4E - 18 Months Later: Love it or hate it?

[thalmin]

I like it, having played since the demos became available. The rules for role-playing were never really there before, now that we are playing our homebrew we are role-playing as much as ever.

I miss the non-combat skills, so I will add them back in. I miss the non-combat magic, so will make up some new rituals (and check out Goodman's upcoming Azagar's Book of Rituals).

I still have a few other issues with 4E, but really like far more than I dislike.

 

[Oni]

Voted I like it, but really I fall more between like and mixed bag. I enjoy it, but there are some things that irritate me a fair bit.

 

[Aloïsius]

Voted I like it, but really I fall more between like and mixed bag. I enjoy it, but there are some things that irritate me a fair bit.

I feel the same but voted "mixed bag". Hail to the power of the mean average !

 

[Kafen]

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).

Mmm, 1e under TSR has lots of out of combat mechanics for players to build magic, buildings, and fun character aspects around. Boot Hill and Gamma World conversion brings in tons of out of game mechanics for the sci-fi/low magic GM. 4e places many of the mechanical ends for such rules into combat powers. You could never run the fun things like the space ships dungeons from 1e under 4e without turning every step of the dungeons into one big never ending encounter in a pure 4e game in my opinion.

 

[Remathilis]

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).

That's not, imho, the definition of "progress".

 

[Treebore]

I "like it", its just there are a lot of other RPG's I would rather be playing, so I play them instead.

 

[jdrakeh]

Mmm, 1e under TSR has lots of out of combat mechanics for players to build magic, buildings, and fun character aspects around.

Ah, I see, I thought you were referring to mechanics for using character skills/abilities in non-combat situations. There aren't any mechanics for non-combat ability/skill checks in the AD&D 1e core rules. In that light, the D&D 4e core books — even with their limited non-combat skill rules — already have more non-combat mechanics than the AD&D 1e core books do. But I see you're talking about something entirely different and, yes, the AD&D 1e core books do have more essays on things like castle construction, magic item creation, etc.

 

[jdrakeh]

That's not, imho, the definition of "progress".

Who are you quoting? I didn't use the word "progress." I only meant to illustrate that it's a little odd to praise one edition for doing X while damning another for also doing X. Double standards and all. Of course, I now realize that the poster I was responding to was referring to something other than non-combat skill/ability mechanics.

 

[Ainamacar]

Voted "mixed bag." 4e is a collection of ideas that I love, and those that really annoy me. Almost in even measure, it seems. In some cases I loved the idea but disliked the execution. And a few initial dislikes have warmed up to "neutral." I want to like 4e overall, but I can't get into the spirit of it like I was into 3.5, even though the issues with 3.5 were enough to leave me really excited and hopeful for 4e. I have a big list of my thoughts concerning almost every design choice and mechanic in 4e, and I'm trying to make a hybrid system that hews closer to what I would have liked 4e to be. (Pathfinder, despite some nice ideas, isn't it.) Even if no one ever plays it, this is how I'm exercising my creative gaming muscles these days.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I LOVE the concept of encounter and daily powers.
I LOVE the tactical combat

I find strategic combat lacking, but that is pretty normal. Prioritizing tactical combat over strategic combat is the right thing to do.

I dislike the "reliance" of the three key magic items. In previous editions this wasn't normally so obvious since you had numerous was around it. (Greater magic weapon/armor). In addition your to-hit rate increased comparatively to the monsters AC so you usually hit - which is very important.