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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 4689331" data-attributes="member: 16586">I wanted a 4e that resembled the previews WotC put out. It might have been naivety on my part, but when the designers and developers of the game started talking about action points, milestones, and powers that lasted for the length of an encounter I envisioned a sort of unpretentious narrative focused game that melded together with the tactical game play and violent adventure story themes I enjoy. When the preview with the feats that allowed expanded uses for action points I jumped with joy - I was happy that WotC had embraced the use of in game resources to allow players to dramatically alter the game world. I'm disappointed that they later changed their minds.My other major disappointment with 4e was how sparse the monster and world fluff became and the form it ended up taking. During the previews for 4e I was excited about the ways in which they were reimagining the default setting - I ate up the material in Worlds and Monsters, and I was excited about the fact that they had a team of designers working on the game's story elements. I wanted expansive story material that focused on thematic and setting elements that come about in actual play.So what went wrong? To a certain extent I imagined that WotC tastes matched my own more than they did because the issues they wanted to address were some of my own personal bugaboos with 3e. There's also the internet factor and goram RPGA to consider. The amount of overreaction to the more narrativist elements and new setting material probably provoked WotC to cut a good deal of content they wanted to include - in fact, at least in the case of Wizard traditions there are several artifacts of cut material. I'll also say this now - I think WotC gave too much credence to RPGA playtesters when it came to stuff like milestones, not having exact duration information, skill challenges and other elements that came out in a more gamist form than the previews suggested.Still, I'm really happy with the game that I got in 4e. It removed a lot of the cruft that I felt was getting in the way of a version of D&D that I enjoy running as much as I enjoy playing. Martial characters no longer feel like second class citizens. Magic is less earth shaking, but still potent. The skill system allows me to focus on character creation at a more conceptual level. When you layer on additional shared narrative mechanics onto the game it feels less disjointed than it does with 3e. I like that away from the table activities don't have a greater impact than decisions made during gameplay.</blockquote>

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