D&D 5E What was better about the earlier playtest packets?

[GX.Sigma]

The first playtest packet was really cool and exciting. Probably because it was new. But what immediately struck me (especially compared to the 4e game I was playing at the time) was how pure it felt. No eladrins, no ardent battleminds, no encounter powers; you just had a dwarf and an elf and a cleric and you were going into the dungeon because it was there.

 

[Falling Icicle]

It's almost hard to remember now...

- I liked having lots of Cleric Deities and Rogue Schemes to choose from, compared to the insufficient amount of the last packet, but that doesn't mean we won't get a decent amount at launch

- I liked previous iterations of many ideas, some of which have become better (e.g. I liked skill dice, but I like the current proficiency rules even more) while others at least haven't got worse (e.g. I liked round-based superiority dice, but I am probably fine with an encounter-based version)

There is only two things that IMHO just got worse, and that's feats and the loss of vancian casters.

I can live with mega-feats, but smaller feats would have definitely worked better in many ways.

I can also live without true vancian casters (they are easy to put back into the game with a simple house rule), but I wonder how many old-schoolers might look at 5e, see spellcasters are not vancian anymore, and walk away.

Then there's stuff I really dislike (e.g. Humans) but never got fixed.

I agree with all of this except for the part about vancian casters. Had 5e kept traditional vancian casting, I think there would have been just as many, if not more, people who would have walked away. I, for one, love the new casting system. It's one of the things I tell people about when trying to get them interested in the new edition.

I also liked how one of the older packets had Turn Undead as a spell.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Nearly every version was a game that I had played. Many of those things you mentioned were great.

I for example especially liked the different attack and spellcasting bonus progressions. But under the light of multiclassing, that was maybe something that just did not work in a satisfying manner.

I also liked free form skills. And skills that could be used with different ability scores. I just hope, some of those neat little things will reappear in the final design.

Fighter maneuvers for example are already reappearing.

 

[DiceyDM]

I've played all the packets since the beginning, and I can honestly say I think it has gotten better over time. As a player and a DM Ive seen both sides of the coin for these packets. I remember always being a bit sad and glad when a new packet came out. As a player I was sad I was loosing cool character features and basic game mechanics that I had enjoyed and gotten used to, but as a DM the game became way smoother and balanced.

A lot of the previous packets were so unbalanced. Look at the first version of the druid. Who would ever play a caster druid when a shape-shifter gets a cat form at lvl 3 that granted a three attack multi-attack and could leave a monster prone and let you move an additional fifteen feet of movement. The druid was doing more damage than a raging barbarian with a great sword (2d6), even with Deadly Strike... um what?

To answer the OP the only thing im not a fan of is that characters regain all their hit points after a long rest. It kinda of made it a lot easier. My players never run out of Hit Dice to use and before abilities recharged during a short rest, there was rarely a reason to take one.

Overall the game is more balanced and easy to pick up/ introduce to new RPG players.


Also in response to the High level play comment; I think all high level play is boring regardless of what abilities character gain access to. What is the point of playing past lvl 10? Your character has found riches, escaped death countless times and probably lost friends along the way. The riches are so amazing because non adventuring humanoids wouldn't take the risk for them. Your character should be able (and look forward) to retiring. Furthermore gear inevitably increases players' AC making them un-hitable so it all becomes Save or Die mechanics that activate based on your HP. "Death ray- If the target has less than 60 current HPs it dies" (no save). "If the target has more than 60 HPs, the target must succeed on DC 16 constitution saving throw" ... LAME! it becomes a race between the monster to drop you to a certain HP total to deliver the final blow and you ending him outright. I know this is important for balance and these fights are exhilarating but lots of times end in TPKs because there are so many things can do wrong, starting with the Dice just turning on you. I hate killing players, much less a TPK. If it happens it happens, but its never fun to end a 2 year campaign with you die... no save... Re-Roll...

 

[Plaguescarred]

What i liked from previous packets was Skills weren't associated with an ability score.