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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SoldierBlue" data-source="post: 5878746" data-attributes="member: 57440">Attacks of Opportunity/Opportunity Attacks need to go, for two simple reasons: 1) They are complex in such a way that they deter new players. Hell, they even deter old players. I GM'd a campaign with experienced players last summer, and it was shocking how many didn't get the concept. There is in fact a thread on the 3.5 Legacy forum right now, where experienced gamers are still wrestling with the concept. It may sound simple - "You draw an attack when you leave a threatened square" - but it is not intuitive for a large percentage of players.  2) It obligates playing on a mat. That is an obligation that , judging by the results of the recent WotC blog poll, a large percentage of players just don't want.   Don't get me wrong - I love 'em. They are critical to understanding reach, properly accounting for the vulnerabilities of archers and spell-casters, and I know how critical they are to a slew of 4e powers. They add a nuance to the battlefield that was sorely missing in prior editions. I would say make them a modularized option, but that won't work - once you've got 'em in, they change too many disparate aspects of the game. But they are a complication that severely frustrates new players and occasional players. Nothing else seems to make the occasional player seethe with frustration when the GM has to advise them they've drawn an AoO/OA, and we stop the game to explain exactly why that is. And then we all watch as that player (another player's girlfriend, for example, who only plays once or twice a month) goes back to computer games and Magic.  The OSR folks seem to survive okay without them (and indeed may have gone Old School because of them!), and many of us played for two decades without them. I understand, but only through heresay, that the new Pathfinder Basic Game hums along just fine without them also. I say this with great regret in my heart, because I have no problem using them, and I know what value they provide to an interesting and dynamic battlefield. But for the good of the game, I can live without them (I think...I haven't fully convinced myself of this yet....<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/worried.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":-S" title="Uhm    :-S" data-shortname=":-S" />) Play what you want, Gamer Nation!</blockquote>

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