D&D 4E 4E Liker - anything you worry about?

[TwinBahamut]

Well, I guess I have a list...

1) I'm afraid Mounted Combat will be implemented badly. It has never been done well before in D&D, and I'm afraid it will not be done very well this time either. At least the lack of a ride skill actually gives me hope.

2) I'm afraid that things like familiars or summoned creatures might be severely limited, badly implemented, or removed entirely (and I am not just talking about the first PHB here). There certainly seems to be a group of people who are clamoring for that, which worries me. I want a really good implementation of these powers, myself.

3) I don't like the 1, 1, 1, 1 counting for the grid. I really dislike 1, 2, 1, 2 counting and understand the need to get rid of it, but the choice they made seems to be the worst of the alternatives. It looks like I will be going to hexes for 4E, so I hope there is at least some support for them.

4) While I fully endorse the shifting around of monster design and fluff (good riddance devilish Erinyes), I am seriously afraid that they are just replacing bad monsters with worse monsters. The Fire Archons are replacing a concept that had potential (Archons as some variant of angelic being) with a really bad concept (the same old and boring Elemtenals who just happen to be wearing armor now). With choices like that, as well as some of the choices being made concerning the list of creatures in the Monster Manual, mentions of the new Dryad, and other concerns, I am very nervous about opening up the 4E Monster Manual. At least I like the new exception-based monster design.

5) I'm worried that giving a power to every (or even almost every) magic item might be a bit excessive.

6) I don't like what I am seeing regarding coinage and armor, though I need to see more info to know for sure.

7) While I support the idea of a default town in the DMG, I am worried that the one they are designing may not be a good match for the kinds of campaigns I want to run. (really minor complaint)

8) I am worried that Paragon and Epic level play will not be awesome enough, and won't be able to capture the amazing feats of myth. I guess I am worried it won't be anime/videogame enough (and I am being serious here). Alternatively, I am worried it will be just weird without replicating the good parts of myth, anime, etc.

I think that is most of it... Everything else (which includes most of the big things) makes me optimistic and enthusiastic, so these complaints won't really stop me from switching to 4E.

Edit: I actually forgot a pretty major concern... I am a bit nervous that giving everyone encounter, daily, and at will powers and unifying the power mechanics for all classes will remove a lot of the class sub-system diversity that made 3.5 interesting. As such, I am worried that the differences between power sources (especially power sources like Arcane, Divine, and Psionics) will be more fluff than real, and that this will get worse as more power sources are introduced (the mention of a Primal power source makes me cringe, actually).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Conversely, if your fear list is longer than mine is, why are you calling your self someone who likes 4E? Don't you just mean that you like the idea of 4E? That you like 4E in abstract when it can occupy a fantasy space of a 'perfect system', but you don't actually like what you've seen of 4E? It seemed to me more of the 'fears' revolved around things that have been seen that things that hadn't been. Is that a fear? Oh well.

Well, I think most of the fears are not based on hard facts. My "barrier to entry" fears on the other hand don't really affect me, because they won't be barriers of entry to me or my group. Basically, many of the fears are: "They said they'd do X, and I like that. But what if they missed a bad thing Y that happens due to X?"
Basicaly, the number of points doesn't say anything about the "weight" of them.

Hopefully everyone will be happy with whatever choice they end up making.

That's probably something everyone can agree on.

On the whole though, I think it is a good thing that people associated with negativity offer up thier positive assessments, and the people associated with positivity offer thier negative assessments. I'm getting sick and tired of the whole, 'If you like/don't like 4E, you must be an idiot' meme.

Also seconded...
If anything can "help" to fracture the fan base, it's ridiculing people that don't agree with you.

 

[PeelSeel2]

There won't be enough boobs...

Game by nerds for nerds. Their will be plenty of boobs!!

My biggest fear is rules for opportunaty attacks vs. boobs. How are they going to handle that?!

 

[Xethreau]

I like 4e so far, but here are my dislikes/concerns:

- Converting editions: I think that for people who want to reformat their characters to the new edition of the game, there might some issues (like Duskblades, for example.)
- Halfing height change: lol wut?
- Diagonals: Wow, you really can outrun an alligator by running zigzags!
- Daily powers: missing sucks
- Death giants, but no frost giants
- Some "Traditional" monsters are ones that I have never heard of nor care about
- Too few classes in PHB1
- As a person with little to no income, DDI exclusive classes and racial write-ups scare me

 

[AverageCitizen]

I am afraid of the six hour rest.

