Mercutio01
First Post
It's quite possible that the reason some folks aren't a fan of 4e has a lot to do with Wyatt's quotes, meaning it's not really a nit to pick, it's one of the core reasons they're not fans of the game.
I have a very, very hard time believing anyone who says that one quote, which so far has been routinely taken out of context and ascribed meaning that it doesn't actually have, is the cause for people not liking 4E to begin with. It is far, far more likely that there is dislike first, and then the finding of fiddly bits to assign the dislike to. If that's ascribing a motive, then so be it. I don't think it's unfair to call out the anti-4E bias when discussing the nitpicking of, literally, one sentence. This whole thread is about one sentence. If that's not the height of nitpicking, I'm not sure what is.Exactly - if the quote prevents someone from trying the game, or lessens their enjoyment in running the game, then it is not a 'nit'.
I'm certainly not going to defend the whole marketing and execution of 4E. I do think highlighting this one quote and doing your darnedest to make it emblematic of a problem with all of 4E design is more than a bit silly. Especially because I think you are misreading the statement and drawing conclusions that aren't supported by the actual language.If it is a symptom of a wider problem then it is not a 'nit'. It was a statement that our style of fun was not fun.
And for some of us it was only one of several such statements, including some on the animated cartoons for the game and the trailer. (Oh look, isn't it funny? The dragon is taking a crap on a troll that is complaining about our game. Ha ha ha....)
I do not know what percentage of the lines that ticked people off about 4e were Wyatt's, but he was not working in a vacuum. However, he certainly has some of the gems that are most prone to quotation.
The scenario I provided above is exactly what I think Wyatt was getting at. That's not a necessary or fun encounter with two gate guards, and that, no lie, has been far more my experience in playing D&D than fun roleplaying experiences talking to gate guards.
I wish more DMs and players that I've played with followed Wyatt's advice to skip the unfun, boring, unnecessary encounters. You all seem to have ideal gaming experiences playing with excellent DMs (or being so yourselves) and have never experienced the kind of crappy scenarios that Wyatt was specifically speaking against. I'm happy for you. I, unfortunately, have played with a number of groups and gamers over the 20+ years of gaming, and have experienced more than my share of "gate guard encounters" that should have been skipped over to get to the fun.