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<blockquote data-quote="brainstorm" data-source="post: 5374957" data-attributes="member: 45712">I had a serious problem with this, so much so that I had to stop my campaign and re-evaluate whether I wanted to stay with 4E or go back to 3.5.&nbsp; I started a new campaign, stayed with 4E and changed several aspects of my encounter design.&nbsp;1. I used to try use monsters that were higher level than the PCs.&nbsp; No more.&nbsp; All monsters are the same level or level-1.&nbsp;2. I used to use monsters of various roles in each combat.&nbsp; No more.&nbsp; I now pick one or two monsters of the roles I want to the combat to focus around and then I use tons of minions to fill up the xp budget balance.&nbsp;3. I upped monster damage to ensure that when they hit, they hit hard.&nbsp;4. I imposed a table rule of a maximum of 1 minute per player to complete their turn.&nbsp;5. I required all players to use power cards and encouraged the use of the Character Builder.&nbsp; In fact, I actually update the sheets for 3 of the players that don't have subscriptions to DDI.&nbsp;Those are the main things I changed and what a difference its made.&nbsp; Before, combats would take a minimum of an hour and more often than not, much longer than that.&nbsp; Now they rarely reach a full hour and usually last 30-45 minutes.&nbsp;I spent a great deal of time analyzing what was wrong with my game and I strongly recommend any dm to use a digital recorder to record your sessions for post game analysis.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="brainstorm, post: 5374957, member: 45712"] I had a serious problem with this, so much so that I had to stop my campaign and re-evaluate whether I wanted to stay with 4E or go back to 3.5. I started a new campaign, stayed with 4E and changed several aspects of my encounter design. 1. I used to try use monsters that were higher level than the PCs. No more. All monsters are the same level or level-1. 2. I used to use monsters of various roles in each combat. No more. I now pick one or two monsters of the roles I want to the combat to focus around and then I use tons of minions to fill up the xp budget balance. 3. I upped monster damage to ensure that when they hit, they hit hard. 4. I imposed a table rule of a maximum of 1 minute per player to complete their turn. 5. I required all players to use power cards and encouraged the use of the Character Builder. In fact, I actually update the sheets for 3 of the players that don't have subscriptions to DDI. Those are the main things I changed and what a difference its made. Before, combats would take a minimum of an hour and more often than not, much longer than that. Now they rarely reach a full hour and usually last 30-45 minutes. I spent a great deal of time analyzing what was wrong with my game and I strongly recommend any dm to use a digital recorder to record your sessions for post game analysis. [/QUOTE]

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