D&D General Mike Mearls says control spells are ruining 5th Edition

[AnotherGuy]

Thanks for being so very informative.

I stand by my non informative statement

 

[AnotherGuy]

Oh man, i am getting nostalgic for 4E. Epic Destinies were surprisingly simple constructs and yet really worked well to sell their narrative and make you feel Epic.

Yeah fully agree. I have quite the appreciation for how the tiered system worked in 4e, how the progressive engine catered for that (including the use of minions) and its why I favour a system where the first few levels of 5e get traded out (when at high level) for passive benefits to accentuate something similar for 5e. That and it also reduces the clutter on the character sheet.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I think 4e D&D rewards skilful, intelligent players at all tiers of play, in a least two ways: skill and intelligence are needed to achieve the benefits of cooperation and synergies in combat situations; and skill and intelligence (and also imagination) are needed to fully engage with the fiction (via p 42 as the resolution guidelines), both in and out of combat.

Here's an example of the latter, from upper Epic tier:
This is the sort of thing that of course will play differently at different tables, But because 4e has a consistent, coherent framework for establishing costs (action economy, recovery or non-recovery of abilities within a common resource suite, sacrificing permanent items (or item-equivalent effects), etc) and DCs (the DC by level table); and because the fiction of tiers is pretty clear and other parts of the game (like Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies) reinforce that fiction, meaning that appropriate effects are also reasonably identifiable; the game facilitates rather than impedes a particular table reaching a consensus about how something like sealing the Abyss can, mechanically, be done.

One thing I like about them is that they are express ("in your face"). The PC is a demigod, or one of the Raven Queen's chief marshals, or - in the case of the chaos sorcerer PC in my play excerpt - an Emergent Primordial.

An emergent primordial can do more than just hang out at the tavern waiting for quests. They're the sort of being that might seal the Abyss!

This was great.
I assume that because grid movement was not a concern at it seems in the above play example you allowed leeway with how much area was covered via the move action?