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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kaomera" data-source="post: 5528966" data-attributes="member: 38357">OK, I can see where people want that "one special feat" (or whatever) that exactly fits the concept they want to play. There's a few of those I wouldn't mind seeing myself. I just don't see where the scatter-shot approach of the power books was really delivering that. And the idea that essentials is not just flat-out more choices boggles my mind. If "it's not more choices for X class" is the issue, then why didn't people react this way to PHB2 or 3 or any of the setting books? Why did people not rise up in anger when the swordmage got published instead of more options for the existing classes?This requires what I would consider actual support, not just burying the classes under a heap of more options. I don't want to see "fixes" that just turn everything else into trap options. To me the essentials style class writeup is support, it helps a player actually create a good, fun character. Just churning out new options is IMO not only a bad strategy for WotC to follow, but it's actually hurtful to a lot of players.No, I get that. It's just that I'd much rather take something good and try and make it my own than be handed a huge pile of options many of which are just outright bad. IMO this, and not any subtle changes to the place of martial classes, is what is killing balance in 4e. Constantly pushing the character-building minigame to the exclusion and detriment of actual play is bad. And I think that new feats are a bad way to fix things that are actually wrong with the system.I'm kind of afraid that we're moving away from supporting all players towards only supporting the most educated and savvy players, especially with the shift towards online content. It's great that the system rewards good (mechanical) character building, but the standards that it adheres to aren't an actual, obvious thing if you haven't been told about them.This is an attitude that seriously worries me. The idea that there's no way to actually mitigate power-creep to the point that it isn't going to ruin the game and require a complete re-boot every couple of years. 4e's actually done fairly well in terms of older options hanging in there, except for the "math fix" foolishness. I'm really, really bummed out that the Character Compendium is online-only, because I don't want to have to explain to another new player why some options aren't any good, or try and get them hooked up wih the errata... The biggest power-creep I've seen from 4e happens in the time that it takes for charop to compile a guide for a new class; OTOH if everyone had access to those guides it would probably actually help balance overall.</blockquote>

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