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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aegeri" data-source="post: 5431790" data-attributes="member: 78116">There is one main reason for this and the arguments have yet to be fully resolved. If I were you, I'd expect this to get worse and especially if 4E falls over essentials is going to take the brunt of the blame/hate by the community. If you've seen hate now, just wait until heroes of shadow comes out and any "new" class doesn't follow AEDU (at-will, encounter, daily and utility power format. Like all the classes in the original PHB).The first is that a lot of us who play 4E, including myself do not like 3.5 and I think that game is absolutely terribly designed. I hated the concept of fighters that did absolutely nothing except swing an axe for increasingly little return, while any spellcaster eclipsed them in power so bad it was just brutal for that player. That 4E gave martial classes like fighters the same degree of options and balanced the power level out was a revelation. One that a tremendous amount of people really liked about 4E. It was equivalent and you could build any class with a bunch of great options at every level - instead of being completely screwed if you weren't a spellcaster.When essentials "regresses" it started to look like pieces of the system that 4E was built on that those who actually liked 4E played it for were going. Martial classes got the options that finally made them equivalent "stripped away". Slayers, Knights, Hunters and Thieves are heavily toned down on options, being near literal linear railroads from level 1 to 30 (they get a paragon path and ED choice). It isn't really that these are replacements for older martial classes, which they are certainly not in any manner and it's more that it indicated (to many) the future of 4E design. That more classes would lack the options and abilities that were enjoyed by all other classes since release, would turn into boring MBA spamming "railroads" these players don't enjoy.Now if they are right or not remains to be seen and I think HoS would be the proving part here. If we have a book where all the classes - except maybe spellcasters like the necromancer/nethermancer (mage builds incidenally) - lack AEDU options then their conspiracy theories will have been proven right. That essentials was the "death" of normal 4E design and now the game has been changed for the worse. Basically that the game design principles that many (including myself) liked about 4E initially have now been abandoned in favor of appealing to people who weren't there since the start. In effect wizards would be shooting themselves at the foot, because essentials is still close enough to 4E that it really doesn't change a bloody thing to begin with. It doesn't make casters gods who can do whatever they want to break the game and the essentials classes keep up with traditional classes very well. Straightforward and direct does not equal them being bad or worse by any means. The problem with this though is that traditional 4E fans really hate it. On another forum where I make the OP for the 4E general thread, the posters in there really dislike essentials and the general direction of the company. Essentials was loudly and very often complained about as dumbing the game down or appealing to grognards instead of wizards actual fans. Although a few of my players are using essential classes (Executioner and Mage), I've found there hasn't been a lot of interest in the essentials classes in general - the more simple martial classes especially don't appeal very much to my players.Ultimately that's really the problem with essentials and why certain decisions, like making magic missile auto-hit were not received well. Many playing 4E are playing it because it's a better, more balanced and generally more consistent system than 3.5. Many love the core design where martial classes actually had options and such. To summarize all this simply, when it looks like the game is going to start publishing new classes with less options than the old ones, it reduces enthusiasm and interest from those initial 4E fans. They feel rather aggrieved by this and if future books cease to support AEDU classes, instead of the more railroaded (arguably) and class feature based essentials style they are going to get more bitter. If support for older classes also ends, another fear from many of those older fans then they might stop subscribing DDI/buying new books altogether. So ultimately wizards has put themselves into an incredibly precarious position and hasn't really done them any favors whatsoever. Essentials coming out, with the sparse release schedule afterwards and the canceling of books is being taken to indicate a total lack of leadership/direction at wizards. If Wizards goes to a 5E, expect the criticism already directed at essentials style classes to grow and the decision to release essentials as being the death blow of 4E.</blockquote>

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