I think (maybe wrong) that the treant and haste one work as spells so they are a bit off... but the ones I have seen the most (invisability and hellfire orb) have always been not counterspellable. in the form of the death knight this ALWAYS was pretty clear it was not a fireball.
They are all written the same way, and they are the same as the abilities you are talking about.
Sure, they are now more common than before, but they are still the same kind of magical effects. Looking at your example of Albert A and Albert B, this is really no different than being at a table where an Imp turns invisible with their non-spell action and the DM rules that it can be counterspelled, versus one where it can't be counterspelled.
Because the same thing will happen now. Some DMs will allow these non-spell spells to be counterspelled, and some will not.
how is changing how 33 rraces work, changing how lots (don't have exact number yet) of monsters work not count as changing?
The same way that using an Aereni Wood Elf doesn't change the Wood Elf. The variants haven't changed the base, just given a new option you can choose to use.
They aren't erasing anything, simply giving you a new format.
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The only reason they are keeping the old versions active (for now) is to do otherwise would invalidate the reason most people would have to buy the book. That decision has to do with money and nothing else. Like Tasha's I'm sure they fully intend for the new versions to be the "one true way" from now on.
You know, it isn't just you Micah, but you are one of the people. I imagine you'd be much happier if you took off your mind-reading helmet, put away your crystal ball, and just waited to see what the designers actually do.
Because the designers have stated that they haven't been happy with race/class combos for some time, and are looking to decouple that.
This has been taken to mean
1) We hate old players
2) We are following Twitter!
3) We are going forward with a new "one true way truth"
4) All your old books are invalid!
and many many other claims that... don't actually follow from the statements, press releases, from any actual information we have. In 2030 when they release a new pre-published adventure, if you take your 2008 PHB and make characters... you can still play that adventure. If you wanted to use the monsters from the 2008 MM... you probably could.
Are you going to buy that adventure path? I frankly don't care. You are not required to buy any more DnD products, everything released has been good enough to last us for years, and they will last us for years more, but we can stop with the hot takes based on zero evidence except "well I just know" or "But Tasha's became the standard" when, actually, it... really hasn't. People are still using pre-Tasha's material.