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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4948955" data-attributes="member: 82106">Not that this is untrue, but its hard to blame the 4e developers for this, or the system itself really. Inevitably if you're going to keep adding new and interesting feats to the game as well as new classes with new features, PPs, EDs, etc. then at some point certain combinations are going to pop up which are exceptionally good and as there are now 1400 feats overall in CB its pretty easy to see that there is no feasible amount of playtesting that will show up all the culprits either. Instead they show up after release when sooner or later someone tries out practically every combination. And that doesn't even account for all the different interpretations of various rules since almost any rule can be interpreted in a few ways if someone tries hard enough.In terms of items I think the reason we have some extra powerful items is a combination of the same issue that exists with feats plus simple customer demand. Players WANT really powerful items. Its an easy and cheap way for them to pump up their character which usually doesn't require a lot of min/maxing and fooling around in CB to figure out how to do. The general feeling seems to have been that the PHB items were lacklustre and underpowered. Thus we ended up with reckless and bloodclaw and some of the nasty implements in AV. I think WRT the the OP's issues with his party its an issue of the choices that group of players made. They seem to eschew the most powerful items and the more effective combat boosting feats. I think its just hard to feel sorry for them when they underperform on damage output. While it is true that the game was intended to have a fairly narrow gap between optimized and non-optimized characters SOME gap is inevitable as long as there is any synergy at all between the various build choices you make or any variation at all between items. I think the players in the OP's case maybe need to unbend a bit and pick up a few more damage boosts. Retraining one feat each and maybe adding or replacing an item is probably going to crank their damage up a good bit. Probably more than dropping an extra [W] on their at-wills. They may also want to consider taking some of the more high damage powers. I suspect they've just gone too far in the direction of placing conditions and whatnot. Those are great, but as stated earlier, the best condition is dead.</blockquote>

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