D&D 4E Times 4E News Scared You

[Zieche]

Or (How I learned to stop worrying and love the game)


Change is scary. With the current debate over the CB going I was inspired to remember all the other prerelease debates that have sprang up over the 3+ years 4e has been out.

So I figured I'd throw it out to the community and see what changes/ new builds/new classes were most scary for you when first announced or previewed? And once it came to be did it end up holding any validity?

Mine: I was playing a shield fighter before PHB2 came out, and I recall looking at the preview for the warden thinking “Oh god! He gets a save at the start of his turn?? He can mark all adjacent baddies with a minor? My fighter is going to be super underpowered!” Then I had a chance to see the warden in play and realized it was apples and oranges, different strengths etc etc and the world was a good place again.

 

[renau1g]

I cna say nothing's scared me with the game, not even the 4e announcement that split the community. I've been annoyed and disappointed, but it's a game and there's far bigger things to be worried about than this.

I haven't liked and was disappointed by the PHB3 PC's, far too gonzo for my tastes, that held true long after the book has been released.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I've never been "scared" of anything WotC has done (or TSR for that matter.)

I've never been "annoyed" or "disappointed" by anything WotC has done, because I feel both of those adjectives are too strong emotionally to actually represent how I felt. What's a good word for a much weaker and shorter period of time feeling of annoyance? "Peeved"? "Ruffled"? "Irked"?

I felt a bit "peeved" when I heard about the creative decision of having both a "warlord" and "warlock" in the first PH. And at the time I said to myself that it wasn't as creative a decision as I would have liked to have seen made... and that I was going to instead call the warlord a "marshal" or a "commander" when I finally played the game that included that class.

And that idea lasted all of twenty minutes once I started my first campaign and one of my players selected a warlord and I realized just how inconsequential a term it was going to be. So much so that when the "warden" was announced for PHII (OMG! A third "war" named class!), I didn't even bat an eye.

And that's pretty much how all my reactions have been to anything of a creative nature (D&D or otherwise). I have a natural, gut, emotional reaction to something... then my rational brain takes over and asks whether it really matters enough to take the time and energy to not only remain bothered by it, but also be willing to rework said thing so that it no longer bothers me? Basically, my brains asks "Does you really care?" And in only a very few cases have I ever reached that point to say "Yes".

 

[Ktulu]

Honestly? Nothing.

If there's something I didn't particularly like, I didn't use it. And, oddly enough, almost everything 4e has done has either benefitted me (character builder, Dungeon & Dragon online, Monster Tool), or hasn't affected me at all (Essentials, getting rid of .pdfs, online only CB).

I'm a very pleased customer with what WotC has been doing. Can't even call me a fanboy, as I'm just pretty easy to please and nothing they've done has negatively affected my game. I will add "yet", as it's entirely possible that they'll do something I'm not happy with; just nothing so far.

 

[Neonchameleon]

A lack of dailies for martial classes in Essentials. Large change to the power structure and back to the bad old days when melee artists were boring. Fortunately it seems to have worked.

 

[Umbran]

Scary? As in feeling actual fear? Never. Same for anger.

Maybe, if I worked for WotC, such that my paycheck (and thus my food, housing, and such) depended on them, I might get truly worried or angry over a boneheaded corporate choice or decision. Short of that, it's largely academic stuff to me, not something to get worked up about.

 

[ourchair]

Me and WotC, we have a lot of disagreements over how they do things and the shortcomings of various phases and directions that 4e design has undergone, but generally nothing has scared me.

I love 4th Edition, and I understand that the differences in design between it and previous editions of D&D, other gaming systems and other types of games mean that it's definitely had weaknesses and strengths that flux depending on how WotC chooses to direct design.

In other words, I'm openly critical but I'm still a fan of the system, but even as it changes under the direction of different people or shifts gears in terms of editing, I don't feel like I'm a fickle person worshipful of all the changes made in each successive book, nor do I feel slavishly adherent to the old tomes or repulsed by new ones.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Fear?

I'm scared of many things. I'm scared of scorpions and roller coasters. I'm scared of diseases. I'm scared of velociraptors. Clowns. Heights. I'm scared of going broke and being homeless again. I'm scared that I'm getting published and I have no idea what to do. I'm scared that if I ever have children, they might inherit a world I've made no better for them. I'm scared of losing my loved ones, of losing the use of my mind and body as I grow older. I'm scared of dying alone.

I'm not scared of anything WotC can do to me.

Well, unless they come to my house dressed as clowns.

(I've had nightmares of Rodney Thompson showing up in a clown suit, but ssshhhh....)

 

[Someone]

I was scared when they kidnapped my best friend, cut off my hand and told me they were my father.

Nw that I think on it, it may have happened to someone else. I have to check I've been taking my medication.

 

[DracoSuave]

Don't worry, I'll protect you.