I kinda feel that this is the double edge sword of their A/B testing.
Give a person a glass of cola and ask if they like it. You will probably get a generalized answer about their like or dislike of colas. Give that person two different colas and ask which they like will get you a different answer. The reason is that the person now has a frame of reference to describe the two colas against each other, vs a generalized notion of cola.
The playtest didn't give us what the B was to A/B testing. We're not getting do you like this or that? In some cases, we weren't even asked if we liked A in the first place (subclass progression). We weren't asked which fix for wild shape we preferred, we were given a half-baked template and when people rejected it for a multitude of reasoning, it was all put in the "doesn't spark joy" column. It's why even though I was hesitant about elements of the warlock being a half-caster, I have full throated support for it. Because anything less would give them ammo to pop it into the "no joy" bin.