How much do your trust the advice of others?

[Wulffolk]

Trust No One!

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

I trust advice as much as any opinion presented as fact.

 

[Wiseblood]

I may trust their advice but not heed it. Sometimes I hear the advice and trust the advice but forget it. (Happens a lot perhaps because the advice (as information or concept) is not internalized or used soon enough after introduction.)

 

[Tony Vargas]

I am equally amazed when such advice is predicated on small statistical advantages. Specifically, looking down on a greataxe vs. greatsword or taking a rapier (shudder) instead of shortsword when the avoided choice might be more appropriate flavor.

Man, those have been going since 3.0. Think about it, the ed that brought you CoDzilla has probably seen more controversy over the averaged-damage disparity among Great Axe, Greatsword, and Falchion - and even more about the Katana vs Bastard Sword!

IMHO, it's the susceptibility to simple math. You can't calculate exactly how much better the Tier 1 character really is in a succinct, precise, nearly-indisputable, statistic. You can calculate that Greatsword is 0.5 damage strictly superior to the Great Axe.

I am hoping that we are seeing a selection bias here...that the more maximizing player is simply over represented in the online environment.

Oh, definitely.

I hate to think of starry eyed kids in their first or second campaign all lined up with paladins wielding rapiers!

Don't get too many of those, college-age seems more the norm for brand-new players than the middle-schoolers it stereotypically was in the fad years. The youngest players I see at tables when I'm running intro-to-D&D games are usually there with a parent who played D&D back in the day (or maybe continuously, if you count PF). Some rolling their eyes and going along with it, some knowing all the tricks having gamed pretty much since they could talk...
...which can be kinda trippy.

I also wonder if this sort of advice we see is predicated on game store groups with adversarial underpinnings, but that is wild conjecture.

Attitudes aren't to adversarial at my FLGS. Maybe that's more the M:tG side?

Next up for me is a strength rogue (dwarf) that grapples and stabs with a shortsword...

I'd love to tell you the dwarf rogue at my table did fine...
...but I failed my bluff check.

 

[cmad1977]

Most of the time I see someone post something about how X is broken or Y is OP or Z is underpowered I instantly assume they aren’t particularly smart.

I’m usually right.

 

[Ancalagon]

I want to know what the best options are. Even if I don't choose them. I tend to have a "sub optimal choice budget" for my characters. I'll use a shortsword instead of a rapier sometimes. But I won't pair that suboptimal weapon choice with a 14 dex, for example.

Make whatever choices you want. Being educated on them is prudent though.

Suboptimal choice budget, that is a great way to describe something I do... it can be fun to take something that is suboptimal and then claw your way back to "avearage" power level.

For example, I once made a melee focused shield and board gnome ranger... how do I make this work?

Will it be the best tank? No. Will it be fun? Oh yes!

 

[Ancalagon]

I also think that some of this behavior (fear of "trap option") is leftover from 3.x , where system mastery made an enormous difference in the power level of characters. 5e is a lot more flat, which I am grateful for.

 

[outsider]

I also think that some of this behavior (fear of "trap option") is leftover from 3.x , where system mastery made an enormous difference in the power level of characters. 5e is a lot more flat, which I am grateful for.

Yeah, to me, sub-optimal doesn't actually mean bad. There aren't many truly bad options anymore.

 

[cbwjm]

I tend to ignore guides and people who just seem to complain about a class/subclass/feat being broken. People who say that choosing a d6 weapon instead of a d8 weapon is somehow gimping the party are also ignored. People who say you need at least a 16 in your main attack stat? Ignored!

Mostly I just don't care about optimisation and I have no things for the angry unhappy complainers.

 

[Ancalagon]

Yeah, to me, sub-optimal doesn't actually mean bad. There aren't many truly bad options anymore.

Indeed, and what a great thing it is. There are a few subclass that are, well, sub-par, but to make something that actually sucks you need to make an actual effort.