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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6582851" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>I would then argue that you are setting an excessively high barrier (<em>maximizing</em> the effect of each action, rather than simply going for <em>good</em> courses of action), and that you are setting the scope of your optimization too narrowly, e.g. you'll get more bang for your buck by considering both this turn <em>and next turn</em>, and thus hopefully avoid some amount of the paralysis and "nope can't do that, nope can't do that, nope can't..." that applies when you narrowly focus on a single turn.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I recognize the uncertainty; I just think you put such an incredible premium on certainty that everything else is obliterated as "not good <em>enough</em>." Also, knowing whether the DM uses that guideline is as simple as asking, if the DM is honest with you (generally a safe assumption?)</p><p></p><p>And it's not like At-Wills are horrible terrible awful abominations. They're not as good as Encounter powers, sure, but that's the <em>point.</em> You're <em>supposed</em> to use them, especially during the early levels; either as a prelude to a good situation for your lone Encounter power, or a fallback after that power is expended. An encounter where you never once use an At-Will power should be <em>rare</em> until at the very least Paragon Tier. Any analysis which strictly forbids that has morbid assumptions, by definition (since, at first level, there's no way you're going to have one-round combats all the time, and the only way to not use anything but an encounter power is to <em>not act</em>, which must by definition be inferior to actually taking, or preparing to take, SOME action.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Then...uh...I still don't understand how 4e is any worse than any other game. That is, in 2e you literally DO only have one card--and it's an At-Will, to boot! At least 4e gives you (a) At-Wills that do SOMETHING more than just "I swing my weapon," and (b) additional options that you can elect to save or expend. What you are saying here makes it sound like every edition of D&D ever has been unable to satisfy you, because you only have "one (<strong>actual</strong>) card" or "one (optimizationally perfect) card" in literally every example I can think of. Particularly since 1e isn't that much different from 2e.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6582851, member: 6790260"] I would then argue that you are setting an excessively high barrier ([I]maximizing[/I] the effect of each action, rather than simply going for [I]good[/I] courses of action), and that you are setting the scope of your optimization too narrowly, e.g. you'll get more bang for your buck by considering both this turn [I]and next turn[/I], and thus hopefully avoid some amount of the paralysis and "nope can't do that, nope can't do that, nope can't..." that applies when you narrowly focus on a single turn. I recognize the uncertainty; I just think you put such an incredible premium on certainty that everything else is obliterated as "not good [I]enough[/I]." Also, knowing whether the DM uses that guideline is as simple as asking, if the DM is honest with you (generally a safe assumption?) And it's not like At-Wills are horrible terrible awful abominations. They're not as good as Encounter powers, sure, but that's the [I]point.[/I] You're [I]supposed[/I] to use them, especially during the early levels; either as a prelude to a good situation for your lone Encounter power, or a fallback after that power is expended. An encounter where you never once use an At-Will power should be [I]rare[/I] until at the very least Paragon Tier. Any analysis which strictly forbids that has morbid assumptions, by definition (since, at first level, there's no way you're going to have one-round combats all the time, and the only way to not use anything but an encounter power is to [I]not act[/I], which must by definition be inferior to actually taking, or preparing to take, SOME action.) Then...uh...I still don't understand how 4e is any worse than any other game. That is, in 2e you literally DO only have one card--and it's an At-Will, to boot! At least 4e gives you (a) At-Wills that do SOMETHING more than just "I swing my weapon," and (b) additional options that you can elect to save or expend. What you are saying here makes it sound like every edition of D&D ever has been unable to satisfy you, because you only have "one ([B]actual[/B]) card" or "one (optimizationally perfect) card" in literally every example I can think of. Particularly since 1e isn't that much different from 2e. [/QUOTE]
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