Quote:
Originally Posted by Hurmferd
Curiously, when I read your descriptions of experiences and encounters, I didn't read anything (aside from specific class powers/stunts/abilities that 4E brings to the table) that seemed tremendously different from my V3.5 experiences. My V3.5 group has had an encounter with a dragon that very much resembled your own in V4E, with very cinematic, memorable sequences. My group has also had encounters with attacking mobs that seemed just as interesting as your orc battle. But I use computer tools to keep combat quick and also to easily generate appropriately statted and geared NPC's, so neither of these is an issue, even with our nearly-high-level play. I'm also fairly conservative with magic item availability, so that's never been a problem.
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Part of the difference is the time it takes to prep, as someone else noted already. I ran that dragon encounter with about ten minutes of prep, running the dragon out of the book, something I wouldn't have been able to pull off in 3.5e.
In terms of play, it is a lot more mobile with more interesting options for the PCs. In 3.5e, there are disincentives to moving during combat, particularly at high level. In 4e, you are encouraged to keep moving and given a lot more ways to do it. A lot of attacks have extra movement folded in and a lot of stuff moves your opponents around, so the combat just feels a lot more vital. It just seems cooler in play to send out a wave of sonic force that knocks folks away from you when they are getting too close, or hit someone and then gracefully slip back out of their range. In the old edition, this sort of stuff was limited mostly to fighters, who could afford the feats for it, and who had good reasons not to use the ability once they had it as they'd be sacrificing several extra attacks.
The class flavor is better, too. A first level wizard feels like a full-bore wielder of arcane forces. Every round, you can use magic unlike in earlier editions, where you'd get off a few spells and then become a glorified crossbowman with no armor. The cleric is throwing around healing magic while they attack, rather than just darting around playing combat medic. And even your close-combat experts can show up the magic users a few times a combat with their impressive martial powers.
Also, I really like the pacing that the power system gives. I had real problems with my group when it came to the "fight one combat, then sleep" adventuring day. In addition, encounters having more participants makes it much more interesting and easier to balance. Sure, you could do something like my orc fight in 3.5e, but only by making the monsters much weaker than the party members to make the CR math work and then they could barely hit the PCs. In 4e, I can do an encounter of just 20 minions and they will be a real threat. They will hit roughly as much as 5 regular guys or a dragon of the same level.
Anyway, just wanted to expound to give a clearer picture.