So I picked up the essentials today, and took my first read through. Here are my thoughts.
Classes
Cleric
Good: They took at wills and gave them effects...further allowing the cleric to be the target of the effect. This small and simple thing makes the cleric so much better than the core cleric imo. Also domains do really effect the ongoing progression of your cleric.
Bad: I really don't like the organization of this class. Some powers in front, domain powers later, paragon and epic destiny powers in another section...it was really hard to get through it.
Fighter:
Good: Both the Knight and Slayer seem like solid solid classes for those who want to get in the middle and shake it up.
Bad: No real bad here. If you are a looking for a simple but highly effective fighter you have come to the right place.
Rogue:
Good: Similar to the fighter, it looks like an effective and straight forward class for those who want to be sneaky and deadly.
Bad: With the fact that backstab does not require a rogue weapon, the thought of a heavy blade, light blade rogue looked viable....except rogues get so many bonuses only to "rogue weapons" that it would be crazy not to pick these weapons.
Wizard:
Good: Effect only powers, halleluyah! The illusion powers look great, and I love that some of the most potent effects are very powerful but fade if the target takes damage...making them control powers not gank the solo powers.
Bad: I felt the wizard was a very strong class in the core (at least past paragon) and this wizard seems even stronger. Also, the spellbook section is confusing to me.
Races
Good: I like that I now have more flexibility in my starting scores. Its a good touch.
Bad: Not much else has changed. Elves still have that needlessly complicated aura.
Feats
Good: The feats in here are solid additions to your characters. You can remove armor check penalties, gain resistances, boost your attacks and defenses, etc.
Bad: If you thought you heard complaining about feat taxes before you haven't seen anything yet.
Skills
Good: The new standard skill DCs are presented in a very clean way. I like that each skill has an improv section to help new Dms figure out DCs for certain actions.
Bad: Skill DCs are now even more based on your level and less on the situation. Some Dcs should not get higher simply because I'm higher level.
Magic Items
Good: The new item rarity is a good idea.
Bad: Some of the common items are so strong I don't think people will look at uncommon and rares in certain cases. For example, the old fan favorite Bracers of Mighty Striking are still there (yes your slayer can have a permanent +6 to damage rolls, step right up).
Overall
Good: The book is very sturdy even though its not the normal binding. There are several new pieces of artwork I like.
There is also a ton of flavor to go along with everything. Each power gets a paragraph of flavor text, above the standard little blub that comes with each power.
Bad: I don't like how the classes are organized. They try to present your abilities at each level...but they pull powers out and summarize them on later pages, which causes a person to flip back and forth to see what is going on.
For those who have the core books, there is a lot of repeat material. The stuff is good, but only about a 1/3 of the book is new crunch imo. The rest is fluff or repeat material.
Classes
Cleric
Good: They took at wills and gave them effects...further allowing the cleric to be the target of the effect. This small and simple thing makes the cleric so much better than the core cleric imo. Also domains do really effect the ongoing progression of your cleric.
Bad: I really don't like the organization of this class. Some powers in front, domain powers later, paragon and epic destiny powers in another section...it was really hard to get through it.
Fighter:
Good: Both the Knight and Slayer seem like solid solid classes for those who want to get in the middle and shake it up.
Bad: No real bad here. If you are a looking for a simple but highly effective fighter you have come to the right place.
Rogue:
Good: Similar to the fighter, it looks like an effective and straight forward class for those who want to be sneaky and deadly.
Bad: With the fact that backstab does not require a rogue weapon, the thought of a heavy blade, light blade rogue looked viable....except rogues get so many bonuses only to "rogue weapons" that it would be crazy not to pick these weapons.
Wizard:
Good: Effect only powers, halleluyah! The illusion powers look great, and I love that some of the most potent effects are very powerful but fade if the target takes damage...making them control powers not gank the solo powers.
Bad: I felt the wizard was a very strong class in the core (at least past paragon) and this wizard seems even stronger. Also, the spellbook section is confusing to me.
Races
Good: I like that I now have more flexibility in my starting scores. Its a good touch.
Bad: Not much else has changed. Elves still have that needlessly complicated aura.
Feats
Good: The feats in here are solid additions to your characters. You can remove armor check penalties, gain resistances, boost your attacks and defenses, etc.
Bad: If you thought you heard complaining about feat taxes before you haven't seen anything yet.
Skills
Good: The new standard skill DCs are presented in a very clean way. I like that each skill has an improv section to help new Dms figure out DCs for certain actions.
Bad: Skill DCs are now even more based on your level and less on the situation. Some Dcs should not get higher simply because I'm higher level.
Magic Items
Good: The new item rarity is a good idea.
Bad: Some of the common items are so strong I don't think people will look at uncommon and rares in certain cases. For example, the old fan favorite Bracers of Mighty Striking are still there (yes your slayer can have a permanent +6 to damage rolls, step right up).
Overall
Good: The book is very sturdy even though its not the normal binding. There are several new pieces of artwork I like.
There is also a ton of flavor to go along with everything. Each power gets a paragraph of flavor text, above the standard little blub that comes with each power.
Bad: I don't like how the classes are organized. They try to present your abilities at each level...but they pull powers out and summarize them on later pages, which causes a person to flip back and forth to see what is going on.
For those who have the core books, there is a lot of repeat material. The stuff is good, but only about a 1/3 of the book is new crunch imo. The rest is fluff or repeat material.
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