"new" essentials class builds?

[Tony Vargas]

More generally the essentials classes have less to track (condition and complex effects-wise), are easier to build effectively, and have more flavor that helps with understanding the mechanics. That was the thrust of my question.

Absolutely everything post-E is probably going to get fluffed like the Essentials charaters were, yes. I think you can take that to the bank. It's a lot easier to bang out fluff than balanced mechanics, so it's not an undue burden on WotC's developers to produce it, it just was something the fans were sick of - books that were kinda nice to read, but that you couldn't find anything in - Essentials style is only a little worse for reference use than 4e, still better than 3e and earlier, because though there's more fluff, it's still segregated from the actual information in the power block.

While the HotFL/HotFK Essentials classes are beginner-focused (they are all SAD and power-inflated, and quite forgiving - even many of the Wizard powers are quite forgiving), there's no reason to expect that all classes will be going forward. There may be some tough build choices and complex abilities yet in the game's future.

 

[Quickleaf]

Absolutely everything post-E is probably going to get fluffed like the Essentials classes, yes.

I hadn't taken that for a given, but I also haven't bought any products or followed the latest news since early February when I let my ddi subscription expire.

Was this more your read of the design strategy? Or was there an article pretty much stating this that I missed?

While the HotFL/HotFK Essentials classes are beginner-focused (they are all SAD and power-inflated, and quite forgiving - even many of the Wizard powers are quite forgiving), there's no reason to expect that all classes will be going forward. There may be some tough build choices and complex abilities yet in the game's future.

I've been saying for a while how essentials *should* have introduced a whole set of beginner classes. From the perspective of us experienced players they may feel limiting, but I play with plenty of new players/less tactically minded players who *need* simpler classes.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I hadn't taken that for a given, but I also haven't bought any products or followed the latest news since early February when I let my ddi subscription expire.

Not a bad policy, really. The release schedule has bogged down, and the recent offerings haven't been that great.

Was this more your read of the design strategy? Or was there an article pretty much stating this that I missed?

I'm just jumping to a conclusion based on what's been done. Though I'm pretty sure someone from WotC did come right out ans say that 'more fluff' is part of the new direction (which is /backwards/, BTW, in case anyone hasn't caught onto that yet), I can't recall which article it was in.

I've been saying for a while how essentials *should* have introduced a whole set of beginner classes. From the perspective of us experienced players they may feel limiting, but I play with plenty of new players/less tactically minded players who *need* simpler classes.

Nod. Essentials may have delivered better than you thought. While the martial classes are very obviously simple to build & play, the Warpriest and Mage also turn out to be easier. The Warpriest is build via a 'domain' choice, once you've made the Sun/Storm decision, you're virtually done. The Mage still has to fill his spellbooks and pick spells every day, but, the Mage spells require quite a bit less of that 'tactical minded'ness, being more enemy-targetting, and otherwise straightforward or 'forgiving' of player error in their effects. It also means they're just plain a little more powerful, too. Beguiling Strands for the most obvious instance, and all the effect and miss lines added to Encounter powers. Warpriest powers also have more effect lines, even the at-wills, making timing the best use of a power based on bonuses and penalties much less of an issue. For their part, the Knight & Slayer have an encounter basica-attack-enhancer that's simply applied on a hit, so like Reliable, and then some.