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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5329869" data-attributes="member: 59082">I know, there have been a ton of such threads, but I want to focus on the product itself - the physical presentation, the format, and the overall direction. This thread is not about, or at least not focused on, the rules themselves, what adjustments have been made, and whether or not it is 4.x edition.I just got Heroes of the Fallen Lands and The Rules Compendium yesterday. My very first impression was slight disappointment, as for whatever reason I was under the impression that Heroes was a box set. No matter. Backing up for a second, I got The Starter Kit a couple weeks ago when it came out and was also a bit disappointed, although again because of my own misunderstanding: I didn't realize that it was for complete newbies; I thought it was more of a basic set ala Moldvay and Holmes, with rules for levels 1-3, tables of contents, indexes, etc. I quickly realized that it was (almost?) completely useless for anyone other than a new player or DM. On a purely physical level, it is a nice product, but I found the flimsiness of the booklets a bit off-putting; I mean they could have used some form of cardstock. For most new players I would imagine that they will barely last long enough to read through them once.Back to the newer books. The Rules Compendium is a very handy reference and will be quite useful at the game table. I can't tell yet, but I wonder if it will save me from having to lug a bunch of hardcovers to one of my friends' house where we play. I just skimmed through it, but it seems like a solid product. Heroes, however, is not so much to my liking. I just don't like the one-column, digest format - it feels claustrophobic. It is not nearly as "browse-friendly" and I dislike the fact that you can't look at, say, a chart of all three tiers of a class; the tiers are broken up by powers, of all things, which makes it an awkward reference work.I have barely gotten into the meat of either book, but I can't say I'm all that fond of this direction. The Rules Compendium is an excellent idea, but as a reference work, and because it doesn't seem to replace anything. Heroes,  however, has me worried. Is it meant to replace the Player's Handbook? Will we not see what I hope to see, an expanded, revised and edited PHB, maybe with non-common magic items taken out and more classes, builds, and themes put in?To put it another way, I like those aspects of Essentials that accent and support the 4E line as a whole--so far that would be The Rules Compendium--but I hope that WotC doesn't decide to replace the hardcover format with the new digest books, at least not for core rulebooks. It works for a quick reference book, but not so much a Player's Handbook or a Dungeon Master's Guide. Maybe it would work fine for monsters, I don't know. I'm wondering how well the Nentir Vale Gazetteer will work as a digest, although the old Volo's guides were fine.I am also trying to look at it from the perspective of one of my players. While the classes are seemingly arranged rather linearly so that you can just build your character, page by page, they are not so browser-friendly and I imagine it would be difficult to get a sense of what class you'd want to play merely by thumbing through the book.So again, the feeling of claustrophobia--due to the one column, digest-sized format--is my main issue. I am open to the possibility that I might get used to it and like it, but as of this moment I far prefer browsing through a PHB than Heroes of the Fallen Lands.</blockquote>

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