This rings true to me. Even if they had used a not-FR setting as the core setting - Greyhawk, Dark Sun (!?!), even Eberron - I think 4e may have done better. Tbh, Eberron would be a great setting to bring back 4e, if they ever decided to go that way (can't imagine the market circumstances that would make that appealing to Hasbro, but stranger thing can happen (like Stranger Things being super popular!))
People rarely use that as a negative assertion against MMO players like D&D players use it for...
FTFY while maintaining word count.
Ironically that breaks the cadence I had in mind while writing that.
I do think that there are a lot of things that digital games do better than D&D. IMHO, video games do a better job at designing classes so that you feel like you are experiencing the class fantasy early on. Your necromancer, for example, should already feel like a necromancer at level 1.
Really? Ebberon was designed hand-in glove with 3e mechanics, and involves a lot of extrapolation from those mechanics to the setting and the inverse, like sharply limiting high level characters to allow specific setting elements to flourish. I wouldn't jump there for a 4e reboot. Expanding Nentir Vale or maybe even taking another stab at Dark Sun feel more on target.
Except the constant tinkering because of "balance."
Casual play. 3.x was already complex (compared to ad&d 2e), 4e just upped the ante. While you still had simple classes in 3e, 4e got rid of them. You could whip up basic fighter in couple of minutes in 3e and all you had to remember was - full attack. That's it. Even wizards and clerics weren't that complex. You had slots and it's "use and loose". No recharge mechanic. Character resource management was way less complex in 3e, double so in 2e. I mean, you could play it more simple, ignore recharge, but it's playing against system.
