Ogrork the Mighty
Explorer
- presentation (the people) was amateurish and corny; WotC should have hired a professional presenter to "champion" the new version.
- I'm not as excited as I was when 3E was announced but am more excited than when 3.5 was announced.
- I like the push for streamlining (but they said the same thing about 3E). I am a little worried about oversimplification, but we'll see how it goes.
- I like the idea of powers at every new class level.
- I like the idea of additional power usages beyond spells per day. I'd really like to see the whole, "It's 10 am and we're out of spells. Time to rest!" thing addressed in a much more comprehensive way than, "Just throw encounters at them to keep them from resting" or "Impose deadlines that they have to meet."
- Simplified stat blocks sound good, but I'm not so sure I'm liking the concept of less compartmentalization of monsters (i.e., creature types being replaced by creature roles)
- If the online play works, it will eventually be great. If it works. And there will be a lot of limitations in the early months/years until they get enough online content (i.e., for mapping, tiles, add ons, etc.)
- I hope the die roller can be optioned to just display the random results rather than having to watch the dice roll. It looks neat to see the dice, but it really slows things down and gets annoying after a while. I also hope they enable you to build in macros to calculate what AC you hit (for example).
- flying is a problem. So are 3D maps (what happens if there's a balcony overlooking the great hall?). But really just a minor problem.
- I really like the idea of being able to build your own character appearance and import that into online play. I just hope they make A LOT of options and/or add-ons. It would also be very nice if they did 3D scans of every D&D mini for import. I'm sorta feeling that all my minis are a poor investment now...
- I don't have a problem with electronic versions of the books being available to those who bought print versions. The books are still going to get scanned to the net though.
- I'm willing to pay $10-15 a month for the content WotC seems to be promising. But not much more than that and definitely not more than $20 a month.
- Dungeon and Dragon are back! Well, sort of. I think they should have left the hard copies b/c that's what I really want. Sure I want the online flexibility, but I want to be able to read the mags on the go without my laptop and internet connection. If I was Paizo, I'd be worried. The mags are continuing right where they left off and I don't think many people are going to be able to afford $10-15 for the Insider and then another $15-20 for the monthly Paizo mag.
- I'm really glad to see that the books being published between now and 4E will be transitional and able to be incorporated into 4E. That may keep me from what I was thinking of doing, which was not buying anything until 4E comes out.
- I like the increased emphasis on class roles. I realize players like options, but it grew tiresome for every class(es) to have the ability to fulfill whatever role the player wanted. When you go that far down the road of generalization, classes cease to have a whole lot of meaning.
- I like the idea of fewer classes. I just really wish they would take the plunge and finally go to a spell point or open spellbook system. Take the best of the sorcerer and wizard, combine them, and then move forward with one. The added bookkeeping of preparing spells is a time waster.
- Finally, I wish they had waited a couple more years for 4E. Ten years between new editions sounds about right. Right now, it feels just a tad too early.
Edit:
- One more. I really, really like the fact that they're toning back all the magic items and buffs.
- I'm not as excited as I was when 3E was announced but am more excited than when 3.5 was announced.
- I like the push for streamlining (but they said the same thing about 3E). I am a little worried about oversimplification, but we'll see how it goes.
- I like the idea of powers at every new class level.
- I like the idea of additional power usages beyond spells per day. I'd really like to see the whole, "It's 10 am and we're out of spells. Time to rest!" thing addressed in a much more comprehensive way than, "Just throw encounters at them to keep them from resting" or "Impose deadlines that they have to meet."
- Simplified stat blocks sound good, but I'm not so sure I'm liking the concept of less compartmentalization of monsters (i.e., creature types being replaced by creature roles)
- If the online play works, it will eventually be great. If it works. And there will be a lot of limitations in the early months/years until they get enough online content (i.e., for mapping, tiles, add ons, etc.)
- I hope the die roller can be optioned to just display the random results rather than having to watch the dice roll. It looks neat to see the dice, but it really slows things down and gets annoying after a while. I also hope they enable you to build in macros to calculate what AC you hit (for example).
- flying is a problem. So are 3D maps (what happens if there's a balcony overlooking the great hall?). But really just a minor problem.
- I really like the idea of being able to build your own character appearance and import that into online play. I just hope they make A LOT of options and/or add-ons. It would also be very nice if they did 3D scans of every D&D mini for import. I'm sorta feeling that all my minis are a poor investment now...
- I don't have a problem with electronic versions of the books being available to those who bought print versions. The books are still going to get scanned to the net though.
- I'm willing to pay $10-15 a month for the content WotC seems to be promising. But not much more than that and definitely not more than $20 a month.
- Dungeon and Dragon are back! Well, sort of. I think they should have left the hard copies b/c that's what I really want. Sure I want the online flexibility, but I want to be able to read the mags on the go without my laptop and internet connection. If I was Paizo, I'd be worried. The mags are continuing right where they left off and I don't think many people are going to be able to afford $10-15 for the Insider and then another $15-20 for the monthly Paizo mag.
- I'm really glad to see that the books being published between now and 4E will be transitional and able to be incorporated into 4E. That may keep me from what I was thinking of doing, which was not buying anything until 4E comes out.
- I like the increased emphasis on class roles. I realize players like options, but it grew tiresome for every class(es) to have the ability to fulfill whatever role the player wanted. When you go that far down the road of generalization, classes cease to have a whole lot of meaning.
- I like the idea of fewer classes. I just really wish they would take the plunge and finally go to a spell point or open spellbook system. Take the best of the sorcerer and wizard, combine them, and then move forward with one. The added bookkeeping of preparing spells is a time waster.
- Finally, I wish they had waited a couple more years for 4E. Ten years between new editions sounds about right. Right now, it feels just a tad too early.
Edit:
- One more. I really, really like the fact that they're toning back all the magic items and buffs.
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