Player Option: Fewer Dailies, More Encounter powers

[Stalker0]

I was thinking of the following idea. Whenever a player gains a daily attack power, they have the option to instead pick up an encounter attack power of any equal or lower level. This could be an encounter power they already have. There are a couple of reasons a player might want to do this:

1) More consistent attack power. Dailies give you big boosts, but then they are gone. A person with a lot of encounter powers would have more consistent powers throughout the day.

2) Focus on the secondary stat. Encounter powers seem to be where teh secondary stat is most prominently highlighted. Many encounter powers provide an extra bonus with a big secondary stat. A character who wants to really utilize that stat.

3) More character variation. For those who want something different.

What do people think about the power level of this choice? Would this be an insanely weak option, or would it actually be good enough to give a shot to?

 

[Boarstorm]

I actually wonder if it might not be overpowered, instead of under-.

If you take this to the extreme you end up with, what, 8 encounter powers by level 30? You'd essentially be taking out one whole area of resource management. Sure, you wouldn't have the big-bad abilities, but you could fight all day long (so long as your healing surges hold out) without ever feeling the crunch of power depletion.

 

[lordkiwi]

It would create the sort of imbalance in readiness found in groups in earlier editions... the Encounter Only power character is weaker in the short term but more powerful over lots of encounters.

Maybe less so, Wizards used to have Daily powers only and Fighters had At-Will only, but it does make a move back to that imbalance.

For that reason I'd say it's not such a good plan.

 

[Terwox]

I think it might make solo/elite monsters extra difficult, and normal encounters less difficult.

Probably not a huge deal unless everyone in the group does it at once though, and the above mentioned benefits are solid.

 

[Vael]

The main thing I notice is that daily powers tend to have an effect even if you miss, encounter powers are all or nothing. This is another reason to use dailies ... if you're having trouble landing a hit.

 

[keterys]

Better at easy encounters. Worse at tough encounters. No 'Alpha Strike' for an early encounter, but also potentially hitting more healing surge problems.

Makes certain players happier. It's _probably_ fine, but it'd take some careful checking to make completely sure. I'd certainly be fine trying it as a house rule.