The_Gneech said:
Thing is, mechanical stuff (like 50/50 saving throws and 1-1-1 movement) doesn't bug me anywhere near as much as things like "the ranger teleported" (WTF?), "the cleric damaged himself to heal the fighter" (WTF?), and "crazy acid glue" (which, if I were a player, would smack of pure cheese).
When the cleric damaged himself to heal the fighter, we flavored it as the cleric sacrificed his own life energy to heal the fighter, so no flavor problems there. The ranger teleporting is an eladrin thing. Drow can release darkness, eladrin have a short range teleport, no problems for an innately magical race.
My players did think the acid glue was a little hokey at first, but once we realized how short durations often are in 4e, and how conditions are not as hindering as in 3.5, they were okay with it. That was a big realization. Because conditions are short lived and less hindering, its okay that certain monster effects are automatic. And it definitely made those little kobolds much more important to take down. The party went from attacking the kobold dragon shields to rushing over and getting those slingers.
Actually, flavorwise the main thing that didn't seem to work sometimes was marking. For example, I had some hobgoblins that had a marking attack. I would hit the ranger, who would teleport away from the hobgoblin, yet was still at a -2 to attack anyone but the hobgoblin
To me that was the biggest flavor stretch.
Also, let me comment that I love the unique racial abilities. Most all of them seemed nice. The tiefling's bloodhunt made the difference multiple times. The eladrin's teleport was great for a sniper. The dwarf resilience made him feel tough, and the halfling with his feat was just very hard to hit. I will admit to not feeling much from the half-elf, I think the diplomacy aura is still pretty lame.
Oh, one piece of advice for those soon to try out 4e. Because monsters have so many more hitpoints than the players, you have to be careful to not get numb to big damage. My players would routinely do 12 or more damage, and I would just check it off and keep going, that didn't bloody many of the monsters. But man when I did 12 damage to a player they were in a load of trouble, and sometimes I got caught by that. One time a player did 20 damage to me. I attacked back and shrugged, saying I only did 12. The player gulped and said he was unconscious and close to death!!
Sure, it's wild and wooly, but it also sounds like the rules are on crack. "Then the rogue sprouted thirty foot tentacles and used them to swing across the room! It was FUN!" 
