I don't think of it in terms of "far enough" or "too far."
I love 4e. But there are a few things I wish they had done that they didn't do. Warning! Dead horses flogged in the paragraphs to follow! Mercilessly! And then they're reanimated and flogged again!
1. Dragons. I STILL HATE THEM. Even you, brown dragon! You're the best of the lot, and I still hate you! Because BROWN ISN'T A THEME! You've got nice abilities, nice theme, all kinds of nice things, and yet, because of a design decision decades ago and the bowel-watering fear of change that gamers have, you are still monochromatic. The fanciest color scheme dragons have, and ever shall have, apparently, is slightly different shades of a primary color. Red dragons might be red, for example, with stripes that are a slightly darker red. I want dragons with color! Splash! Patterns! Tiger stripes, leopard spots, iridescent purple wing leather set against a sea green body! McFarlane's Dragon series has been beating the pants off of D&D dragons for years now. Its embarrassing.
2. 4e wizards suck. Not mechanically, really, mechanically they're alright. They suck because they're absolutely flavorless. They're the least inspired class in the game, and its probably because they're so influenced by prior editions of D&D, and so influenced by the hatred of the Golden Wyvern Adept. The basic idea, that a wizard wielding a staff should be genuinely different from a wizard wielding a wand, was a good one. But we didn't get it. I think we were going to- I think that's why the wizard's feats don't make a lot of sense. They were designed to fit into a wizard class where secondary attributes mattered and interacted with implements and feat choices and elemental damage types. But I think all of that was murdered, and now all we're seeing is its corpse.
3. Multiclassing works amazingly well! Except when it requires three hands so it doesn't work at all! Right. Not much else to say here. Implement + Weapon + Shield = Time to Awkwardly Hand Jive your Inventory. Remember how 3e patched problems like this with awkwardly worded feats that became must-haves for anyone who wanted to multiclass in a particular way? Practiced Spellcaster, I'm looking at you. I expect this to be another area where that occurs.
4. Changing grips on weapons seems to have been forgotten as an issue. As a result, we now have a rule that makes sense: its a free action, coupled with a class that I'm convinced was designed by someone who didn't remember that fact. Considering that this was an annoying issue in 3e as well (clerics, weapons, shields, holy symbols), you'd think that they would have come up with a fix. It isn't a major issue, but man, it could have been done better.
5. Ok, this one is a little more complex.
The power system has the potential to permit characters to mix and match abilities. This in turn has the potential to allow for a lot of variety by permitting characters to take things that aren't part of their usual suite of powers. For example, a Fighter might want to take a power that helps him fire a crossbow particularly well. Ways to do this are already becoming available: if you look at the gladiator article, the multiclassing mechanic is being used to give characters the ability to learn special weapons tricks that might not fit with their regular class, but which add variety. Like a wizard who mostly casts spells, but occasionally wields a whip, and gets good advantage out of it. The architecture exists for this to happen.
Unfortunately, its got a flaw. Not a major flaw, and maybe even an inevitable flaw, but a flaw.
Basically, its this: the value of a power granted by a feat, or a new option granted by a feat, varies based on who is receiving it. And the game has to charge for it based on the recipient best able to exploit it. So, for example, a power that lets you make an attack based on dexterity has to be charged for on the assumption that someone who's favorite ability score is dexterity will be taking it. But that just makes it over priced when someone who doesn't favor dexterity wants to take it, which in turn limits how much you can use this mechanic to create versatile tricks for your character.
Use the whip as the example.* The whip feats have to be balanced on the assumption that they will be taken by a Rogue. They work based on Dexterity, after all, and rogues have an off hand so they can fight with a dagger/whip combination. That's fair, and I understand this. But a whip might be a cool thing to give to a Warlock, right? Except that warlocks don't use dexterity. So a warlock who uses both magic and a whip would end up with a crappy whip power. That means the whip power should either be less difficult for said warlock to obtain, or, should be powered up. But if its powered up enough it becomes a no brainer for rogues.
I don't like this, but I don't see a solution either other than direct DM intervention. I can't see anything that WOTC could do to fix the situation, since its so... nuts and bolts and based on individual characters.
6. Role isn't destiny. Lots of people said it would be, but it turns out that its not. If I want my Fighter to be a leader, then with smart power and skill choice, and maybe the expenditure of a feat, I am a leader. Maybe not as much as a dedicated leader who started that way, but in enough of a way to count. Nearly every class/role combination is like that to at least some degree.
But, power source IS destiny. This surprised me. Gone are the days when your cleric might fight in melee like a regular person for a while, then cast a spell. You're expected to use powers from your power source for basically every attack you make, ever. The only exceptions are multiclassing, and characters who attack with scores other than Strength and who want to take OAs or charge. I would have expected the paladin, at least, to have at wills that didn't rely on divine power. I figured they would have been martial.
I kind of see why they're not- if they were, they'd either be different from a fighter's, in which case why can't a fighter learn those martial powers? Or they'd be the same as a fighter's, in which case the classes would run together. But it strikes me as odd. Mixed power source characters are a staple in fiction.
The matter I address in point 5 would fix this.
*Technically its a bad example since its restricted to martial characters only, but it gets across the point.
