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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4585219" data-attributes="member: 60965">I'd agree with others here that the grind is probably due to the difficulty of the encounter and maybe the experience of the players (judging by the fact that you are level 2, I don't know if you've played much before this).&nbsp;In my experience - our group is up to level 9 - most battles take us about 30 minutes, up to 45 if we're having a particularly slow night/bad rolls.&nbsp; Huge fights way over our level where we blow all our dailies take up to twice as long.&nbsp; &nbsp;The longest ones are usually the ones we're on the edge of our seats for, since with 3 strikers in a 4 member group, if the fight isn't over fast, it means we're probably taking on more than we should have and we're in an epic knockdown, drag-out slug-fest.&nbsp;I'm not sure how it'll go into paragon, but our fights have been getting faster and faster as we play.&nbsp; A few extra combat rules helped speed things up ALOT for us too:&nbsp;1) Whatever you say your character does, he does.&nbsp; You don't get to take it back (keeps people from changing their minds multiple times - &quot;I use eyebite, wait, no, I should probably use witchfire, no maybe eldritch blast this one...&quot;).&nbsp; This rule usually only goes into effect if there's a lot of wishy-washyness.&nbsp;2) The players have about 10 seconds to decide what they are going to do.&nbsp; Take any longer than that and the DM starts counting down from 6.&nbsp; Supposedly, if he reaches zero, you just lose your turn, but we've never had that happen.&nbsp; Usually it'll go something like: &nbsp;Player: &quot;Uh... I guess I move to here and, uh...&quot; (stares at the battlegrid for 10 seconds).DM: &quot;6.... 5...&quot;Player: &quot;Ok, I eyebite this one!&quot;&nbsp;3) No tactical discussions in combat.&nbsp; You can cheer for each other, remind each other and the DM of various bonuses/penalties(&quot;you have CA against that guy&quot;), status effects(&quot;this guy is bloodied and that one is blind&quot;), and the like (&quot;remember to roll your magic item crit dice&quot;).&nbsp;Our fights really were getting bogged down before we added this rule with three players discussing which powers each other should use, debating it, going back and forth, and making each player's turn take forever.&nbsp;Player 1: &quot;I think I'll eyebite this one&quot;Player 2: &quot;Well, we could really use witchfire on this one.&quot;Player 3: &quot;I think we'll probably rest after this fight, so just hit him with one of your dailies.&quot;Player 1: &quot;No, I want to save my daily in case we're ambushed while we're resting, maybe I'll eldritch blast this minion to try and get a teleport.&quot;Etc...Player 4 + DM: &quot;JUST DO SOMETHING!&quot;&nbsp;Now if we want to shout tactical advice to each other, we have to do it in character: &quot;Wait to attack until I flank him&quot; or &quot;This guy's tough, hit 'em with everything guys&quot; (our group's code for &quot;use dailies&quot;) or &quot;I'll take these ones, you get the ones that are running.&quot;&nbsp; Not only does it speed up combat, it makes it more immersive too.&nbsp;If the early bog gets you down, I've found these really help speed combat up.&nbsp; When player turns go from 5 minutes each to 1 minute, combats get way zippier.&nbsp; The extra powers you get as you level actually make combat faster since you're already familiar with what you have, so they just give more ways to dish out more damage/status effects faster.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 4585219, member: 60965"] I'd agree with others here that the grind is probably due to the difficulty of the encounter and maybe the experience of the [I]players[/I] (judging by the fact that you are level 2, I don't know if you've played much before this). In my experience - our group is up to level 9 - most battles take us about 30 minutes, up to 45 if we're having a particularly slow night/bad rolls. Huge fights way over our level where we blow all our dailies take up to twice as long. The longest ones are usually the ones we're on the edge of our seats for, since with 3 strikers in a 4 member group, if the fight isn't over fast, it means we're probably taking on more than we should have and we're in an epic knockdown, drag-out slug-fest. I'm not sure how it'll go into paragon, but our fights have been getting faster and faster as we play. A few extra combat rules helped speed things up ALOT for us too: 1) Whatever you say your character does, he does. You don't get to take it back (keeps people from changing their minds multiple times - "I use eyebite, wait, no, I should probably use witchfire, no maybe eldritch blast this one..."). This rule usually only goes into effect if there's a lot of wishy-washyness. 2) The players have about 10 seconds to decide what they are going to do. Take any longer than that and the DM starts counting down from 6. Supposedly, if he reaches zero, you just lose your turn, but we've never had that happen. Usually it'll go something like: Player: "Uh... I guess I move to here and, uh..." (stares at the battlegrid for 10 seconds). DM: "6.... 5..." Player: "Ok, I eyebite this one!" 3) No tactical discussions in combat. You can cheer for each other, remind each other and the DM of various bonuses/penalties("you have CA against that guy"), status effects("this guy is bloodied and that one is blind"), and the like ("remember to roll your magic item crit dice"). Our fights really were getting bogged down before we added this rule with three players discussing which powers each other should use, debating it, going back and forth, and making each player's turn take forever. Player 1: "I think I'll eyebite this one" Player 2: "Well, we could really use witchfire on this one." Player 3: "I think we'll probably rest after this fight, so just hit him with one of your dailies." Player 1: "No, I want to save my daily in case we're ambushed while we're resting, maybe I'll eldritch blast this minion to try and get a teleport." Etc... Player 4 + DM: "JUST DO SOMETHING!" Now if we want to shout tactical advice to each other, we have to do it in character: "Wait to attack until I flank him" or "This guy's tough, hit 'em with everything guys" (our group's code for "use dailies") or "I'll take these ones, you get the ones that are running." Not only does it speed up combat, it makes it more immersive too. If the early bog gets you down, I've found these really help speed combat up. When player turns go from 5 minutes each to 1 minute, combats get way zippier. The extra powers you get as you level actually make combat faster since you're already familiar with what you have, so they just give more ways to dish out more damage/status effects faster. [/QUOTE]

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