DnD combat doesn't rely around a rogue sneaking around and stacking 5 barrels of explosives around all enemies. It's a neat trick for sure, but I feel that it's gimmicky and doesn't feel like DnD.
This totally feels like D&D to me. Not in the specifics but players trying really intricate tricks to solve problems is a big part of play. The environmental stuff IMO is there to try and capture some of that tabletop creativity. Certainly could do with some tweaks and changes throughout EA but I am sure that if as a DM I put an explosive barrel in a game the party would start collecting all they could to set up exactly this kind of trick.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but I do not understand you guys when you use buzz words like creativity and connect it to the insane spam of ground effects. I engange a group of goblins, and literally everyone of them, spam me with fire and acid and darkness (from archers of all things). Archers, melee and spellcasters all feel the same, they all spam area effect. And spellcasters are nothing special, archers duplicate their effects.
And my abilities are no better. It is not like I am choosing between an area denial that might hamper them or a damage effect. Many of my abilities do both. And if often feels like most of my actions feel like they end up in explosions. If I intend to or not. This sure is a game for Michael Bay fans.
Lets say the cantrips either did damage, or made a ground effect if you targeted the ground, then I could agree that there would be a small, tiny bit of creativity involved. But currently, you are kidding yourself if you think of creativity when you shoot a frostray at someone and they happen to fall over (Yeah I know I am oversimplifying).
And if you give your players as many explosive barrels as there are in this game, I hope your TTRPG campaigns are set in some explosive storage facility. Or else your players would instantly call you out: "Why are there explosive barrels everywhere?".
And calling this kind of stuff intricate is trite at best. A simple flanking maneuver by two martials is more intricate than setting grease on fire for the umpteenth time.
