I think the draw for me is that the specialized variations generally play differently and more interestingly than 3E class levelled up humanoids. A Gnoll clawfighter definitely has more mechanical and tactical appeal to me than slapping a gnoll with barbarian levels, 90% of the time resulting in just a generic 'rush in and beat face' monster with comparatively little depth. Assigning class levels to humanoids at higher levels is a fairly arduous process, and I say this as someone who loves to tinker with monsters and encounter design. I'm not going to fault WoTC for giving me more tools to play with, more examples to build from, and most importantly, for taking the leash off the proverbial dog with exception based design.
Also, 4e customization and design looks pretty intuitive and user friendly, considering the number of custom monsters we've seen pop up on these boards already without the MM proper being available. I fail to see how any of the 3e customization options are being taken away. What are you losing here, exactly? If you want a customized monster, customize it. I'm willing to bet your MM will not sprout prehensile limbs and pummel you until you acquiesce to its demands that you only use the pre constructed variants therein. It really doesn't look hard to me to bring over any options and monsters I want to from 3E into the 4E format, and I plan on converting lots and lots of stuff.
Frankly though, if Mike Mearls' example in this thread where instead of class levelling the half orc assassin he wanted to use for his ToEE game he built him as a monster devoted to the water temple with a suite of water aligned assassin-y powers doesn't sell you on the flexibility of customization options available within the 4E process, you and I are going to have to just agree to disagree, because we clearly have vastly different conceptions of awesome. (Which is perfectly alright, but really hampers further discussion)
Also, 4e customization and design looks pretty intuitive and user friendly, considering the number of custom monsters we've seen pop up on these boards already without the MM proper being available. I fail to see how any of the 3e customization options are being taken away. What are you losing here, exactly? If you want a customized monster, customize it. I'm willing to bet your MM will not sprout prehensile limbs and pummel you until you acquiesce to its demands that you only use the pre constructed variants therein. It really doesn't look hard to me to bring over any options and monsters I want to from 3E into the 4E format, and I plan on converting lots and lots of stuff.
Frankly though, if Mike Mearls' example in this thread where instead of class levelling the half orc assassin he wanted to use for his ToEE game he built him as a monster devoted to the water temple with a suite of water aligned assassin-y powers doesn't sell you on the flexibility of customization options available within the 4E process, you and I are going to have to just agree to disagree, because we clearly have vastly different conceptions of awesome. (Which is perfectly alright, but really hampers further discussion)