WotC_PeterS talks about his "aggresive playtest" (with Le Rouse, SKR, & Noonan)

[A'koss]

Opionated Bald Man, thanks for posting!!

And good question.

I believe they said they have ~300 external testers right now in a recent interview.

 

[Delta]

BAB and Saves is the first larger bit, because their goal was to create a different "curve" on advancement of these. But it's not like changing from THAC0 to BAB or from percentile to d20 + modifier vs DC.

See, THACO vs. BAB is precisely what I mean by mechanics that are "mathematically equivalent". Whether you do BAB counting up or THACO counting down, the probabilities are identical, and in a mathematical information-theory sense, they're exactly and perfectly the same information. I actually had "Attack Bonuses" scribbled into the margin of my 1E DMG, for use in my AD&D games, years before 3E was released. Mathematically there's no mechanical difference.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Its in another Enworld thread, but in case you missed it, David Noonan responded to this thread (got that?) on his blog:

Thanks for posting that TerraDave. That takes care of my concern about repeatability of results. I'm sure that some will disagree, but to me it looks like they actually do know what they are doing over on that other coast. I remain cautiously optimistic that 4e will turn out great.

 

[FunkBGR]

Hey Scott Rouse -

I appreciate the humor. Keep up the good work!

- Bryan

 

[Evilhalfling]

You try telling that to Black Leaf !!

*Snort**chuckle*
Im glad my boss isn't in yet.
I am not so worried about the Pun-Puns of the new edition - there will be holes, playtesters can't possibly find all the problems, that the creative roleplaying public can. I am willing to HR obvious problems.
The more insidious stuff like wildshaped druids wearing cloaks, rings, belts and necklaces. The jump(2 ed) or diplomacy skills not working, or the 5 minute workday. These are things that need system fixes.

Im also glad that the WoTC playtesters and designers post here, and that they have thick skins.

 

[hexgrid]

See, THACO vs. BAB is precisely what I mean by mechanics that are "mathematically equivalent". Whether you do BAB counting up or THACO counting down, the probabilities are identical, and in a mathematical information-theory sense, they're exactly and perfectly the same information. I actually had "Attack Bonuses" scribbled into the margin of my 1E DMG, for use in my AD&D games, years before 3E was released. Mathematically there's no mechanical difference.

Almost all concepts on this basic of a level carry over from 3e to SWSE (and presumable 4e) with even less of a mechanical difference.

It'd take much less work use a SWSE statblock in 3e that it would be to use a 1e statblock in 3e, and the same is true of the one 4e statblock we've seen.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I'm hoping that a bit less playtesting is necessary on account of the much-touted new math. If it is, in fact, a system designed to work the same at all levels of play, then many issues resolved for level X should be resolved at all levels.

I was talking with Chris Thommason about this yesterday. He was explaining how they ran the math through it's paces in late 2006 early 2007. There were some iterations that worked and some that didn't. They largely got it worked out even before the GenCon announcement and it has remained stable since with only minor tweaks being made with external playtests going on.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

:|

I think Scott shoulod change his JT from Brand Manager to Snark Manager.



(Look forward to Friday)

Friday will blow minds.

I wish I could be online to watch but I will be duck hunting in Montana

 

[helium3]

I was talking with Chris Thommason about this yesterday. He was explaining how they ran the math through it's paces in late 2006 early 2007. There were some iterations that worked and some that didn't. They largely got it worked out even before the GenCon announcement and it has remained stable since with only minor tweaks being made with external playtests going on.

Hey Scott, would it totally be blowing company secrets to divulge whether the math was tested via hand calculations or a full blown computer model? I've totally been wondering about that for a while.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Hey Scott, would it totally be blowing company secrets to divulge whether the math was tested via hand calculations or a full blown computer model? I've totally been wondering about that for a while.

I am not sure how they do it or if it is a big secret.