Cadfan said:
On the other hand, if you design a game where combat takes up no more game time than any other aspect of the game at which a character might specialize, well, THAT will be the true difference between 5e and every other edition. I wonder how that will be received.
From a game design perspective, there's nothing special about combat. It doesn't need to be as detailed or involved as it has become since 3e. It can be a simple d20 roll if you want to make it that simple.
And historically, D&D has not necessarily put as much weight on combat as it has recently. OD&D didn't even HAVE many combat rules officially: "Use Chainmail if you want, but otherwise, don't." The monsters weren't always there to fight, they were just as often there as traps or as interesting NPC's (see: the 1e Mimic for a perfect example of both in one).
And then you also have 4e, which is widely considered to be the edition most hostile to doing anything other than combat, and is often criticized for that, even by fans.
So, I think a game where combat, at its base level, is no more complex than a skill check, is something that is very within the scope of D&D, and should certainly be on 5e's radar.
So I have a lot of optimism for the idea that 5e won't be "a combat game with some other bits," myself. As you say, we shall see, and it's possible my optimism is misplaced, but I think there's a lot of positive signs on this road.