Don't do combat. Skill challenges for all!!!!!
This, kinda.
Only not.
D&D4E is a pretty cool game (It kills all the nomsters and doesnt afraid of nothing).
Assembling and running encounters is incredi-easy from the GM's side, almost effortless if you do a little reading at the start.
However! D&D, both 3.X/Pathfinder/etc. and 4E have an unspoken requirement of tactical thinking from the players to run smoothly.
Personally, I like this. It rewards understanding & analysis of the game system.
That said, I'm well aware that thinking, especially analytically, != fun for many people. If the frontload of work is a funsuck for a large part of your group, do yourselves a favor and use a different game.
Savage Worlds springs to mind, though I have exactly 0 experience with it. If there's not a fantasy kitbash out there for ORE, some published author is falling down on the job. Hell, it could be that some of the OD&D fanstuff out on the web would suit.
Sure, these options involve effort, maybe some cash, and identifying what you actually want your game to do. I think, though, that it's a better alternative to letting the system bog down the game your group actually wants to play.
Let me be clear and repetitive: I loves me some 4E. I think it's a great game, but it is complex in ways that aren't spelled out in the books. I think anyone would be better off to find a system that does what their group needs, rather than play half-assed, un-fun D&D.
Alternatively: invest in the 4E Player's Strategy Guide, accessible through this elegant and finely crafted link:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd_products_dndacc_253820000It's got a lot of sillycool fluff that's kinda hit or miss, but there are some bits that actually detail the underlying logic of focus fire, etc. Always nice to have a better reason for doing things than simply because we said to.
