Fifth Element said:
I think complaining about words & phrases used by the designers is overused and becoming rather bland. Every new blog post or playtest report has someone complaining about this word or that.
After a quick perusal of the boards, I can see why you are so snarky. While irritated that it is directed at someone who hasn't posted much on the 4e boards, I will retract my previous comment here, and instead attempt to make a constructive discussion.
First off - for the most part, and correct me if I'm wrong, what we are reading is written by people who are at least part-time professional writers. Of my expectations for such folk, one of them is that they are able to use their chosen language to convey precise concepts. This is understandably difficult when discussing a fantasy game, as we all have differing ideas of what certain things mean, but surely a professional writer would be able to make something that is relatively clear to a vast majority of the gaming population.
My issue with the phrase "knock-down, drag-out," is that it has - at least in my mind - a very clear and precise use. That is, the phrase would be used to describe a fight that, at least until late into the combat, has no clear victor, and that success must be snapped from the jaws of defeat with a single snap decision, or other such appropriate cliche. My understanding is that a fight that is described using these phrases is very difficult and very time-consuming.
My problem is that this phrase seems to be used to describe a good deal of 4e combats. This, in combination with the idea that combats should be making use of lots of terrain and all sorts of other miscellany, leads me to believe that 4e combats will be a major pain to run, despite all statements to the contrary.
Basically, what I am getting at is that, while these big, nasty combats were interesting at first, it would also be nice to see some normal combats, some regular fights with some regular critters that don't pose much of a threat. Just some normalcy would be nice. I don't know about you, but sometimes, a fist-fight in an alley is just that, and doesn't need to be spiced up with an erupting volcano in the background, or what-have-you.