Playtesting DDI

Phaezen

Adventurer
Just a question for those using the DDI playtest articles, how do you go about it? Do you slot the material into ongoing games to see how it fits, or do you run seperate ongoing or onceoff games?

I have been discussing the various options with my group as we would like to start sending in some feedback and are interested in how other people go about it.

Phaezen
 

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I'm going to try and slip a volcanic dragon into my next adventure. I haven't playtested any of the other stuff, but some things you can just tell from looking where the problems are, so I have commented in the past. Usually they have overlooked how it works combined with something else.
 
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I've had both a playtest Barbarian and a playtest Artificer in my games, and as of now, both of them have final versions.

I use them in regular games - generally, by the time they hit playtest they're pretty solid - but my players all know that they will have to switch to the new mechanics when the full class is released.

I might give them a feat or two to ease the burden - the Artificer in my game uses orbs, so I just gave him a free Arcane Implement Proficiency - but overall there hasn't been a problem.
 

In my current campaign, I'm playing an artificer. Until this week, I played him using the playtest article from Dragon 365 and I didn't have any major problems (I didn't have a paragon path to chose from was my biggest issue). As Obryn said, by the time that the material sees print, its generally mechanically solid (most changes are more on the level of tweaks and rewording). You'd think that most playtest material would be overpowered, but so far in 4e, its mostly been underpowered (but only slightly so, its definitely playable). However, I'm glad with the release of the EPG, my artificer got a boost; I was already feeling like I was falling behind the other PCs who used PHB classes and had the benefit of power books.
 

Just a question for those using the DDI playtest articles, how do you go about it? Do you slot the material into ongoing games to see how it fits, or do you run seperate ongoing or onceoff games?
If I see a playtest article that looks interesting and can fit into the game, I'll try to find some way to fit it in or I'll encourage players to use it, if it's on the player's side.

For me, it's all about whether or not the game element makes the game more interesting or entertaining. Sometime this summer, I'll be reskinning the volcanic dragon slightly; I can hardly wait. I will just keep an eye on how it handles and be prepared to adjust the encounter on the fly if things get out of hand.

Though this is something that one has to do often on a regular basis with core material. I have found my 4E group to perform much better than I expected to against encounters above their level, so I'll be playtesting them, in a way, with tougher encounters, not simply with playtest material.
 

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