4e: big change in essentials: no more daily powers!

[bouncyhead]

They are, for new players and that's what they are being aimed at. It's supposed to be a "This is essential for playing DnD if you've not played before". The intention is to bring in new players.

What remains to be seen, though I'm a bit more optimistic than I was, as to what they do after essentials.

Won't this new generation of players see the Essentials classes as the new base? I assume the strategy is to gently push these new players towards all the riches of 'old' (can't believe I just said that) 4E, but is it not likely that these players would like to see more differentiation in class mechanics if that's what they've been given a taste for? 'Old' 4E classes might look a little, well, samey...

 

[Windjammer]

Upon further investigation I found several additional quotes at WotC's website to back-up what Mearls is saying here:

"Your core rulebooks should work very well with any support product that is post-Essentials, and vice versa."

"Q: Will existing characters be easily and instantly portable to Essentials rules?
A: Easily, yes. Instantly -- depends on what you want to do. [They] can be run right out of the original books with few or no changes necessary."

I stand corrected. This is clearly nothing like the move from 3.0 to 3.5.

Oh yeah, totally.

Q: Will there be a rebate program for previous owners who buy the new books?
A: Not to my knowledge. Your 3.0 rulebooks should work very well with any support product that is post-3.5, and vice versa. The older books won't be useless, but they won't be perfectly up to date, either; there will be changes. ....​

02/18/03 - How Easy Will it be to Update Characters

Q: Will existing characters be easily and instantly portable to 3.5 rules?

A: Easily, yes. Instantly -- depends on what you want to do. NPCs and monsters from existing products can be run right out of the original books with few or no changes necessary. They won't be 100% "3.5," but they will be compatible. I just ran an adventure composed entirely of 3.0 monsters, and I was able to convert on the fly.​

I'm sorry if I ruined your joke, but taking the second thing from the 3.0/3.5 Q'n'A and to suggest Mearls said it a propos 4.0/4.Essentials seemed rather confusing.

 

[ggroy]

So these are not "Phasing out" the old rules, they are a different interpretation of those rules. Possibly with a bend to being a bit simpler for new players perhaps? I'm not entirely sure.

Either way, we are getting previews of some of the new essentials classes in Dragon this month. We'll be able to have a look at what they mean then.

"Phasing out" would probably be more appropriate for a new edition (ie. 5E D&D), than a sub-edition like 4E Essentials.

 

[ggroy]

Emphasizing that they are not making older material irrelevant is very important.

A "preventative measure" at minimizing nerd rage, from the start.

 

[Tuft]

A "preventative measure" at minimizing nerd rage, from the start.

Reminds me of how WoTC at the initial 4E announcement stressed that it was less of a change than any previous edition changes...

 

[vagabundo]

Yey, I'm chuffed they are attempting to change around some of the power structures for 4e. I'm very interested in what they come up with.

4e, 4.5e: bleah; whatever...

This is the best news in ages...

 

[Windjammer]

As always, we’re looking at press releases touting the changes as good for everyone round. No relativization – whether you’re a total newb or a veteran player, you gonna love Essentials! What a load of overstatement.

For my money, we're simply looking at a revamped 4.0 geared to a different audience. 4.0 was in part about appeasing extant 3.5 palyers. 4.0 originally didn’t contain daily powers until playtesters wanted them back in because leaving them out wouldn't have "felt like D&D", so the designers followed suit and put them back in (read this in Races& Classes).

That was in 2008, with 3.5 still going strong. Today we see WotC releasing a new, half, or quarter, or whatever sub-edition to a different audience which partly gets rid of daily powers, just as originally intended - to appeal to new players and partly those fed up on some 4Eisms.

But make no mistake. This is no longer about appeasing 3.5 players, it's about appeasing extant 4.0 players. Which is why this is so frustratingly schizophrenic to everyone involved (designers and customers) – you want to sell the new framework to people who’d love improvements but are unsure about the delivered format. Half-editions or quarter-editions have never sat well with customers because of their price-tag.

Good luck everyone.

 

[ggroy]

As always, we’re looking at press releases touting the changes as good for everyone round. No relativization – whether you’re a total newb or a veteran player, you gonna love Essentials! What a load of overstatement.

For my money, we're simply looking at a revamped 4.0 geared to a different audience. 4.0 was in part about appeasing extant 3.5 palyers. 4.0 originally didn’t contain daily powers until playtesters wanted them back in because leaving them out wouldn't have "felt like D&D", so the designers followed suit and put them back in (read this in Races& Classes).

That was in 2008, with 3.5 still going strong. Today we see WotC releasing a new, half, or quarter, or whatever sub-edition to a different audience which partly gets rid of daily powers, just as originally intended - to appeal to new players and partly those fed up on some 4Eisms.

But make no mistake. This is no longer about appeasing 3.5 players, it's about appeasing extant 4.0 players. Which is why this is so frustratingly schizophrenic to everyone involved (designers and customers) – you want to sell the new framework to people who’d love improvements but are unsure about the delivered format. Half-editions or quarter-editions have never sat well with customers because of their price-tag.

Fast forward to 2010, the hardcore 3.5E crowds are most likely either:

- still playing 3.5E
- defected to Pathfinder
- tried 4E but didn't like it, and went back to 3.5E or Pathfinder
- moved on to something else completely.

 

[Reynard]

As someone who does not like 4E primarily because of the PC class trucure and mechanics, I am actually interested in seeing what they did here and very cautiously hopeful they "fixed" it (from my perspective, of course). But it better be good, because I have since invested in Pathfinder and getting me to switch is going to take something awesome.

 

[ggroy]

Wonder if they will make the wizard's "dispel magic" into an at-will or encounter power.