So, how many are avoiding Essentials?

[Istar]

If you want less time thinking about the game and concentrating on playing it.
Go for it.
Or you dont want or cant cope with the complexity of working out when you should use your dailys.
Then go for it.

But lack of choice doesnt give you much room to create a character.
They do it for you, essentially thats it.

 

[Raikun]

Or you dont want or cant cope with the complexity of working out when you should use your dailys.
Then go for it.

Slightly inaccurate, since several classes in the Essentials books have dailies etc just like in the regular books.

 

[ourchair]

Slightly inaccurate, since several classes in the Essentials books have dailies etc just like in the regular books.

Yeah people seem to generalize that there's no 'choice' in Essentials, when it's plain to see that the idea was never about removing the choice.

Instead it's about making the choices available have easily comprehensible differences based on the contexts that a player might have experienced from other media. (i.e. An 'enchanter' and an 'illusionist' are mentally easier to distinguish for some than a 'war wizard' or a 'control wizard')

Furthermore, only the martial classes have abandoned most dailies. The spellcasters still retain the power structures of their predecessors but their functionality is keyed off from their class features more than the number of encounters and dailies they acquire through level advancement.

These aren't changes to the classes that somehow nullify existing classes or replace them. They're additions. They're a choice of how to build things, like choosing between a toppings-heavy thin crust pizza or a cheese-stuffed thick crust pizza. They don't replace one another unless all the pizzerias simultaneously decide to stop supporting one in favor of the other.

 

[Sunseeker]

But lack of choice doesnt give you much room to create a character.
They do it for you, essentially thats it.

To build a character, and at that, only maybe a rogue or a fighter.

Character creation is, IMO, still firmly in the hands of players.

 

[the Jester]

For the record, we played Friday and Saturday and had a new player, who made an Essentials wizard (our first Essentials pc!). The party has another wizard, who was a level higher than the new guy and had been played organically from 1st (so was prolly a touch better equipped).

Granted that the pcs fell into a very dangerous encounter (I'm running the first chunk of Tomb of Horrors; they started at approx. level 8, though there is some variance in the party.) The new guy (8th level, yep) died. In all fairness, though, so did the 9th level barbarian- that encounter was TOUGH!

[sblock]If you're interested, it's the encounter with the five mad wraiths.[/sblock]

 

[Meek]

I don't mind the layout of the Essentials classes, though I think it's a waste of space. I had no trouble going to the table in the PHB1 to look at where every single class got its stuff. I can see using it for books for newbies, but I'd hope it doesn't infect every other release. I found stuff like "you get an extra use of Power Strike over and over again" as class features for the martial classes to be rather farcical, so I wouldn't use the EFighter. The new arcane stuff is interesting. The new divine stuff felt kinda boring. I still haven't looked at Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, since the friend from whom I borrowed Fallen Lands isn't buying any more Essentials stuff. But overall Essentials did not really introduce anything I'd want to use except the arcane powers. And it's not like arcane really needed a lot more to make it interesting.

 

[ourchair]

Granted that the pcs fell into a very dangerous encounter (I'm running the first chunk of Tomb of Horrors; they started at approx. level 8, though there is some variance in the party.) The new guy (8th level, yep) died. In all fairness, though, so did the 9th level barbarian- that encounter was TOUGH!

[sblock]If you're interested, it's the encounter with the five mad wraiths.[/sblock]

Man, my players circumvented that encounter entirely by accident.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I burned out on 4e this summer and have focused most of my attention (and gaming dollar) on boardgames.

So, I have been sort of browsing the news about Essentials, but haven't been following any detailed discussion hardcore.

I am aware its to be tacked on to "Regular 4e" (whatever that is) however I have no idea why its considered a different THING than 4e. If Essentials is just supposed to be more options but still part of 4e I don't understand the need to brand it differently. Why not call it 4e: Players Handbook 4, or 4e: Simplified Classes or somesuch.

I am also confused at how many of the discussed rules changes (i.e. Magic Item Rarity) fit in with 4e or Essentials.

So, currently I have no interest in getting Essentials, however I have no interest in the other 4e books either. If I were to start playing 4e again my inclination is to stick with the downloadable Character Builder and stick with using just the information I have already purchased.

DS

 

[korjik]

Personally, I am not interested in Essentials. It may just really be more for D&D, but since I think that D&D needs more options the same way I need more holes in my head, I am not going to bother. Add on top of that the monthly random rules change that has been going on in the CB updates, and I am no longer interested in the CB either.

When they do a proper revision, and start fixing the real problems 4e has, I may come back. Till then, hasta la vista. I will prolly end up playing as much essentials as I did 2e AD&D.

 

[Obryn]

I am aware its to be tacked on to "Regular 4e" (whatever that is) however I have no idea why its considered a different THING than 4e. If Essentials is just supposed to be more options but still part of 4e I don't understand the need to brand it differently. Why not call it 4e: Players Handbook 4, or 4e: Simplified Classes or somesuch.

The thing is, it's both. It is (1) a self-contained RPG that a group can pick up and play without referencing anything outside of its books, and (2) an add-on for existing 4e games that can be used alongside existing options. I'm using it as the latter, but I understand there are several groups already using it as the former, as well.

I am also confused at how many of the discussed rules changes (i.e. Magic Item Rarity) fit in with 4e or Essentials.

Well, most of the rule changes have trickled in over the months preceding its release.

Magic item rarity is one of those things you can easily ignore or incorporate. As it stands....
(1) A few items are Common; these are listed in one of the various updates. These can be created by rituals and sell for 20%.
(2) Pretty much every single other item is Uncommon. It can't be created by rituals, and sells for 50%.
(3) Theoretically there are Rare items, but I haven't seen too much of them.
(4) The magic item daily use limit is no more.

Again, though, this has all been pushed out in the various update documents, but it's far from completely clear.

-O