I like low-level because the combat is fast and dangerous. That's what's interesting to me, not powers of 4e. Cleave? Reaping Strike? Brash Strike? What about an encounter or daily? Just roll the dice already. I don't want to go full 1e with it, but I appreciate the simplicity of the pre-4e fighter.
I agree. Sometimes variety is nice, sometimes it isn't. It's what I love about the 4e Slayer. It gives you options...but they're simple and require very little math beyond rolling to-hit and then damage. It's also why I gave my players the option to have daily "slots" instead of fixed daily powers. Maybe Bob likes using that one charging power all the time, maybe Steve likes that "I smash things hard!" power. Variety shouldn't be FORCED, but it should be provided.
I think speed is more dependent upon players knowing what to do, as any game will bog down when people have questions, than it will when giving them a lot to do. As for danger, all that requires is a fairly equal rate of defense and offense advancement. When monster damage peters out, and their defenses weaken but their HP skyrockets, combat becomes slow, grindy, and safe. As long as monsters maintain a fair chance at hitting the players, and their output means a
reasonable number of attacks can kill a player(lets say, 4 hits with average damage), and as long as players maintain the same parity, combat can move quickly at any level.
I custom-build the vast majority of my monsters to follow these lines, so combat is dangerous regardless of level, for both sides.