I am afraid of over-focusing on combat.

I am afraid that 'rogue' means 'damage'.

I am afraid that the art we haven't seen yet sucks.

I am afraid that I am incapable of love.

I am an average citizen, and these are my fears.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Unless you only run 3-month campaigns that never gain in levels, you are always going to get magic items that you eventually want to sell for X,000 gp.

Well, I guess you could implement some sort of auto-levelling mechanism for items (in which case, have I got a deal for you), but those have their own issues.

Hong, I've been using your points system in my E6 game (capped at +2 bonuses) and it's been great -- thanks a ton, man.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[MaelStorm]

There are two things that I fear but with the 4E preview & DDXP they were all confirmed:

-Grid/Mini-centric focus & combat/terrain bonus: There is no way around, and I doubt 4E will give us rules to avoid buying their minis and other products. So I took step in advance to be ready for 4E, I bought some minis booster pack (and I'm going to buy more), plus I'm in the process of buying a big battlemat and markers, so I'm going to be ready this summer.

-Skills: From what I've seen so far, skills are now passive/static checks, no more craft, knowledge, professional skills etc. It lacks the depth I want and that is a big deal for me. Steps I am taking will be to borrow skills from another game (GURPS to not name it and some old D&D 3.5). So IMC, INT will continue to give skill points and there will be background and a whole plethora of quirks and other extras that players are going to be choosing from to make characters. I don't have the time to wait until PHB3 or Unearthed Arcana in a year or two.


There are other fears that I'm still not sure how its going to turn out, but I will wait to see the Core Books before changing anything:

-Powers: that there will be too many exceptions concerning the at-will/encounter/daily, which would end up in more work for the players and the DM instead of less.

-Power creep: that powers will be too powerful that I have to change them, and end up doing the same thing I'm doing with skills. I fear that I'm going to have to make up a whole new set of powers to balance the potential abuse for each class.


I know 4E won't be perfect, and I ultimately know that no game will ever be perfect.

 

[Wiman]

Game by nerds for nerds. Their will be plenty of boobs!!

My biggest fear is rules for opportunaty attacks vs. boobs. How are they going to handle that?!

Replace oportunity attack with cheap feel and I think the rules will handle the rest.

 

[Cactot]

1. I dont like the flavor of the default races... not much i can do about that.

2. I am afraid there will not be enough diversity of powers for each class to allow flexibility of concept. (What if i want a rogue who fights primarily with a mace and uses javelins or hammers as throwing weapons? will all of my abilities no longer work)

3. I am afraid for my beloved druid... what will become of thee? I know your shapeshifting and animal companion will get "nerfed" = / I thought with the shapeshifting PRC's that the druids ability to emulate nearly any creature he/she had seen was probably one of the coolest character designs of any in 3.x.

4. I am afraid that there will be too few "ability slots" so a wizard might only be able to have 4-5 at will powers, instead of 20 at higher level... i want to be able to use mage hand AND spider climb without getting rid of all my combat spells.

5. I am (minorly) afraid that some classes will feel too similar and/or will have mechanics that the only difference is fluff.

6. I am afraid that low-level encounter powers will remain that way (i hope that there is an ability at later levels to adopt a lower level encounter or daily power as a at will or encounter power respectively)

7. I am (minorly) afraid that high level combats will take ages unless PC damage scales faster than hp does, as if a 3rd (?) level dragon has 280hp, how many would a level 18-20 have? Hell, as it is a lvl 15 wizards daily (blast of cold) only has about an even chance of killing a lvl1 kobold in 1 shot 0_o 6d6 (Avg 21) + int bonus (maybe 10?) for 31 average damage to a creature with 30 hp.

there are probably more that i can come up with... that being said i am more excited about 4e than anything else in rpgs since combat and tactics from 2e (and in a lesser way Bo9S for 3.5)

 

[Odysseus]

My only big fear is setting compatibility.
My groups intentions for running our next campaign , and our first opportunity for a 4E game . Was to do something in a low technology setting, ancient egypt/greece or hyborian maybe. And i'm starting to have concerns whether 4E will work well for that kind of setting.