D and D Next Playtesting: What say you?

[roll2play]

So Wizards of the Coast has announced and distributed the first in what i hope to be a few iterations of the Dungeons and Dragons Next (or 5e) playtest for the gaming community to try out....We've held a few sessions of the playtest here at the store, but i'm curious to know, without spoiling the surprises, what you think of a new edition of D&D, or the new system, if you are a playtester?

[nijineko]

some good, some bad, some nostalgia, some potential that i hope they don't drop.

[roll2play]

I think they're going the right way with character builds and minimizing some of the overwhelming choices that 4e's 'power' system had. I also enjoy that they are using Caves of Chaos as an introductory adventure. I'm hoping in the future, if things stay where they are, that we'll be able to dust off some of the older D&D and AD&D modules and incorporate them into the new system....

[1958Fury]

I've enjoyed what I've played so far.

[DMMike]

Isn't it just 3.5 with healing surges?

[Valdar]

Hard to say with the limited information given- the preview looks like the amount of rules you'd get in a boxed set from the early 80s...

One of the core tactics in D&D is for the tough types to protect the squishy types, either with marks (4e) or threatened zones (3rd). Marks were too simplistic to be fun, and threatened zones/AoOs were too complex to be useful- I'm curious to know how 5e will do it, if it will have a game mechanic for it at all, or if we're going back to just hoping the monsters don't figure out to kill the Wizard and Cleric first...

[roll2play]

I received an email about a week ago from WotC; it was a survey asking what players thought were the most iconic wizard and clerical spells were, per level from 0 to 10. I'm curious if they are going to weed out some of the spells, or maybe revamp them...

[DMMike]

Valdar - don't forget 3E's Readied Actions and Fight Defensively, two useful ways to keep squishies protected.

[nijineko]

I suggested a number of changes. It would be nice if they finally dropped the vancian based spell casting system.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

Not a fan. It still plays too much like 4e to me. I've never like the way spells/powers were handled and it is about the same in 5e. I'm playing as the cleric and there is no reason to ever carry a melee weapon. I haven't used it once.