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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 6692139" data-attributes="member: 2525">Long ago, the general section was about 3e, and it thrived on optimization and character building threads (in addition to other kinds of threads).  I am sure there were good reasons to change that, probably involving edition warring and 4e, but those times seem to have passed.  I think it's time we returned to characters being discussed in the general 5e board.  Here are some reasons why:1) Nobody seems to even know the Optimization section exists anymore.  I hear this comment a lot, on other message boards, that people are surprised to even hear EnWorld has any character build discussions.  It's relegated to near the bottom of the section list, and posts there get very few comments.  If a thread manages to sneak into the general board that is about character builds and optimization, it gets a lot more comments - a sign people want to talk about the topic, they just don't know it's even there in that other section.2) Character discussions are relatively non-controversial.  You don't see a whole lot of edition warring (at least, any more) in the character build conversations that take place these days (here or elsewhere).  3) Character build discussions fit the general 5e section theme.  Character builds are about the rules and product of the game - rather than about a company making that game.  These days a lot of discussion in the general section seems to revolve around companies (WOTC and Paizo) rather than the game itself - even though the section is "supposed" to be about the rules and products (according to the tag description of that section) more than the company that makes it or their competitor.  It's just really nice to talk about people's characters, and how they use the rules to make those characters, and the products those rules are found in.  This kind of topic seems well within the theme of a general 5e section - more so than even a lot of the current discussion in that section.4) There seems to be little rhyme or reason between what stays or gets moved out of the general 5e section in terms of character builds.  Right now easily a half-dozen threads could be arguably moved to the optimization section, and a bunch more to the house rules section.  For example, just on the first page of that section I'd say all of these could arguably be moved to either the optimization or house rules section: Assassinate, Breaking the rules with Goodberries, Warlording the fighter, Spell Mastery, Transporting large unwilling creature, How to break 5e, Let's Tweak the Ranger, Rules for Moral, Dumb Question re: Ensnaring Strike.  And I am not saying I want any moved, just that the line seems blurry. We could "clarify" the line more, but why do that? Isn't the point to discuss fun topics we like, and isn't allowing these things in the general 5e rules section about fun topics we like to discuss? I'd say all those topics add to the board as a whole, and so do the threads that get moved (for whatever reason) to the optimization section.5) The character builds and optimization section is "supposed" to be builds for any game system, but it's not really even used that way any more by most users.  Builds for discontinued games like 1e, 2e, and 4e, tend to get posted in the section about those games.  Builds about 3e and Pathfinder tend to get posted in that section.  The character builds and optimization section is already mostly just 5e rules discussions.  Few even use it the way it's apparently intended (for all games) - and few are enforcing the rule to move builds from non-5e sections anyway. I fact, most threads that end up in that section seem to be moved to that section from the general 5e section by a mod - a sign again that people just don't know about that section, or know a thread being moved to that section is like a gulag for their thread and they hope some few see it in the general 5e section before it gets moved. It would be less work for the mods if they just were allowed where people seem to want them to be and post them most often anyway.I say it's time to end the optimization section.  Whatever purpose it once served, the message board as a whole is better served by allowing those kinds of posts back in the general 5e rules section.</blockquote>

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