Why do you keep playing 4e?

[FireLance]

Because its better than 3.5.

Yeah, the smiley indicates that it's tongue-in-cheek, but I think a lot of posters are suffering from edition war overload at the moment. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate further on why you think 4e is better than 3.5e for you?

 

[Wormwood]

I thought of another reason why I want to play 4e. I'm drooling at the prospect of getting to actually play at epic levels (not to mention DMing).

]At the risk of being tiresome: This.

I played 3.5 Epic and DMed it twice. Honestly, I considered writing Amnesty International.

The 4e version looks sooooo much more appealing---on both sides of the screen.

 

[Mercurius]

Yeah, the smiley indicates that it's tongue-in-cheek, but I think a lot of posters are suffering from edition war overload at the moment. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate further on why you think 4e is better than 3.5e for you?

The smiley not only indicates that I am being tongue-in-cheek but that the statement may have no truth to it. But since you asked, so far I give 4e a slight edge--although it is less of an improvement over 3e than it should be (I'm probably one of the few that would advocate a "4.2e" to clean up the mess a bit). But I like 4e more because the basic rules structure seems more sound; it is overall simpler, less endless modifiers. Running it is easier--mainly because "on the fly" works better somehow. I also actually like healing surges.

 

[ProfessorPain]

I play for the babes.

 

[Ravellion]

More numbers light than I was used to, a faster changing around of combat turns, and everyone gets the same amount of spotlight in combat as opposed to the following paraphrased 3e anecdote I once had: (Druid) I take my actions, which are complicated spells, my cohort's actions, which are complicated spells, my animal companion, my two summons. (Monk) I punch. Twice.

But emphasis on other things than number crunching is the big one for me.

 

[Alan Shutko]

We're still playing 4e because it has inertia, and we have not yet hit consensus on playing a different game, though we've started talking about it.

As far as it feeling like Mentzer, we also have one of those games running, and none of us think they have the same feel.

 

[EdPovi]

I like 4e because it is "fresh" and "new". I've been playing D&D a long time, and I have had fun with every edition from 1 to 4. I enjoy playing games, and new games are even better.

I have been playing 3e weekly since it came out. The games are still fun, but I have grown a bit tired or burnt out. Every edition has brought something new to the game. I recall thinking how much 3.0 brought to D&D, feats were the coolest of the cool.

But this time, I feel 4e really changed things. It didn't just just add more stuff to the pile, but actually made changes in how the game flows and feels. It brought the fun back into playing the game for me. Sure, a lot of the fun in D&D is just role-playing (which is mostly system and edition irreverent), but combat is system specific and I just like how this new game plays.

Also, as many have mentioned, I find this version easier and more fun to DM. Sure most of the creative work is the same, but it seems much easier to run and less work to create.

 

[the Jester]

I like to explore new systems. Also, we're having a blast playing it. The dm prep work is sweet and easy; I have the kind of complicated encounter with multiple specific npc monsters coming up next game that would have taken me 6 hours to stat up in 3e; I'm estimating more like 1 hour of monster creation in 4e.

Oh how I love the monster creation system...

 

[Ulrick]

I started my campaign and am having a blast. Like many have already mentioned, DMing 4e is fun and a lot less stressful. My players and I have started noticing some of the nuances of 4e, like how there's less emphasis on negative modifiers--for example, if you're not proficient with a weapon, you don't get the weapon's bonus.

The party learned the hard way that defenders are almost a necessity, almost more so than other classes. The group didn't have one. I realized after the first combat that I had to change monsters around for further encounters--but this was easy to do.

We had one character death, but the rules make it more difficult to outright kill a character. The PC (a warlord) went below 0hp after charging to a group of kobold skirmishes and minions--separating himself from the rest of the party. He failed his three saving throws.

But rolling up another character was easy.

I also really like the 4e DMG: just reading it inspires me to design adventures and want to run games!

 

[MerricB]

The more I run 4e, the more I find myself getting used to how it does things.

So, I can now run 4e with or without miniatures, and with a lesser or greater amount of roleplaying.

Fixing the mathematics is its best feature for me; my players proved utterly too good at breaking 3e.

Cheers!