What is your favorite tier of play?

[fjw70]

Persoanlly I really prefer heroic. In my D&D experience I have rarely gone into double digits. In pre-4e I don't really like low level play much either (3rd to 7th-9th is the sweet spot for me). In 4e the lower level stuff is fun too so I enjoy the entire heroic tier a lot.

What about you?

 

[D'karr]

I don't have a favorite as I really love the progression between tiers. One thing I really like is that the game remains playable at all tiers.

However, I really like the change that happens in the game when characters choose their paragon paths. That tier is really interesting/exciting in my opinion. Characters are powerful and the DM can really pull all the stops, but they are not near-invincible.

I really would have liked an Epic Tier Handbook (DMG3) with advice to run campaigns that are not just D&D with bigger numbers. Every time I see the play reports that show case Epic Play I really wish there was a book that explicitly gave advice for that tier.

 

[Raith5]

I have been really very impressed with epic 4e. It works better than other edition I have played at really high level play. There is a good example of what going on in my very high level epic campaign here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?435239-PCs-vs-Demonweb-Pits-(continued)

I think Paragon got bogged down a bit with the hp of monsters. But I always got the feeling that there was tier missing between heroic and paragon - first level PCs were potent and the jump in power at 11th level was very noticeable (or put another way I think heroic and paragon could have been divided differently).

 

[Lindeloef]

Haven't experienced epic and only a little of paragon (like one session). But that session was so horrible experience for me as the DM (my grouped sucked so hard), that I was about to quit the campaign (instead we down-leveled and finished it). A player of mine later said that I shed paragon-tears.

So I have to say heroic at this point. But we want to give paragon tier another shot. Hopefully this time it works out for us. Maybe that extra one and a half years of 4e experience helped my players.

 

[pemerton]

I really like the change that happens in the game when characters choose their paragon paths. That tier is really interesting/exciting in my opinion. Characters are powerful and the DM can really pull all the stops, but they are not near-invincible.

I found paragon was a very big power-up from heroic.

As a GM, I've enjoyed all the tiers.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

We've only been playing Heroic Tier but, particularly after reading [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] 's session reports, I am really keen to take the game to the other tiers.

Unfortunately, my players prefer the lower levels and aren't keen to take it further. I need to find some more players....

 

[keterys]

I think I like the system best from 7th to 15th.

 

[TwoSix]

I never got to try epic, but I really enjoyed the Paragon fights. All the players had so many encounter and daily powers that At-Wills only saw occasional use, which made the combats pretty fun.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I can't decide, they all have their good points. Epic is zonkers, heroic is great action-adventure, and paragon is super heroes.

 

[Tony Vargas]

For eds with sweet spots, it's easy to pick. 1e, it was 3rd-7th (even though the game held together longer, that always seemed like the best bit to me). 3e, 1st-6th, maybe longer with sufficient player restraint.

4e, though, works at 1st, at 11th, at 26th, it doesn't matter. Each tier is different, some campaigns should probably focus on one tier, for instance, because their tone/scope are best-suited to that tier.

OK, here's an answer: My favorite Tier is Paragon - when all the characters have been played up from first. The characters are established, the players know how they work and how to make them work together, but they've just picked up new tricks with their Paragon Paths, and the scope of the campaign shifts from Adventuring to more earth-shaking events.

I really would have liked an Epic Tier Handbook (DMG3) with advice to run campaigns that are not just D&D with bigger numbers.

Yes, like the DMG2 did with Paragon.