The Truth about Mary (4th Edition, I mean.)

I still maintain that WoTC should never have got their hands on the DnD franchise.

* This is not a rant. It is by no mean a definite review of 4th Edition either. I am trying to look as objectively as I can, dissect the good and the bad, with the final product being a superior home-brewed 4.1E *

These people, creative and cool as they are, can really card-dify and rule/errata this classic game into an early demise. Randy Buehler, an okay professional Magic player (but more known for his "innovative" decklists- READ: boring but effective, a bit like Liverpool's style of football), is the President and the overall in charge. He is, and always will be, in my mind - a CARD player first, and DnD geek/sucker, second. 4th Edition, with some of the powers' effects looking like really lousy current Type II Magic cards, reeked of Randy and the rest of the MoTG "cannot-make-it-in Professional Magic-so-I- move-on-to-DnD" motley gang.

I see my players playing Power Cards- cheap Magic commons with the particular power's effect printed on paper, glued to the cardstock, and slotted into trading card sleeves. Yes, I do agree it helps simplify the process, and the players get to remember if they used up their third daily, second encounter, or an obscure custom power.
But wait a minute and think.
Why did they need to simplify the process again?
Mmhmm.
The rules and effect itself was tedious to remember. Thus, book-keeping to a minimum? Nah.

So, in a nutshell,

• 4th Edition combat is streamlined, but clunky. It is really time-consuming due to the myriad of effects and data involved. (e.g. "He marked who?", "Please remember the ongoing damage AND that you are stunned until the END of MY minion's next turn, not your next turn, which IS the case on some of the other powers.")
• WoTC, I feel, is trying to make 4th Edition earn lots of gold for themselves. Due to the restrictive powers concept, which is time consuming to homebrew an entire class, it makes the masses buy more official stuff to play their dream class, instead of relying on inspiration, and trying their hand out at creating one of their own. There were many times I wanted to make a new class for the 4th Ed world but gave up after wondering about the many many powers that I will have to come up with just to make the class workable. (The 4th Ed. Monk is still a work in progress. I think I did a rather good job of overhauling the original forum version though.)
• The success/failure based skill challenge is a failure. It needs a complete overhaul to make it more natural. I say that because the current situation is always too artificial and set-up. DMs around the world are saying stuff like,"You guys are now in a Skill Challenge to find the path to Mount Nevermind. Six successes versus three failures. Good Luck on finding the correct primary and secondary skills.". In fact, I recommend a checkpoint system where the DM, at certain pre-determined parts of the challenge, will assess the situation and see how to continue. In future posts, I will present the Checkpoint System for general feedback.
• DnD is still cool. Except you need an internet connection to optimize your character choices or you might "lose" out on extra powers/paths.
• The DM is placed in a neutral position rather than one of power nowadays. We are supposed to say YES remember? *sniggers*
• I do not like to be referred to as a male "bitch". So, let me harp on the positives. I like the skill-pool system in the game. That is a simplification of the previous editions and yet, not detract from gameplay at all. In fact, its better.
  

Overall, ADnD 2nd edition is still my favourite incarnation of the game. You really only need a couple of books and you are good to go. We rely more on intuition and on-the-fly decisions rather than relying on rules for EVERYTHING. (Acrobatics or Athletics? I want to jump over the table, man.)
4th Edition is a breath of fresh air but somehow, I am still not certain if that is the air I want to breathe. For now, it is the only air out there, so what the heck.

p/s: Shihao gave us the hand-out to his new campaign loosely based on FR. It is looking promising and I see good things coming next year. Alex and PT are also working on their adventures. Theirs should be out by this decade.