Are monster defenses too high?

[TerraDave]

Expertise feats, dragging combats, missing dailies...

I know about some of the "glitches" in terms of relative progresion.

But more generally, are monsters just too are hard to hit?

 

[D3nt3]

In early levels (heroic tier) you should be able to hit with a 10, easier in some specials conditions like flank, attack boosts or defense penalties, wich makes you, in most of the combat, hit with a regular 7-8.

Our rogue had 12 to-hit with at-will powers at level 3, in some encounters he could hit even with a 2-3 rolled in the dice against same-level monsters.

But each class can deal with the progression in different ways, fighters and most strikers can always pick feats to boost "hit" and boost primary stats. Some other players may have dificulties with this progression, like multiclasses, that demands a lot of feats and you may have to split some stats points.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Have got a party with a non-buffing bard leader and a controller that has one power that buffs attack. Encounters at about their level, level +1 runs quite smoothly. It's a level 8 party.

 

[Stalker0]

I think most of teh complaint isn't about monsters being too hard to hit, but rather monsters being too hard to kill (too many hp).

Still a lot of debate about that, but I hear it more than I hear about high defenses.

 

[keterys]

I actually rarely encounter this problem myself, but I tend to see and exploit the methods of dealing damage. Like both of my leaders give many bonuses to damage. I'll use iron armbands, reckless or bloodclaw, dragonshards and similar things that I might aesthetically disagree with, but certainly get combat done faster.

 

[DNH]

My own experience is tending towards the opposite. My players complain that the monsters hit the characters all too easily. They are currently level 3, fighting orcs and the like, who regularly hit ACs etc in the mid-to-high 20s.

 

[CapnZapp]

Yeah, it's mystifying how many monsters there are who hit real easy.

If a monster just a few levels above your own regularly hit on a 5 or on a 7, I get a sense my players don't believe it's worth bothering to up their defenses.

 

[Tuft]

Yeah, it's mystifying how many monsters there are who hit real easy.

If a monster just a few levels above your own regularly hit on a 5 or on a 7, I get a sense my players don't believe it's worth bothering to up their defenses.

See my math example here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/267173-non-ac-defenses.html#post4977977

 

[D3nt3]

My defender has 25 AC at level 7 and he is pretty hard to hit, a regular monster at level 9 has +15 to-hit.

If your group know what they are doing, encounters become pretty easy.

 

[TerraDave]

Yes, the hp complaint I am aware of, though if hit more often, they would obviously go faster...

More generally, is it just a lack of "team play" that makes encounters seem tougher then they are?