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After playing the earlier play test iterations and some Pathfinder, I think I've come to understand what the folks who don't like 4.0 are saying.
Usually the point I hear made is that "You can't RP in fourth edition...Or...You can't tell a story in fourth edition" Well that is utter crap.
'cause I've seen it done. People can RP and a GM can craft a story without any more difficulty than in other editions.
The deal is, the combat encounters are SO much more involved than in other editions, that they take time. SO much time that the overall experience of the game play changes. So much time that the number of encounters of any kind in an evening is reduced. This means that an inordinate amount of time is spent in combat, and that the number of play sessions required to tell/advance a story increases.
Since my group plays weekly, this was less evident to me, but I can absolutely see this being a problem for a group playing once or twice a month or less frequently. It became evident to me in a big way, when the number of encounters, social and combat, soared when playing with the Next play test rules.
Combat in fourth edition is awesome and well balanced among the classes, but that awesome does come with a price.
All in all I'm excited to see this latest play test stuff, and see where they've taken it.
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