Undrave
Legend
Basically sacrificing the Fighter to the throng of disgruntled Wizard players...
D&D 4E Inquiry: How do 4E fans feel about 4E Essentials?
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
I thought the Slayer and the Knight were fun, and you still had the classic 4e Fighter as an option. Better than 5e where the most complexity you can get as a Fighter is the Battlemaster 
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
Timing, positioning, watering down...
So a substantive complaint--they removed rituals. Which were the main source of out of combat magic and really needed for the game to feel like D&D. Of course you could use pre-essentials stuff, but they were removed from essentials.
Substantive gain: the essentials monster book did fix the monster math.
We now know that it was a band-aid. They had accepted 4e had failed, rushed out essentials, and started work on what would be 5e.
So a substantive complaint--they removed rituals. Which were the main source of out of combat magic and really needed for the game to feel like D&D. Of course you could use pre-essentials stuff, but they were removed from essentials.
Substantive gain: the essentials monster book did fix the monster math.
We now know that it was a band-aid. They had accepted 4e had failed, rushed out essentials, and started work on what would be 5e.
Undrave
Legend
It was a symbolic sacrifice, but since it wasn't enough they went and did an actual sacrificeI thought the Slayer and the Knight were fun, and you still had the classic 4e Fighter as an option. Better than 5e where the most complexity you can get as a Fighter is the Battlemaster
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
Wizards got unneeded boosts... and well I didnt like the subtle impact a set of errata that came out just prior to essentials had on some other classes. Here is one I am currently finding chafing. They introduced all kinds of tweaks. For instance they nerfed a Warlord signature power "Lead the Attack" was stripped down into to a one round buff, a potent daily became a one round buff. Melee training was nerfed and it felt contrived to make other classes work less well with the warlord.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
This.I thought the Slayer and the Knight were fun, and you still had the classic 4e Fighter as an option. Better than 5e where the most complexity you can get as a Fighter is the Battlemaster
The Slayer and Knight brought some of my friends back to D&D. They enjoyed the tactical nature of D&D but Not the complexity of their individual character.
Vaalingrade
Legend
I feel like Essentials really was the Harbringer of 5e, signaling that a lot of forward design momentum was going to be sacrificed.
The worse part IMO was the fact that Essentials was pushed as a pseudo stand alone which actively discouraged the old, good classes. The vast, lush environment with a ton of awesome options was savagely slashed down in a wave of 'Essentials only' games in that timeframe.
FireLance
Legend
For me, I haven't been upvoting Essentials because I see it as an expansion or supplement to 4E, and not a separate "edition".
I probably didn't catch a lot of the negativity surrounding Essentials because I wasn't involved in Encounters.
That said, the abbreviation for "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" sounded really suggestive in my head.
I probably didn't catch a lot of the negativity surrounding Essentials because I wasn't involved in Encounters.
That said, the abbreviation for "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms" sounded really suggestive in my head.
I would kill for even an optional add on book that had a class (you don't have to call it fighter) that was martial and in line with wizard/ckeric for capability...I thought the Slayer and the Knight were fun, and you still had the classic 4e Fighter as an option. Better than 5e where the most complexity you can get as a Fighter is the Battlemaster
