issues I had with 3.x that I feel 5e fixed:
[*]Need for magic items to make the math work, even on NPCs.
Meh, long since 'fixed' by Inherent bonuses.
[*]Monsters/NPCs using very fiddly math that took forever at high levels to prep to run.
'fixed' in 4e, sure, and still fixed in 5e, 'cept for monsters/NPCs that use spells or have class levels, and CR not working so well. (Oh, there's another one, CR is the 3.x term, and, like 3.x, 5e CR's not that dependable.)
[*]Prestige classes (and feat chains to a much lesser degress) that required planning out characters from level 1 not to miss cut-offs.
'Big' feats reduce that issue, but sub-classes are still an irrevocable build decision, for instance.
Poor multiclassing: cherrypicking due to lots of 1st level features, BAB stacking but casting not, able to optimize way beyond straight-classed characters
Reduced, but also shifted around a bit. It's the same basic MCing system; casting stacks, but Extra Attacks (BAB) don't; reducing front-loading for MCing & putting off defining abilities until sub-classes are chosen does reduce (but hardly eliminate) 'dipping,' but it also makes 1st level kinda sucky in some ways. Optimization abuses are limited more by lack of material to synergize than robustness of the underlying system.
[*]Long combats (wall clock time)
3.x Novas could be quite fast.
[*]Able to unintentionally make characters that suck. (Hard to do in 5e unless you multiclass, and even then not so bad.)
Not /that/ hard, they just suck less compared to optimized characters because there's less grist for the optimization mill to get really abusive with. Also, it's achieved in part via BA and monsters being tuned for attrition-based challenge over 6-8 encounters, so it can 'break' the other way and get 'too easy.'
[*]Linear fighters/quadratic wizard (still there to some degree, but not as bad)
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Not as bad, yes, not fixed, but not quite as bad. Fighters get more out of extra attack and can Nova with action surge, they're cut down to virtually nothing compared to the 4e fighter, lose customizeability relative to the 3.5 fighter, but they're high DPR, tanky and high-impact in a way they haven't been outside of the most abusive 3.x builds, since 2e. Wizards get far more and far more potent dailies than in 4e, but relative to 3.5 they have fewer slots, and their spells scale with slot level rather than caster level - OTOH, their save DCs scale with character level instead of slot level, and they have at-will attack cantrips like in 4e. :shrug:
Also, 5e is tuned to balance the classes at 6+ encounters/day, while 3.x, to the extent it succeeded at all in doing so, aimed for more like 4 encounters (top-level spells, for instance, were particularly important to casters, because of the save DC issue, and casters could burn through lots of slots buffing up themselves and their non-caster allies). At the same time, rest-facilitating magic is still pretty easy.
The LFQW curve is certainly different, at least, but the traditional Tier-1 classes are still at the top of the (smaller/flatter) heap, and that, too, is a very 3.x thing.
I wanted to quickly express my appreciation for the support in maintaining this thread as an engaging and civilized discussion.
You kicked it off pretty well.
What I was trying to say is that 5th Edition more closely resembles 3rd Edition (and previous editions, for that matter) than it does 4th Edition.
Nod. That's a fair observation. 5e, to me, feels like it sits between 2e & 3.x on the evolutionary ladder, a 'missing link' between the TSR and WotC eras, as it were. ;P
Hmmm, 'a bridge between fans of different generations' might be a more appropriate metaphor.
