D&D 4th Edition? (in Off-topic)

Has anyone played it yet? If so, how bad is it really?

I currently play 3rd edition (3.5 to be exact) and feel that this version is by far the best yet. I looked into 4th edition and almost vomited instantly at the horrific sight of the new structure. However, I have not given it a fair chance (and none of my co-players want to even hear about it... since we have invested hundreds of USD and even more hours into 3rd edition).

Just wondering if any fellow CBers out there have tried it out!

IMO 4.0 has much more game balance at the expense of roleplaying.

Tanks have much more versatility and are no longer completely dominated by a optimized caster, which is nice. But at the same time, class abilities have been replaced with "powers" so pretty much every action in the game has been replaced by a spell-like "power". The wizard spell list is pathetically small and lacks anything creative (everything just does damage, no more illusions, charms or finesse based wizards)

There are no more epic and cool spells, and everything kinda plays like an MMO (which is annoying since it's a table top game). It really takes the fantasy out of fantasy roleplaying games.

But if you just like to grind, battles are much faster and balance is much better. Survivability is much more possible and the new defense system instead of saves is interesting.

Overall I give it a thumbs down. Lots of things were improved balance wise, which I commend, but it's not worth the loss of fantasy and magic all the old versions shared.

Mmm, exactly what I thought.

On a preliminary review of the 4th edition material, it seemed as it if had been "MMO-ified". I think 4th edition would make a better console game (XBOX, PS3, PC) than a table-top game.

3.0 and 3.5 are my favorite, but i can definitely see the appeal of 4.0. haven't had a chance to run or play it myself but i plan to give it a shot next time i get around to it. it's definitely drastically different, thus deserving of its major version number change :)

I play 4.0 with my friends, fun and balanced, decent amount of roleplaying, it's good.