Ability score increase by level was hugely popular when it was introduced in 3E, and that hasn't changed. Furthermore, it's not something that can easily be made modular, because it has a big impact on character power. So I think it's more or less guaranteed that 5E will have level-based stat bumps by default.
What do you mean it's not easily made modular? It's
super easy. In fact, in 3ed it was quite common to see groups change the basic rate of ability score increase, for example granting two +1s to two scores instead of one.
If you default the game to no ability score increase by level, adding them later is a piece of cake. "Modular on a group basis" is unbelievably simple in this case.
What is not a piece of cake, is allowing some players to get those stat bumps and other players get something else instead ("modular on an individual basis"), which is what they are trying too hard right now IMHO.
I don't know why you can't cherrypick feats to build a specialty that is now BIGGER than the specialty before. Mearls gives two feats, either of which could work as part of a specialty.
I meant, if their current design direction is to "merge" previous feats 3-by-3 or something similar, you have to take the whole package. You still probably get more than one package (i.e. the new mega-feats) in the course of 20 levels, so you still have some choice compared to choosing one specialty that defines all your feats. But at the same time it's less choice compared to before.
These sample feats are just sample, so they shouldn't be taken too seriously yet, but I think they set the idea. What if I was interested in getting heavy armor proficiency? Now I have to take a whole mega-feat that also gives me 2 additional abilities I'm not interested in.
Let's see what they do when they come to non-combat feats then. For instance, what if I want my Wizard to have a Familiar? Until now, I spend a feat and get a familiar. They can't combine this with other feats, it just makes no sense that to get a familiar I also get herbalism or something else unrelated. So it will have to be related, but how? Are they going to suddenly give me a giant-uber familiar, since it has to be worth 3 feats at once?
I like it. I'd rather get a few big bumps than panic over +1's. Life is short, give me the main course, don't fill me up on bread, I'm not here for bread.
If you mean fiddly bits are boring, I'm with you... but a mega-feat has to be worth 3 older feats, so it either gives you a single large bonus, or it gives you 3 times more fiddly bits, or 3 special actions. The first one might not be appropriate with bounded accuracy, the second is bread, the third means you have to take the whole package or nothing and IMHO it's not good to get 3 new special actions at one level and then no special actions in the next 8 levels.
Eh. That's one way to do it, but you lose the sense of character development and growth that is the core of the level system in D&D. It'd make the game easier to design for if there were no levels or XP, too, but those are valuable things.
As if there was no sense of character development prior to 3e (when there was no ability score increase by level)?
As if there is not enough sense of character development when you get class abilities by level, spell levels, skills, regular feats and possibly more?
Anyway, I suggested you can still have ability scores bumps with magic, and it's easy to rule the bumps by level back, if "sense of character development" is not enough.
What I am saying is that these ability score bumps are not only bloated by now but are also conditioning the design of other parts of the game that were fine.
