4e Has Less Raw Content: Fact!

[Fifth Element]

I do think the DMG not so subtly encourages a frenetically paced play style that ignores everything between combat or it's poor cousin the skill challenge.

From page 104, under "Encounter Mix":

"When you're building an adventure, try to vary the encounters you include, including combat and non-combat challenges, easy and difficult encounters, a variety of settings and monsters, and situations that appeal to your players' different personalities and motivations. This variation creates an exciting rhythm. Adventures that lack this sort of variety can become a tiresome grind." [emphasis added]

This is a poor example of what you're talking about. The last sentence means that all-combat games can be a tiresome grind. The middle part talks about different player motivations, which they expand on page 105 to include actor, explorer, instigator, power gamer, slayer, storyteller, thinker and watcher. The different types of encounters described in this section include:

- interaction encounters
- cool settings and fantastic environments
- traps
- combat encounters
- encounters that advance the story
- puzzle encounters, difficult decisions

So again I'll ask, is it implying, or are you inferring?