Something occurred to me regarding modern climbing competitions, the route-setting and attendant route-beta (*) development & deployment in those comps, and some of the greater cultural complaints about D&D 4e combats.
Hopefully I can express this well and in a way that is accessible. Here goes:
I would say that somewhere in the last 6-ish years or so, route-setting has become much more of a science. It has become more technically precise in terms of holds set for various climbs; their orientation in relationship to the expected beta the route-setter is looking for, their measurable relationships with respect to the placement of other hand-holds and foot-holds. Route-setters have fine-tuned things to an extreme degree. However, the types of routes being tested in comps are simultaneously only turning like 4-5 knobs and the intense demands on optimizing for surmounting those 4-5 knobs is creating selection pressures which generates hyper-specific beta while punishing creativity, and an increasing focus on very particular skillsets. Finally, scoring/Win Con for comps has become more-or-less unified and very tailored.
All together this is creating an environment that is generating a lot of static repeats of competition boulder problems with increasingly subtle (or vanishingly meaningful) differences in both how they look on the wall and how they perform when climbed; the particular types of climbs (you could look at each of these like the various types of combat setups like "a Slab problem" which requires a lot of finesse and balance would be the inverse of a "Tank & Spank") are becoming increasingly rote, the intended beta for those climbs is naturally similarly rote, and so the actual climbs themselves are becoming increasingly homogenous. Over the course of several years, you're starting to get a feel like "uh, we've seen this exact boulder problem before...and we've seen that exact sequence...and that again...oh yeah, that too."
Rewind 10 years ago and the diversity of route-setting, possible betas, and the creativity in attacking the problems were all prolific. Comps required and rewarded creativity by the climbers. Every comp looked enormously divergent from the last. Heterogeneity in the look of the boulder problems and in the way various climbers attacked them was everywhere while individual boulders and comps-at-large remained fantastic tests for the raw fundamentals and physical prowess and technical acumen of climbing.
Simply put, a few things were happening back then:
* The route-setters were turning way more knobs and this generated significantly divergent climbing tests. Or, they were including one big, awkward feature that required unorthodox approaches and creativity (though still within the portfolio of climbing...though, even then, dynamic climbing with a lot of parkour stuff was creeping in) surmount in the middle of an orthodox climb.
* Climbing combs had different setups for scoring and advancing. This is the equivalent of different Win Cons for 4e combats.
* Therefore, instead of punishing creativity because of all of the selection pressures toward optimization and narrowing, you saw creativity rewarded and greater skill-diversity.
What is the lesson for 4e herein? Hopefully, its clear, but:
* Use all the knobs at your disposal (big features to surmount or to deploy, hazardous terrain pressure, Hazards as an important part of your encounter budgets, lots of different monster synergies, incentivize/reward movement, use fantastic terrain to single-use buff, use waves, use summoned minions, zones, auras, the battlefield suddenly changing on round x, nest situation-changin Skill Challenges with thematic importance, etc etc) as much of the time as you can (all the time really).
* Use divergent Win Cons (escort or pursue/escape to squares across the map, escape the collapsing whatever, protect the vulnerable Minion, get to square x and use the weapon y, etc) and combat archetypes from combat to combat.
* BETA is the developed course charted for the route, the sequence of moves individually and how they transition, and the novel approach to holds and foot placement in order to ascend a climb.
