Is the DMG 2 recommended?

[Mouseferatu]

Well I certainly didn't mean to step on your toes; I was speaking of impressions. The "paragon campaign" material and Sigil all blends together in my mind because 4E has this "paragon = Planescape or you're doing it wrong" vibe which turns me off. As it is, one chapter or no, that stuff is 40+ pages of a 220-page book. True, not half, but not exactly a trivial portion either. And I did say that stuff was good for those interested in the topic, even I personally am not.

Not stepping on my toes; I didn't work on it in any capacity.

And no, 40 pages isn't not trivial, but not even near to half. But you're also ignoring, just among other things:

• Lots and lots and lots of DM advice that isn't about "collective storytelling," including--just off the top of my head--some really good advice about building encounters, running/using skill challenges, and keeping different types of players happy at the table.
• Lots of other mechanics besides monster themes.
• Lots of paragon-tier advice that has nothing whatsoever to do with planes or plane-hopping.

Again, the book didn't work for you, and that's fine. But when a discussion has turned to contents and utility, I think it's a little unfair to answer based on an impression of content that, no matter how strongly held, simply isn't accurate. Now, if you want to say that the above material was equally old hat to you, or that you didn't think it was useful, that's something else entirely. But it's there, and occupies far more of the book than the material you implied took up most of the page count.

 

[Jhaelen]

I think, as a D&D Insider there's no 4E book that will be more useful to a DM than the DMG and the DMG2. Sure, some of the content was taken from DDI articles, but most of it is completely new.

While the DMG contained a lot of useful DM advice, it didn't include a lot I didn't know or do already after 25 years of DMing. This is a bit different with the DMG2. The advanced DM techniques are really more 'advanced' than the previous material in the DMG and while most of it may not be new to someone who's looked into lots of different DMing techniques will definitely be new to the 'typical' D&D DM.

It also gave me the impression of embracing and supporting a wider variety of playstyles than the first DMG.

Finally, it updates, improves and tries to fix problem areas of the previous DMG. It's still a book you'll probably never use during a session, but you'll definitely be using and referencing it during preparations for sessions.

To sum it up: If you didn't like the first DMG, chances are you won't like this one either. If you thought the first DMG was good, this one is even better. I can only recommend it.

 

[Starfox]

I think, as a D&D Insider there's no 4E book that will be more useful to a DM than the DMG and the DMG2. Sure, some of the content was taken from DDI articles, but most of it is completely new.

Maybe DMG2 is the one book a DDI subscriber needs to bye this year - you get the others as part of the DDI. Referencing these days is better done in a computer database - printed books are more useful for "softer" stuff like this.