D&D 5E Favorite change and thing you like better before

[The Crimson Binome]

Dislike: At-will spells, and the lack of scaling within spell slots. I want my level 5 wizard to only have half a dozen spells per day, with each of those being more powerful than they were at level 1.
Dislike: Increasing bonuses to attack, but not defenses. I feel that 4E was really much closer to what I want, in this regard (aside from NPCs scaling twice as quickly as PCs, of course).
Dislike: Fast, non-magical healing.

Like: Advantage/Disadvantage, rather than +2 and -2 (surprisingly).
Like: Proficiency as a binary state, rather than individual skill ranks.

 

[guachi]

The average roll on a d20 is 10.5.
The average roll on 2d20, choose highest is 13.825.

You can do the math on the difference between the two.

Advantage, for instance, gives a higher relative effect the higher the number you need is. If you need to roll a 20 to do whatever you have a 5% chance with no advantage but 9.75% with advantage. In other words, you've almost doubled your chance of success (95%, to be exact). If you have disadvantage you'll only succeed .25% of the time or basically never.

On the other hand, if you succeed on a 1 having advantage or disadvantage doesn't do anything.

 

[Quartz]

Dislike: One spell per day at higher spell levels. If I'm a level 20 wizard, deadlier than quite a lot of dragons (per CR), I want to unload.

So write lots of scrolls.

Intrigued that nobody is mentioning: Inspiration, which nudges D&D a bit towards them new-fangled story game mechanics.

Yes indeed.

 

[Nebulous]

I like the spell system, Adv/Dis.

Not a fan of the skill system exactly.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Like - Advantage/Disadvantage is #1 by a mile. It got rid of a big part of what I despised about 3e based games, the seemingly endless numbers of situational modifiers that had to be figured out as they changed each round. Worrying about what stacked with what...I'd rather have fun that deal with that mess.

Concentration - Helped git rid of the buffs which would be layered on until a foe cast a dispell and then lets take a few minutes to figure out what got removed and recalc all the mods. God I hated that.

The system doesn't assume that a PC of X level has X amount of gear. 3e PC was a pile of gear with a character attached to it that was almost useless at higher level without all that gear. 5e seems like a PC will have a lot less magic on them which is cool, your PC shouldn't be the gear, it should just help not take over.

Removal of emphasis on feats and tweaking your build and prestige classes, etc. Less options sure, but I'm fine with that as it seems to be putting the emphasis a bit more on the adventure rather than that next ding where you can fiddle with character abilities. Less time looking at the sheet for that feat to bust out and more time in the game with the other players as well.

Restoration of some of the feel and flavor of classic editions.

Not assuming you are using a grid and gutting of opportunity attacks.

Bounded accuracy. In 3e the numbers got out of control and unwieldy.

Dislike: Leveling is probably built more around fast leveling in an adventure path type campaign. Easy to fix though for a more long term episodic game.

Compared to 1e and BECMI I like the unified mechanics and streamlined rules.
Dislike: Rogues instead of thieves.

Overall its fun to play so far. 3e/3.5/PF are dreadful games on the tabletop past 5-6th level so I'm glad to have a modern D&D game I want to play and DM. It improves on the often disconnected nature of classic editions.

Note I never played 4e, had moved back to to a C&C/1e mashup game.

 

[Geeknamese]

You guys already mentioned the main things so I'll just add that I love that they were able to keep some of the elements that made martial classes interesting in 4e without giving martial powers. In that aspect, they were able to appease both older edition players and 4e players. Allowing martial classes to tack on riders like martial maneuvers or bonus action spell riders is genius.

I also love Bounded Accuracy and how they managed to stay true to it even with magic items and weapons where you can have magic items that are unique but don't necessarily add bonuses.

theyve managed to keep a lot of the team synergy type play from 4e as well. You need a party member to buff or control to give you the offset for your big GWM/Sharpshooter attacks. You can have a Warclock hex a baddies Str to screw up their escape attempts with Web or Ensnaring Strike.

Advantage/Disadvantage is beautiful for skill checks where you're player has done an epic job of roleplaying and the botched skill check won't diminish his attempt.

I love the general overall power back to the DM. How the wrote some of the rules to be less black and white to allow the DM to make the final call for his game.

i can keep going...lol

 

[jrowland]

Neo-Vancian Casting is my favorite thing about 5E

I wish the classes were more "pick two" features in the sub-class selection rather than "pick one" because it allows for interesting choices (if sometimes sub-optimal or over-optimal). Things like cleric domains, wizard schools, fighting style, etc...Warlocks are a good start: Patron + Pact, although I think you would have to bump it a bit to match a 2 domain choice e.g. but that is where I wish it was more fleshed out.