4E - 18 Months Later: Love it or hate it?
- Thread starter Mercurius
- Start date
Dislike it - my group has always been half roleplay and half rollplay. The lack of out of combat mechanics has killed any real form of out of combat roleplay in terms of giving players a framework to do clever things like create a wagon theft alarm system for instance. To make a long story short, it makes the game a simple game of combat which is not so great over the long term when you compare it to MTG.
Have played 4E once a week for about a year, and during that time played every level from 1 up to now 19.
And I really, really, really hate it.
The big problem is that the DM is a very good friend of mine, and we tend to have heated arguments about twice a week, which tends to put a lot of strain on things.
For that DM's sake, I've looked at every sourcebook I could lay my hand on, every Dragon article he has downloaded through his subscription, and followed lots of threads here on Enworld in hope of finding anything to like about the system so that I can ignore the things that bug me, but I just... cannot... find... anything.
I hate the combat-centricness, hate the lack of uses for non-combat magic, non-combat skills, the lack of non-combat powers. I've collected rituals by the bucket-load and gotten a bunch of skills, and I never get any-frickin'-use out of them. I hate how the game is only about playing with builds in the character editor for max DPS and then test-driving them...
I hate about how magic is just about bolting things with damage, or making one-turn no-flavor damage buffs.
I dislike the incredible narrowness, and well, boringness of magic items. They really feel like more of a burden than a reward.
I dislike how they have sacrificed a lot of the fun stuff "for balance", and then failed to balance the combat system; In a team of fighter-rogue-swordmage-bard, the fighter routinely stands for 40-45% of the team's total damage (yes, we kept statistics), has the best defenses and hit points, and through his suck-all-monsters-in-and-keep-them-there powers has the best battlefield control, and through his damage aura stances (Rain of Steel) has the best area damage. That could have been ignorable, if there were anything else you could do that wasn't about damage, but there isn't anymore.
And I really, really, really hate it.
The big problem is that the DM is a very good friend of mine, and we tend to have heated arguments about twice a week, which tends to put a lot of strain on things.
For that DM's sake, I've looked at every sourcebook I could lay my hand on, every Dragon article he has downloaded through his subscription, and followed lots of threads here on Enworld in hope of finding anything to like about the system so that I can ignore the things that bug me, but I just... cannot... find... anything.
I hate the combat-centricness, hate the lack of uses for non-combat magic, non-combat skills, the lack of non-combat powers. I've collected rituals by the bucket-load and gotten a bunch of skills, and I never get any-frickin'-use out of them. I hate how the game is only about playing with builds in the character editor for max DPS and then test-driving them...
I hate about how magic is just about bolting things with damage, or making one-turn no-flavor damage buffs.
I dislike the incredible narrowness, and well, boringness of magic items. They really feel like more of a burden than a reward.
I dislike how they have sacrificed a lot of the fun stuff "for balance", and then failed to balance the combat system; In a team of fighter-rogue-swordmage-bard, the fighter routinely stands for 40-45% of the team's total damage (yes, we kept statistics), has the best defenses and hit points, and through his suck-all-monsters-in-and-keep-them-there powers has the best battlefield control, and through his damage aura stances (Rain of Steel) has the best area damage. That could have been ignorable, if there were anything else you could do that wasn't about damage, but there isn't anymore.
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jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Oddly, prior to D&D 3e, there were roughly the same number of rules governing non-combat action as there are in 4e (i.e., almost none).
davethegame
Explorer
Love it, after 18 months finally feel like I've hit my stride with it (and the campaign story) and so have the players.
jaerdaph
#UkraineStrong
I dislike the 4e rules system and the direction WotC has taken with the brand. It really wasn't my cuppa, but I don't hate it, and I can appreciate that it appeals to others. It just wasn't for me and the people I game with. Fortunately, we have plenty of other viable options, so everybody's happy.
Tiberius
Explorer
I was enthusiastic about 4e when the game was announced. As time passed and changes were coming to light in previews, it seemed Wizards was making deliberate attempts to drive me from the game. Played Keep on the Shadowfell and a session of my friend's campaign. If I could somehow channel my hate back in time to the Saxon poets, we would be reading about it today rather than Beowulf.
Negflar2099
Explorer
I voted that I loved it for precisely this reason. It perfectly matches my sensibilities.
I tend to have gaming A.D.D. Even the most interesting campaign settings or rulesets fail to hold my interest for more than 3-6 months but here it is 1 1/2 years later and my interest is still going strong.
I realize that as many have all ready pointed out on this thread, this game does not suit everyone's tastes but it fits mine perfectly. This is exactly the game I've always wanted D&D to be.
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