Class Compendium: Feats and Fighters

Okay, so the (mostly) new feats aren't all that bad. I can see martial subclasses with power strike swapping it out for something more substantial, like come and get it (yes, even post-errata) or rain of blows. On the other hand, I really can't see fighters swapping out their stuff for power strike, especially for the cost of a feat (though maybe Power Strike Specialization is worth it?). The most confusing feat goes to School of Magic Apprentice (and all the rest): you swap out your implement training for a mage's magic school class feature. A mage and wizard are both basically the same damned thing, separated only by emphasizing implements over school mastery.

My question is, why the hell not just play the one with the thing you want the most? There really isn't any other pair of classes I can compare this to, but the best example that comes to mind is a fighter taking a feat that makes him a ranger. This just sounds like they are trying to complete the entire list, you know? Make sure everyone gets a feat. It's great that WotC is trying to provide options that make classes and subclasses bleed together (even more so than they already do ::cough:: interchangeable powers ::cough::), but these don't seem to contribute anything to anyone.

In other news, the fighter is now called the weaponmaster. Functionally it works exactly the same, daily exploits and all. This article just runs through the entire 1-30 process "Essentials-style", complete with a step-by-step walkthrough and giving each exploit extra verbiage. The main thing of interest are the updates: some things get clarified, others (like come and get it) got "nerfed".