Anyone else not feel "the grind"

[ricardo440]

I've played one game L1 through to 10 and run one game 1 to 8 so far.

I have never really felt "the grind". Every time I log in someone else is creating a new houserule to deal with this problem, but I have never seen it.

We have always had a good balance of PCs including a striker whicih does seem to make a bit of a difference. We get through 2-3 fights a night of playing (usually about 3 hours) depending on how much chatting we do.

We have had a couple of long fights, but nothing out of place. If you pick L+3 soldiers battles last longer, if you pick Brutes they are shorter. It isn't a big thing. My Pcs dish out enough damage to drop a brute of their own level in a round or a round and a half (dpending on how many red powers they use).

Does anyone else just not feel the grind?

 

[Blizzardb]

Yep. No grind here.

I experienced some slow battles when I tested 4E rules for the very first time, but since then - no problems at all. And I participate in several campaigns. Battles are quick and cool in every one of them.

 

[Nytmare]

Yeah, I've been afraid that I was doing something wrong.

We've only really had one fight that was significantly longer than the other ones, but it wasn't a grind at all. The campaign has been going, roughly once a week, since the the Keep was released. It's been with a mix of characters, but the encounters were all built for a party of four.

 

[Mesh Hong]

I have run a game that so far has gone from level 1 to 13, in all that time I have never really seen a point where the players think a battle is just a grind and has become pointless and boring.

Yes I have run combats that have taken over 3 hours to resolve, but that doesn't mean they are a grind. Just real world long, and this can be cause by many real world factors.

Also having run a lot of combats I can pretty quickly see when defeat for my poor poor monsters is inevitable. This too is not actualy a grind as long as the combat still has an element of excitement to it and in fact it can add an extra layer of desperate determination to the creatures, provoking them to go all out on a single PC or making them try to flee (which never seems to work as they get cut to ribbons).

 

[Legildur]

Yes I have run combats that have taken over 3 hours to resolve, but that doesn't mean they are a grind. Just real world long, and this can be cause by many real world factors.

We had the same experience on Saturday night - 6 level 5 characters (1 striker) in a protracted battle spread over 2 fronts. Ended up with 3 characters making death saves at the time the encounter was resolved. We were astonished that it had taken 3 hours as it didn't seem that long. And certainly no grind.

It probably didn't help that we had some newish players playing unfamiliar characters and some new rules questions came up.

 

[Piratecat]

13 games and no grind here, either. We're striker-heavy and leader-light.

 

[TheLordWinter]

I've definitely had some combats which turned into grind, and a few others which threatened to. In my opinion, it stems from two main factors: the way the encounter is set up and PC mentality. If the PCs are attempting to conserve powers, then combat slows down a lot, particularly during heroic tier. If the PCs aren't willing to toss a daily or two around, then there's often times not enough damage to really take an enemy down quickly enough.

The other side of the equation is on the DM - if an encounter takes place in a flat and featureless plain, then there is no real incentive for anything to happen other than the Defenders stand toe-to-toe with the monster, the ranged strikers try to stay just out of reach and the melee strikers try to grab combat advantage.

I think certain types of encounters lend themselves more naturally to the grind - particularly ambushes. The PCs are caught in the worst possible position, the enemies have the best possible position and the characters are on their way to somewhere more important where they'll want to use their best powers, rather than in a fight that is effectively a "random encounter" for them.

I've been trying out on the fan-based solutions (1/2 hit points but 2/3rds experience) and so far I'm digging how it's going. Encounters seem a bit more smooth, the PCs are feeling good about themselves and the encounter length feels more natural. I won't be halving all monster's HP, but for the little guys it feels like a solid plan so far.

 

[Ryujin]

Grind seems to be the rule, rather than the exception for our group. During our last session though we were two players short. With three PCs and the attendant reduction in opposition, the one battle that we did turned out to be very bloody and over very quickly.

 

[Cadfan]

I've played a LOT of 4e combat. Only a few fights have felt like grinds.

 

[Dan'L]

We have always had a good balance of PCs including a striker which does seem to make a bit of a difference.

This is key. A party has to be able to bring on the damage or else things will grind down. A striker or two go a long way. Sometimes a willingness to pull out a daily or two can help, but not all dailies are big damage bringers. Without an ability to quickly bring down enemy HP totals, things can really drag on.

I've been in a party without a striker, and it grinds like you're riding the clutch. I've also been in a party with two strikers where things were fast, furious, fun, and blissfully grind free.

-Dan'L