Will WotC ever get it right?

[Blizzardb]

A level 29 power doesn't -have- to be better than a level 25 power (altho that is definately nice.)

The reason is, is because a level 29 power doesn't replace a level 25 power, it replaces a level 15 power. You'll also notice that there's a lot of level 5 powers that are not more powerful than their level 1 equivalents. Or in Encounter Powers, often the level 1 powers are individually better than the level 3 powers.

<snip>

True.

 

[IllDM4YOU]

Halp

can some1 be kind enough to explain 4e combat rules to a newcomer?

 

[Nightson]

Another case of this I noticed was the ranger powers Sweeping Whirlwind and Clearing the Ground. Both are str vs ac, close burst 1, 1 W + Str one attack, both push back, but SW pushes Wis mod squares, CTG 1 square, plus SW knocks them prone. SW is level 7 CTG level 11, both encounters. Makes no sense to me, anyone seen errata on this?

Clearing the Ground is a Stormwarden PP granted power, not a normal encounter power.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

can some1 be kind enough to explain 4e combat rules to a newcomer?

Sure... start your own thread instead of sidetracking this one and I'm sure people will be happy to help.

 

[DNH]

a 5 min toilet seat perusal

Brilliant! So I am not the only one who does this then?!

 

[SigmaX0]

Clearing the Ground is a Stormwarden PP granted power, not a normal encounter power.

True, but it still sucks in comparison.

 

[-Avalon-]

Brilliant! So I am not the only one who does this then?!

There are two great moments of insight, even better if you combine them...

1 - On the toilet
2 - Between the hours of Midnight and 3 AM...

If you are on a toilet between midnight and 3 AM, it seems to be a massive boost in creativity and brilliance!

Also, on the topic:
I have looked through every daily power out of the PHB2 for sorcerer, only to compare and contrast damage, element, and level... I did notice that in some cases the effects of the daily are hard to judge, so I merely put a star beside them, and with blasts/bursts I simply put a X amount, so for blast 3 it would be X9 (since it can potentially affect up to 9 targets), for ongoing damage (save ends) I did +Amount, example 2d8+5 is 2d8 base damage +5 ongoing (save ends)...

View attachment SorcererDailies.xls

 

[billd91]

A level 29 power doesn't -have- to be better than a level 25 power (altho that is definately nice.)

The reason is, is because a level 29 power doesn't replace a level 25 power, it replaces a level 15 power. You'll also notice that there's a lot of level 5 powers that are not more powerful than their level 1 equivalents. Or in Encounter Powers, often the level 1 powers are individually better than the level 3 powers.

Many builds, in fact, replace the level 3 power rather than the level 1 power at level 13.

If it comes up so often, in PHB and PHB2... how can you be certain it is a bug at all? Perhaps it's a feature.

If it's a feature, it's a bizarre one. Makes you wonder why powers are even given a level. Better to just put them, undifferentiated, into a tier pool and tell the player to pick one.
While I can understand that the difference in powers between levels may not be large, there should be some reason why a power falls into one level rather than another.

 

[Obryn]

The only way that makes sense is if WotC is so disorganized that they dont even list the powers in a simple spreadsheet during the design process. This isnt a subjective difference. Its a quantitative 25>29 error that shows up as soon as you casually examine the powers.

I think you're excluding quite a few possibilities here.

I agree with you that one of these two powers is wrong. I don't agree that this means WotC is completely incompetent. Like we've repeated a few times, more eyeballs = more bugs caught. Someone has to own those eyeballs. In this case, it's you.

On top of that, I'd also bet that these errors arent ever fixed. It would obsolete a whole slew of follow-on products even before their release(see power decks)

...do you want to wait and see? Or have you reached a 100% definite conclusion?

The existence of power decks won't stop them from issuing errata, any more than the existence of the original books will.

-O

 

[Nail]

I think you're excluding quite a few possibilities here.

Agreed. (Just let the troll be, Obryn. Don't poke it with a stick!)

The existence of power decks won't stop them from issuing errata, any more than the existence of the original books will.

The existence of large amounts of (paper-based) printed material does make them really cautious in posting errata/updates, however.

If this were a pdf game, it would be a trivial matter to update material. As it is, you have to weigh the value of the update against the inconvenience of updating physical books.