Thanks for your opinions on your first game! I always love to read these, regardless if I agree with them or not. Among your list of dislikes I noticed several items that may be more a result of this being your 'first' impressions, than anything else.
[*]Wizards have been seriously neutered. With this 'daily powers', 'encounter powers', 'powers at will' system, one of the major advantages of the wizard - versatility - has been seriously curtailed.
Well the wizard's spellbook still makes the class the most versatile of all 4E classes.
The main difference to 3E wizards is imho, that they're only more versatile within their role, rather than having an amount of versatility to be able to replace every other role.
It's a matter of preferences if you feel this is a change for the better or worse.
[*]The classes don't cover what they ought to. I don't really miss the monk, but bards are sorely mourned. Warlords just don't fill the same role - in fact, I don't really see what the warlord brings to the game that a fighter couldn't.
I completely agree about the monk which is a pretty unique concept that isn't really covered by any existing class. I'm less sure about the bard. The bard's _combat_ role is pretty well covered by the warlord. It's the other aspects of the bard that aren't covered well.
I am truly baffled by your last comment, though. Did you have a look at the fighter and warlord powers? They serve completely different purposes. Did you see both in play?
[*]The whole thing plays like a video game. It seems like it's been designed to feel that way as well, to the point that while we were playing we kept asking our DM if we could 'save game' and at one point I cracked the group up when a player asked "how do I use this skill" and I answered "hold down B and press up." If I want to go play a video game, I'll go play one.
Here you completely lost me.
What did feel like a video game to you? Out of context your comments seem extremely forced. I cannot see anything in the skill system that reminds me of a video game. Could you elaborate?
[*]There isn't enough to distinguish one character from another. Everybody's basically the same. There's not enough options to customise and vary your character.
While I actually disagree, it's likely you are just used to a game with dozens of splatbooks, which eventually you'll have in 4E, as well.
These are just my views on these matters. Naturally, you don't have to agree with me. But I think, if you get some more experience with the system, some of your initial dislikes may dissolve. Keep playing!
