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<blockquote data-quote="Melkor" data-source="post: 5910009" data-attributes="member: 10786">I truly hope that D&amp;DNext can accomplish that without punishing a player that might not want to fully optimize their character with just the right choices and combos because that isn't their style of play.Some players simply care more, for example, about telling the story than they do about optimization (particularly tactical optimization)...That's not necessarily saying they are &quot;passing&quot; on ways to be effective, but they might not actually care enough to look through several books worth of Feats/Powers/etc. to make the optimal choices. For them, the game is about the story.If they play with a DM that optimizes every encounter they are up against, then they will certainly be at a disadvantage tactically if they don't do the same.If they play with a DM that understands their playstyle, and wants to create a great mutual play experience, then he/she will take that into account when designing encounters in a way that the ruleset never could. That DM would also take into account your desire to optimize, and work to include both players. To me, that is something that rules just can't accomplish, though I do think striving for some amount of balance is admirable when designing a system.Again, I guess I have been fortunate enough to play with DMs that did not create situations where a player who wanted to play a story driven character, and cared much more about that than trying to optimize their character tactically, was punished for doing that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Melkor, post: 5910009, member: 10786"] I truly hope that D&DNext can accomplish that without punishing a player that might not want to fully optimize their character with just the right choices and combos because that isn't their style of play. Some players simply care more, for example, about telling the story than they do about optimization (particularly tactical optimization)...That's not necessarily saying they are "passing" on ways to be effective, but they might not actually care enough to look through several books worth of Feats/Powers/etc. to make the optimal choices. For them, the game is about the story. If they play with a DM that optimizes every encounter they are up against, then they will certainly be at a disadvantage tactically if they don't do the same. If they play with a DM that understands their playstyle, and wants to create a great mutual play experience, then he/she will take that into account when designing encounters in a way that the ruleset never could. That DM would also take into account your desire to optimize, and work to include both players. To me, that is something that rules just can't accomplish, though I do think striving for some amount of balance is admirable when designing a system. Again, I guess I have been fortunate enough to play with DMs that did not create situations where a player who wanted to play a story driven character, and cared much more about that than trying to optimize their character tactically, was punished for doing that. [/QUOTE]

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