I've seen lots of threads about 4Ed's grind...and I may have found factors- at least at low levels- that contributes to this that I haven't seen mentioned before: lack of iterative attacks and everyone has equal chances of hitting.
I'm currently in a startup 4Ed campaign: our group is large and we haven't been able to get everyone together to game for some time now, so we've been introducing people to the game as they manage to attend...and in the meantime, we're PHB1 only with the option of changing our PCs out at any time until we get everyone initiated. This also means there is no advancement, so we've seen a lot of low level combat.
And what has happened is that we've seen a lot of fights where PCs attacks simply don't hit. Powers aside- I haven't landed my Warlock's Daily attack in the couple of months we've been playing, despite it targeting previously weakened defenses- but even the guys who would have multiple attacks (and/or higher combat bonuses) in previous editions are finding that, while they hit hard, many combats, they hardly hit.
Example: last session, our group's Fighter didn't land a single blow in the first 2 rounds of the evening's last combat, finally hitting 2 targets with a Cleave, marking them. He then didn't land any more blows until the rest of the party started triggering AoOs, when he actually rolled a couple of 20s. My Warlock generally missed (targeting all 3 of the NADs, depending upon round), but did get a couple of solid hits, including one where he nearly maxed out with his Warlock's Curse & Hunter's Quarry damage rolls. But for the Mage's new MM, his spells generally affected combat by their secondary (read "if the attack fails") effects. The main damage dealer was the Battle Cleric.
IOW, most of our attack rolls simply fail, and this has been typical of our combats.
Now, this is, of course, in part due to the nature of the game, the randomization factor of the dice. However, additional chances or higher attack bonuses for certain classes would seem to improve the odds of PCs actually succeeding with their attacks.
Thoughts? Observations?
I'm currently in a startup 4Ed campaign: our group is large and we haven't been able to get everyone together to game for some time now, so we've been introducing people to the game as they manage to attend...and in the meantime, we're PHB1 only with the option of changing our PCs out at any time until we get everyone initiated. This also means there is no advancement, so we've seen a lot of low level combat.
And what has happened is that we've seen a lot of fights where PCs attacks simply don't hit. Powers aside- I haven't landed my Warlock's Daily attack in the couple of months we've been playing, despite it targeting previously weakened defenses- but even the guys who would have multiple attacks (and/or higher combat bonuses) in previous editions are finding that, while they hit hard, many combats, they hardly hit.
Example: last session, our group's Fighter didn't land a single blow in the first 2 rounds of the evening's last combat, finally hitting 2 targets with a Cleave, marking them. He then didn't land any more blows until the rest of the party started triggering AoOs, when he actually rolled a couple of 20s. My Warlock generally missed (targeting all 3 of the NADs, depending upon round), but did get a couple of solid hits, including one where he nearly maxed out with his Warlock's Curse & Hunter's Quarry damage rolls. But for the Mage's new MM, his spells generally affected combat by their secondary (read "if the attack fails") effects. The main damage dealer was the Battle Cleric.
IOW, most of our attack rolls simply fail, and this has been typical of our combats.
Now, this is, of course, in part due to the nature of the game, the randomization factor of the dice. However, additional chances or higher attack bonuses for certain classes would seem to improve the odds of PCs actually succeeding with their attacks.
Thoughts? Observations?
