Your Attention Level During Online Games?

[GrimCo]

Some people just don't find "plot" particularly compelling in TTRPGs. They are there for the fights.

Sure, and there are people who don't enjoy role play or don't find fights compelling. All those are legit preferences and so long as they aren't only one at the table where everyone else enjoys part they don't, it's good.

For me, it's a juice vs. squeeze situation.
There's a good number of "rider conditions" that go along with attacks in PF2. That slows down the game, when you have to roll saves, trigger additional actions, impart conditions that have to be taken into account and saved against in future rounds, tracking ongoing damage, auras, etc.
In a pure, whiteboard experiment, I'd run sample encounters in Foundry. I would ignore most feats, conditions, etc. The combats were faster but ultimately unchanged.
Those "extra 2 hp of bleed damage" don't really matter. In most cases that extra +1 to hit doesn't matter. An extra 5 ft of movement is usually not important to the outcome.
I enjoy progress, epic heroics, atmosphere, exploration - not "pixel b*tching" about miserly +1's for 3 hours.

Problem is, it seems you stumbled into a group who enjoys pixel bitching and part of their fun is pedantic rule application along with squeezing every possible mechanical advantage in fight.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I disagree with the grid comment. But do strongly agree with the comment about trainwreck rules.

I play with a group of technical players, and playing with a grid and maps is much easy and faster for us than TOTM. We run into all sorts of problems with miscommunication and other issues when not using grids. People are people, and we are all different and do better with different tools.

As I've commented before, its even worse if your spatial memory and visual imagination is not good. I've noted I don't think its actually possible for me to run a game effectively that pays any attention to a combination of range issues, cover, movement and things like area effects that actually care at all about area without at least a map with a scale, and once I've gone there, I might as well go all the way.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Sure, and there are people who don't enjoy role play or don't find fights compelling. All those are legit preferences and so long as they aren't only one at the table where everyone else enjoys part they don't, it's good.

Actually, a singleton there can at least figure out they're the odd-man-out and that maybe they need to find a different game if they can't adjust to some degree.

Its when you have a fairly even mix of people who, say, find combat dull when others live for it, while they're all on-board investigations while others can't wait for it to get done when you have a problem, because there's a constant low grade tug of war between the two groups.