I've been playing D&D since the old "blue box" version in the late 70s and have played every version up until now. I've read the 4e Players Guide, but it just doesn't feel like D&D any more. It might be a good game system, but it's just not D&D to me.
That is the driving force behind 4E, not a creative style, not a love of the game. Corporate greed. Let Hasbro squash what made 3E the golden Age of the game by opening it up to anyone. So now let's squash all the independent Publishers who drove us to excel into non-existance. Hasbro should be ashamed
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Smaugdragon"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong"
I find that 4th ed is far more balanced, but it seems really forced. The classes all seem to have been homoginized, with the Master wizard who spent his entire life learning how to shoot fire from his fingers being equal in power to some barely trained fighter using a sword that somehow gives him super powers.
Another problem I have (although this may become rectified with a future supliment) is the staticness of the monsters. There is no easy way to advance them. Meaning either entirely new sets of monsters are every level (or lots more of the same) or using NPC bandits or something.
I also dislike the way races are handled with bonuses to everything, rather than an advantage and a drawback.
In short although the system is useful for some of my more difficult ot balance base classes I won't be switching anytime soon.
I voted Maybe but it's not quite that straight-forward. I'm not currently in a 3.5 game. One of my groups just started a 4e game. 3.5 and 4e are really very different games. 3.5 is more role-playing with tactical options (and far too many scattered rules). 4e is a cross between a miniatures game and MMO (just not on the computer) - they are rapidly adding tons of rules but the majority of them only affect you if you play one of the classes dealt with (since most of the rules are now race/class-specific).
It still does not address the fact that 4th ed is aimed at WOW players and their combat rules are crap. The minion rules alone ruin the game. Where is the off chance that a 1st level kobold could get that 1-in -a-million shot and take out a 12th level fighter? Or the swarming hoardes of goblins overwhelm the same fighter? No instead you have ballon figures of 1 HP that die if breathed on wrong. In earlier editions we called that a Gorbel and at least they exploded. Add to that Hasbro is FORCING every distributor to stop any 3rd ed from ANY company and we come back to corporate greed
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Smaugdragon"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong"
Yep. 4e does seem to be aimed at MMO players. The combat rules (so far anyway) don't seem all that different from 3.5 and the MM does give options for tougher monsters (so far, we've encountered 4 different toughness of goblins ranging from 1hp up to 25-30hp). D&D has never had the best combat system (and never addressed unlikely hits).
4e (or 3.5) is definitely not my favorite fantasy rpg (probably Rolemaster or Chronicles of Ramlar) but I'm enjoying it for now.
I hadn't heard Hasbro was trying to force distributors to stop handling 3.x products. That seems like an obvious and easily won lawsuit. It doesn't surprise me though as Hasbro has always been about greed.
I haven't tried the new version of the game. I reluctantly switched to 3rd from 2nd AD&D ... in fact I still use aspects of AD&D2ed even when I play 3.5 with friends ... there are AD&D class-kits that never made the conversion to 3rd as prestiege classes and I make custom modifications for myself and players.
Some of my friends have tried 4ed and told me about it ... what was their discription?
"Blizzards of the Coast" ... it was described to me that WotC incorperated cool down times for Spells and Feats or whatever like World of Warcrack.
They don't have cooldowns but they did introduce at-will, encounter, and daily powers. Their usage is exactly what it sounds like (at-will can be used whenever, encounter is (usually) once per encounter, and daily is once per day).
They cleaned up a lot of the combat rules but did remove some options such as trip (which was often abused badly in 3.5).
I'm just not thrilled by it
I'm just not thrilled by it the way others are!
That's the second biggest dragon I've ever seen!
It doesn't seem like D&D anymore
I've been playing D&D since the old "blue box" version in the late 70s and have played every version up until now. I've read the 4e Players Guide, but it just doesn't feel like D&D any more. It might be a good game system, but it's just not D&D to me.
Try mentioning how you feel
Try mentioning how you feel on the WOTC message boards, I can tell you from personal experience you won't be popular.
That's the second biggest dragon I've ever seen!
Corporate Greed
That is the driving force behind 4E, not a creative style, not a love of the game. Corporate greed. Let Hasbro squash what made 3E the golden Age of the game by opening it up to anyone. So now let's squash all the independent Publishers who drove us to excel into non-existance. Hasbro should be ashamed
Smaugdragon"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong"
I find that 4th ed is far
I find that 4th ed is far more balanced, but it seems really forced. The classes all seem to have been homoginized, with the Master wizard who spent his entire life learning how to shoot fire from his fingers being equal in power to some barely trained fighter using a sword that somehow gives him super powers.
Another problem I have (although this may become rectified with a future supliment) is the staticness of the monsters. There is no easy way to advance them. Meaning either entirely new sets of monsters are every level (or lots more of the same) or using NPC bandits or something.
I also dislike the way races are handled with bonuses to everything, rather than an advantage and a drawback.
In short although the system is useful for some of my more difficult ot balance base classes I won't be switching anytime soon.
I voted Maybe but it's not
I voted Maybe but it's not quite that straight-forward. I'm not currently in a 3.5 game. One of my groups just started a 4e game. 3.5 and 4e are really very different games. 3.5 is more role-playing with tactical options (and far too many scattered rules). 4e is a cross between a miniatures game and MMO (just not on the computer) - they are rapidly adding tons of rules but the majority of them only affect you if you play one of the classes dealt with (since most of the rules are now race/class-specific).
It still does not address the
It still does not address the fact that 4th ed is aimed at WOW players and their combat rules are crap. The minion rules alone ruin the game. Where is the off chance that a 1st level kobold could get that 1-in -a-million shot and take out a 12th level fighter? Or the swarming hoardes of goblins overwhelm the same fighter? No instead you have ballon figures of 1 HP that die if breathed on wrong. In earlier editions we called that a Gorbel and at least they exploded. Add to that Hasbro is FORCING every distributor to stop any 3rd ed from ANY company and we come back to corporate greed
Smaugdragon"But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong"
Yep. 4e does seemed to be
Yep. 4e does seem to be aimed at MMO players. The combat rules (so far anyway) don't seem all that different from 3.5 and the MM does give options for tougher monsters (so far, we've encountered 4 different toughness of goblins ranging from 1hp up to 25-30hp). D&D has never had the best combat system (and never addressed unlikely hits).
4e (or 3.5) is definitely not my favorite fantasy rpg (probably Rolemaster or Chronicles of Ramlar) but I'm enjoying it for now.
I hadn't heard Hasbro was trying to force distributors to stop handling 3.x products. That seems like an obvious and easily won lawsuit. It doesn't surprise me though as Hasbro has always been about greed.
4ed D&D
I haven't tried the new version of the game. I reluctantly switched to 3rd from 2nd AD&D ... in fact I still use aspects of AD&D2ed even when I play 3.5 with friends ... there are AD&D class-kits that never made the conversion to 3rd as prestiege classes and I make custom modifications for myself and players.
Some of my friends have tried 4ed and told me about it ... what was their discription?
"Blizzards of the Coast" ... it was described to me that WotC incorperated cool down times for Spells and Feats or whatever like World of Warcrack.
They don't have cooldowns but
They don't have cooldowns but they did introduce at-will, encounter, and daily powers. Their usage is exactly what it sounds like (at-will can be used whenever, encounter is (usually) once per encounter, and daily is once per day).
They cleaned up a lot of the combat rules but did remove some options such as trip (which was often abused badly in 3.5).