Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8945748" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I do want to interject and point out that the first Prestige Classes were DMG content and mostly terrible.&nbsp; I wasn't arguing that WotC didn't break their own game; I'm fully aware that they did.&nbsp; I was more commenting that we at least knew the base assumptions for 3e Challenge Rating.&nbsp; Where they failed was revising the game's power level and never saying &quot;oh hey, this is how this effects CR&quot; other than &quot;so we printed a new Monster Manual with better monsters than the last one.&nbsp; Fix the old ones?&nbsp; Why would we do that?&quot;.I mean they added Feat bloat, completely changed what Prestige Classes were for, and basically told players that if you weren't a full caster, you should build towards being one of these (and even full casters had options!), put errata behind a paywall (the Polymorph subschool), changed the assumptions behind magic item pricing (again, behind a paywall), and even started tinkering with resource allocation by printing 24 hour classes (Warlock, Dragonfire Adept), and Encounter based classes (Tome of Battle).&nbsp; As much as I loved playing 3.5, the way they handled it was irresponsible.Transparency is important to understanding why rules exist, giving you more information about what's going to happen if you ignore or change those rules.&nbsp; WotC has shown that at times, but never seems willing to commit to it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8945748, member: 6877472"] I do want to interject and point out that the first Prestige Classes were DMG content and mostly terrible. I wasn't arguing that WotC didn't break their own game; I'm fully aware that they did. I was more commenting that we at least knew the base assumptions for 3e Challenge Rating. Where they failed was revising the game's power level and never saying "oh hey, this is how this effects CR" other than "so we printed a new Monster Manual with better monsters than the last one. Fix the old ones? Why would we do that?". I mean they added Feat bloat, completely changed what Prestige Classes were for, and basically told players that if you weren't a full caster, you should build towards being one of these (and even full casters had options!), put errata behind a paywall (the Polymorph subschool), changed the assumptions behind magic item pricing (again, behind a paywall), and even started tinkering with resource allocation by printing 24 hour classes (Warlock, Dragonfire Adept), and Encounter based classes (Tome of Battle). As much as I loved playing 3.5, the way they handled it was irresponsible. Transparency is important to understanding why rules exist, giving you more information about what's going to happen if you ignore or change those rules. WotC has shown that at times, but never seems willing to commit to it. [/QUOTE]

Verification