I listened to Mike Mearls interview on http://theoryfromthecloset.com/.
They discussed 4e class roles and the theories behind them in 4e design. Essential, each role has certain strengths and weak areas. This leads to teamwork and tactical play as a party uses the abilities of their characters together. This is something that is very powerful in 4e's game design and combat and I think the designers are on to something with class roles.
Likewise, I think the multiclassing and character options in 3.5 (although a bit overwhelming) had something good about them. Players could create a character that felt more like their concept, or that character could react to events within their life that change them. This feature is good for the story driven roleplayers and something I think those players find lacking in 4e.
The issue with this style of customization though (according to Mearls) is that it leads to optimization of character damage output, and it works directly against the concept of class roles.
So my question for our community, is there a solution that gives the class roles style of play and tactics of 4.0 with the character customization of 3.5 or are these two aspects of game play diametrically opposed?
They discussed 4e class roles and the theories behind them in 4e design. Essential, each role has certain strengths and weak areas. This leads to teamwork and tactical play as a party uses the abilities of their characters together. This is something that is very powerful in 4e's game design and combat and I think the designers are on to something with class roles.
Likewise, I think the multiclassing and character options in 3.5 (although a bit overwhelming) had something good about them. Players could create a character that felt more like their concept, or that character could react to events within their life that change them. This feature is good for the story driven roleplayers and something I think those players find lacking in 4e.
The issue with this style of customization though (according to Mearls) is that it leads to optimization of character damage output, and it works directly against the concept of class roles.
So my question for our community, is there a solution that gives the class roles style of play and tactics of 4.0 with the character customization of 3.5 or are these two aspects of game play diametrically opposed?