Turning D&D into WoW?

[Arashi Ravenblade]

All of my freinds who are familiar with WOW have made that compariso and non are happy about it, as they all think WOW sucks.

I think they are trying to appeal to a certain type of video game MMORPG mindset.

 

[Pale]

Exactly, Arashi.

I just hope that they are only mentioning these first to draw the attention of that market and not indicative of the direction they are taking Fourth Edition.

 

[SteveC]

After reading the dragon fight, I'm torn: on the one hand, that sounds like a cool battle, but on the other it is one of the most ridiculous sequences I've ever read.

The fighter's one round of attacks drop the creature to half it's hit points, which are still 500. That is an upgrade to such a scale that the previous editions mean nothing.

And the math that would be involved with all of that.

I like a lot of what I've read, but man this article makes me think :\ .

Still, it's in Dragon, which was not exactly known for being balanced when it was a magazine, so perhaps it...overstates...things a bit.

--Steve

 

[Grog]

Exactly, Arashi.

I just hope that they are only mentioning these first to draw the attention of that market and not indicative of the direction they are taking Fourth Edition.

Where, in this example, is the similarity to WoW? How is the dragon combat mentioned on the website at all similar to Onyxia? Can you point it out to me? Because I just don't see it.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Steve, Mike Mearls has already commented that the fighter wasn't doing 500 hp in a single attack, and that the example--as written--is clearly not the first round of combat. So the fighter dropped the dragon below half, but it wasn't at full at the start of the round to begin with.

 

[Grog]

The fighter's one round of attacks drop the creature to half it's hit points, which are still 500. That is an upgrade to such a scale that the previous editions mean nothing.

The round that's given as the example in the article isn't the first round of combat. The fighter didn't do 500 points of damage in one hit, he just happened to do enough damage to drop the dragon's current HP to 500.

 

[Mouseferatu]

For what it's worth...

I have no interest in WoW whatsoever. I'm sick of hearing about it.

And what I've heard of 4E appeals to me.

I'm sure there are some similarities, yes. WoW's popular, and it would be foolish to ignore that. But I'm also sure that there aren't as many as people are reading into it, since it's equally foolish for RPGs to compete with MMORPGs on the same field.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Jesus Christ, read the rest of the threads - and the article, for context.

The fighter doesn't deal 500 points of damage to the dragon, because it's not the first round of combat we're seeing - or else how could the wizard be angering the dragon already?

The only concrete truth that we have derived from the article is that ancient red dragons have over 1000 hit points.

 

[LostWorldsMike]

For what it's worth...

I have no interest in WoW whatsoever. I'm sick of hearing about it.

And what I've heard of 4E appeals to me.

I'm sure there are some similarities, yes. WoW's popular, and it would be foolish to ignore that. But I'm also sure that there aren't as many as people are reading into it, since it's equally foolish for RPGs to compete with MMORPGs on the same field.

Let the wisdom of the Mouse wash over you and through you and cleanse you.

Or, ya know, something.

 

[outsider]

Good mechanics are good mechanics, no matter where they come from. Even if it is WoW.

I guess if they want to please the anti-WoW people though, they are going to have to go out of their way to keep anything WoW uses out of D&D, no matter how good it is. I'll help them out:

They can't use levels, because WoW has levels.
They can't use classes, because WoW has classes.
They can't use races, because WoW has races.
They can't use magic, because WoW has magic.
They can't use random numbers, because WoW uses random numbers.
They can't use words, because WoW uses words.

Seriously people. Of course 4th edition is going to be alot like WoW. WoW is alot like D&D. It probably wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for D&D. You could probably find at least 50 things in even -Basic- D&D that are like WoW.

-Who cares- if the dragon's default attack routine looks a bit like Onyxia's attack routine? Is it a bad idea to give a guideline on how a dragon will usually attack? Of course it isn't. Is the attack routine wizards came up with a believable attack routine for a dragon? Sure looks like it to me. What the heck is there to complain about? A good mechanic is a good mechanic no matter where it comes from.