D&D 4E Thoughts on 4E after Nine Sessions

[Celebrim]

By roleplaying yes. If you are talking combat, no way. Cooperation is essential. If you have someone who tries to go out on his own, he's as good as dead.

Yeah, I think we are going to have to invent a brand new meta-rule for playing 4e Dungeons and Dragons:

"Never split the party."

It's almost like we are playing a brand new style of D&D...

Wait a minute...

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

I think we'll now see a trend of people optimizing parties, instead of optimizing individual characters...

Of course, that also means that this is only problematic if the entire party plays this way or if the party allows itself to get convinced by the char-op munchkin to take this or that feat or power...

Overall, it is a lot better

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yeah, I think we are going to have to invent a brand new meta-rule for playing 4e Dungeons and Dragons:

"Never split the party."

It's almost like we are playing a brand new style of D&D...

Wait a minute...

The more the things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[TerraDave]

Ya, ya. I have been DMing cooperate or die D&D for a long time now. (And it is most fun when they don't...).

But 4E does facilitate team play. It is a fair statement.

 

[Surgoshan]

My thoughts are summarized as follows...

This is what first level used to be.

 

[joela]

splitting

Yeah, I think we are going to have to invent a brand new meta-rule for playing 4e Dungeons and Dragons:

"Never split the party."

It's almost like we are playing a brand new style of D&D...

sarcasm noted. but not only is that rule regularly broken, but i've seen enough 3.x builds of solo PCs are more than capable of handling themselves against foes even at lower levels.

hmmm. actually, now that I think of it, that's one of the reasons I like playing 3.x....

 

[joela]

party

Of course, that also means that this is only problematic if the entire party plays this way or if the party allows itself to get convinced by the char-op munchkin to take this or that feat or power...

funny you mentioned that. i saw examples of this; specifically, when players didn't understand their abilities or know how to use them with the rest of the party's actions.

i'll post those experiences and views later.

 

[Ktulu]

I know what you're talking about. The first session we saw the wizard's player being bored, confused, using dailies on minions, etc... It didn't help the party, he didn't have fun, and there was an all-around lack of energy.

The second session, after the player had read up on 4e for a week and was more comfortable at the table, we saw the wizard laying waste to minions, utilizing a back to back scorching burst crit attack (seriously, rolled a crit, used an action point, and rolled another crit) against Irontooth landing a nice 20 damage, and hitting the dragonshields for 8 & 6, respectively. He was excited, energetic, and definitely grasping the kewl of the wizard..

It's a game that takes some getting used to and looks really bad if you're not comfortable playing it.

 

[The Green Adam]

I like when my players work together because they want to or have a cool idea not because they have to. But then, I guess you can only do what the designers have programmed in. Still, it would have been nice to see more options for Solo play like in some of the other MMORPGS.


AD

 

[hong]

Ya, ya. I have been DMing cooperate or die D&D for a long time now. (And it is most fun when they don't...).

I read that as corporate or die D&D.