X, 6, 0. Used 1 [Hi Mom!].

A wizard hit two enemies in the same round and twice as much damage to the first as the second.

That reminds me a lot of the speculation from back when it was first revealed that spells could crit, that area spells would only be able to score crits on an enemy they're centered on...

 

[Rechan]

Also, I would be intrigued to see this prison break adventure. Sure, it's just a playtest, but it would be interesting since it's such a small dungeon (four rooms), and has other things to do like 'get the key, unlock the door'.

 

[Remathilis]

Too much actual info to digest, but I do agree: Van Halen Rules!

 

[mach1.9pants]

I assume he means the Chicago Bears, a US football (not soccer) team.

Eerrm do they often kick the ball in american football?

Anyway a very interesting blog post which on the big scale it is nice that, even with all the hard work they are doing on 4E, WotC is taking the time to respond to legitimate concerns.

I entirely disagree with previous posters who think that the 4E team working hard is a bad sign. In any big project I have been involved in it always ends up getting busier near the end. The guys are working hard to meet qualitative and temporal goals- just the norm IME.
Anybody out there been involved in big projects that just cruise through?.....All my big ones from (planned) deployments overseas to (short notice!) pleasure flights over Baghdad have all involved very hectic work and a haggard me.

I think that the way they are describing playtesting is a good technique as long as it is carried through at all 'altitudes' etc in a thorough way.

Good luck to them I say; I am sure all your hard work will be worth it

M1.9P

 

[eleran]

I agree entirely.

The fact that they are working so hard and are feeling stress indicates that 4e is doomed because they're behind the ball.

Of course, if they were working at a comfortable pace, and not feeling particularly stressed, that would indicate that 4e is doomed because they aren't trying hard enough.

I demand that all blog posts by designers indicate the precise level of stress and effort necessary to comfort me about the designer's progress and work ethic. Perhaps an Olympic scale could be used. I rate WOTC_Dave's current stress level at about an 8.7. It should be a more comfortable 7.0 before I will be satisfied.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

 

[eleran]

Eerrm do they often kick the ball in american football?

M1.9P

That all depends on the definition of often. But they at least get to use their hands. And the score is rarely nil-nil.

back to your thirld world kickball game.

 

[mach1.9pants]

That all depends on the definition of often. But they at least get to use their hands. And the score is rarely nil-nil.

back to your thirld world kickball game.

I couldn't agree more! I (used to) play/watch/support Rugby Football Union- where they also rarely use their feet and I cannot remember watching a nil all draw
For most of our continental american friends edification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union
And yes it is just as confusing as american football to the uninitiated

 

[Rechan]

And yes it is just as confusing as american football to the uninitiated

In my limited experience, Rugby is just Hockey on Grass.

(To explain this, there's an old joke. Hockey isn't one sport, it's two: kicking someone's arse and skating.)