tl;dr:
For instance, there's a lot of rage going on about surfaces. I'm not saying they shouldn't be changed at all, but I think the main problems people are having with them are a) companions walking through them out of combat (but this is just a pathfinding issue. DOSII companions never walk on surfaces and it's not a problem) and b) some people are finding combat too hard because of them.
Personally I like surfaces (again I'm not against tweaks and changes to make them work better). I think one of the best things about tabletop RPGs is the creativity you can use, based on the 'computer' being human. You obviously can't do that with a video game, so I think you need systems like surfaces, movable objects, shoving etc to give the players something to be creative with. Otherwise it's just click on enemy to hurt.
Personally my issue with surfaces isn't that combat is too hard, but that it makes combat too
easy for whoever is using them.
In the final battle of the Nautaloid Commander Zhalk is a lvl 8 Cambion...as a lvl 1 warlock accompanied by a lvl 1 fighter and an intellect devourer pet, I should be running as far away as quickly as possible.
However having picked up every single item that I could I found it comparatively easy to 'nuke' him and the Mindflayer attacking him with a bunch of the large throwable items (can't remember their name Nautaloid Cell or something) that create a patch of flammable goop. A combination of those and a scroll of firebolt basically nukes the pair of them as well as any other Cambions that appear as backup, anyone who gets up after the first one gets nuked again on the next round by the second one being dropped right onto the now burning inferno, rinse and repeat.
Now, this was epic, but SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.
As a Cambion, Zhalk and his minions should have resistance to Fire damage, this did not appear to be the case here. Also, I not sure if the explosion and resulting 'patch' damage are auto hit (as the math is completely opaque here), but it certainly seems like they are.
