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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5413536" data-attributes="member: 2067">The problem with this logic is that without mechanics, you have no game. Clearly, you can do these things without mechanics. You ask the DM, and the DM, based on their whims and vagaries, says "yes" or "no." You can do that in combat, too. But it's certainly not satisfying. It doesn't encourage use. It doesn't enable play. It depends wildly on a particular DM's quality, ability, and comfort level. And, let's put it this way: No one ever wanted to be a Dragonborn Warden without the mechanics to do it. No one ever wanted a particular power before that power existed. D&D should be a game about heroism, IMO, and partially because older editions have neglected much of these areas, 4e has a vast expansion possibility, to change the story and the world with actual mechanics. Various mechanics already tie into this to a small degree: Epic Destinies and Paragon Paths and Campaign Arcs. Skill Challenges try, but Skill Challenges have a plethora of problems that make them kind of inadequate. Plenty of people -- and I am certainly among them -- seek more and better game rules for this part of the game. That's not a ludicrous request, I think.Back to the main topic...This concept mystifies me. Essentials is Old School targeted. Magic Missiles that never miss! Fighters and Rogues using enhanced basic attacks! Noncombat utility powers! It's quick and simple! BOXED SETS! These are all pretty great grist for the old-timer playbook. It's part of the reasons I think Essentials is awesome. I don't think WotC has fired the old-timers at all. I mean, maybe they did a little when 4e first launched (Here's a word that now means something completely different! Here's a brand new mythology that we're all using now! Here's a portmanau or a billion!), but that probably wasn't their intent.I do think WotC probably didn't prepare adequately for all the ramifications of their actions. I do think higher-up management screwed the pooch pretty royally in the first few years of the edition, when choosing the direction of the game, and their echo effects continue to to be felt. I do think that WotC didn't anticipate that a second Great Depression would happen and thus cut into peoples' gaming budgets so deeply. I do think they're scrambling to squeeze some blood out of this rock, in panic mode, and not at all sure what's going to happen in 6 months about anything. It's a complex amalgam of effects. It's not as simple as "Screw those crybaby Grognards." It does seem like they're a little bipolar paranoid schizophrenic though. MANIC EPISODES like Essentials, depressed episodes like this Winter Lull, paranoid like with the DDI anti-piracy insanity, and schizophrenic because they keep hallucinating products that don't really exist. Which, admittedly, doesn't encourage me to trust them.</blockquote>

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