Maps getting crappy now that "tiles" are used to make them?

It never made sense to me that Wizards would publish adventures that didn't use their own product - the Dungeon Tiles.
Dungeon Tiles are great -- for a minis wargame. I have no interest in them for an RPG, though.

Why? Any given map will fall into one of three groupings: 1) completely made from Dungeon Tiles, 2) partially made from Dungeon Tiles, 3) uses no Dungeon Tiles.

Those in category 1 look great, no doubt about it. Assuming that I have the Tiles required. If I'm missing a set, I end up in category 2. I also have to use exactly the tiles supplied, or they become confusing -- what if I don't want a gravestone there or want that room without any difficult terrain? Well, now the pretty markings just get in the way and I can change my design or go with #2 or #3. Yay. There are also only so many ways to rationally arrange a finite number of Tiles without it becoming obviously repetitive -- again, fine for a board game, but I'd like a chance for this necromancer's castle to look distinct from that other one.

And, category 2 looks like crap. The Tiles look sharp enough that they draw the eye away from the mat and make movement, placement, and architecture harder to follow. IMO, category 2 is the worse possible option.

Category 3 can be quick, with my Tact-Tiles. It can also be attractive for those important battles I take time to draw up ahead of time on my 3' x 4' paper grid. Sure, Tiles are prettier than using a mat, and they're quicker than coloring my own. My group enjoys the pretty, but they don't mind the mat. Plus, my maps are not constrained by pre-defined blocks.

If I were into the minis battles more, I'd be all over the Tiles. I actually have a few from when I did a battle every now and then. But, I have never been happy with using Tiles for RPG play. I refuse to be constrained to Tiles-only design, which leaves an ugly mish-mash or 100% DIY. Not much of a choice.

I will grant, though, that I could see the lure of a roads or forest set. Places that are generally generic and repetitive lend themselves well to generic and repetitive maps. For the actual dungeons, though, I'll pass. Tiles are only barely this side of worthless, IMO, but I'm certainly not going to begrudge their existence, the value others get from them, or the revenue they provide to WotC. But, I certainly can't imagine buying Dungeon or modules if all the maps were made entirely from Tiles. The Delve being this way doesn't bother me, either, though I don't see it showing up on my Christmas list.
 

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I like the tiles that come along the published adventures because obviously they fit the scenes they are supposed to be in. On occasion I will use a tile in my homebrew adventures were ofc the battle is supposed to take place in the tile. But I don't know about approximating the battlefield with mismatched tiles. Not my thing.
 

a few is ok, but creativity is king

I agree with Mouseferatu (Ari Martell), that limiting all of the adventures to dugeon tiles is the king of bad ideas.

I do say though that creating specific adventures that do use them is not a bad idea at all. Challenging a creative mind is always good. I would love to see someone like Ari or Bruce Cordell create the most interesting in encounter that they can with the tiles. I don't play 4e but I might look at something like that just from a design point of view.
 

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