Characters do get a number of cool abilities, and there are certainly players in our playtest campaign who are loving the new powers. They like the fact that they can focus on and the fact that they can focus on what their character does, and not have to look everything up in a book.
That said, while those folks love being able to do something cool every round, the complexity crowd was frustrated by having to do the same cool thing every round (or having to pick from the same limited pool of things).
We've found combats take about as long as our mid-level combats in 3rd edition. What I think makes the game feel like it's going faster is that people are more focused on what's happening at the table. 4E's focus on teamwork, rather than individualism, means that it's very much a game of working together to setup power-combinations to better defeat your enemies. In 3E, there was teamwork... but you could get away with doing your own thing. In 4E, that'll get your party killed.
The team work angle actually mitigates some of the lack-of-player-options issues that 4E has because the game's much better about actively encouraging people to work with each other. It's not just about what cool trick you're going to pull off this round, but how you can setup your buddy to pull of his own stellar maneuver.
I can't remember which D&D developer said it -- I think it was Mike Mearls -- but if 3E was all about character optimization, then 4E is all about party optimization.
Given that, I think that 4E is going to be hit or miss when it comes to individual campaigns; it's all going to be a question of whether it fits your play style, or whether your group can adapt to it. If not, then I'm sure folks will stick with one of the alternatives.
Sat, 08/09/2008 - 12:03pm
Thanks Martin!
Characters do get a number of cool abilities, and there are certainly players in our playtest campaign who are loving the new powers. They like the fact that they can focus on and the fact that they can focus on what their character does, and not have to look everything up in a book.
That said, while those folks love being able to do something cool every round, the complexity crowd was frustrated by having to do the same cool thing every round (or having to pick from the same limited pool of things).
We've found combats take about as long as our mid-level combats in 3rd edition. What I think makes the game feel like it's going faster is that people are more focused on what's happening at the table. 4E's focus on teamwork, rather than individualism, means that it's very much a game of working together to setup power-combinations to better defeat your enemies. In 3E, there was teamwork... but you could get away with doing your own thing. In 4E, that'll get your party killed.
The team work angle actually mitigates some of the lack-of-player-options issues that 4E has because the game's much better about actively encouraging people to work with each other. It's not just about what cool trick you're going to pull off this round, but how you can setup your buddy to pull of his own stellar maneuver.
I can't remember which D&D developer said it -- I think it was Mike Mearls -- but if 3E was all about character optimization, then 4E is all about party optimization.
Given that, I think that 4E is going to be hit or miss when it comes to individual campaigns; it's all going to be a question of whether it fits your play style, or whether your group can adapt to it. If not, then I'm sure folks will stick with one of the alternatives.
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