The discussion on flanking and backstabbing is one much trodden, as you know, but it's always good to have another voice adding their considered opinion to the discussion/chorus.
I'd personally feel that it wold work best if they either removed backstab entirely, or replaced it with proper flanking rules (I"m not a fan of those either - it devalues Rogue, but many folks want something like this present). If they did, then characters turning to face their assailants dynamically wold become what it should be - both realistic and immersive, and also purely aesthetic/cosmetic to the mechanics.
About Threatened: Threatened is, I'm going to be generous and say, bugged at the moment. Threatened *Should* only be a very close proximity thing; if you are in range to receive an opportunity attack, then you are threatened, if you are not, then you are not. The current implementation puts threatened out to about twelve feet, and it makes it kind of ridiculous to work with, and lacking in any sense. Threatened is not about shooting at something that's too close - quite the contrary. It's about trying to shoot anything at all, when you have a hostile within weapon-swiping range of you, able to actively harry or harass your attempts to take a clean shot. The current implementation doesn't reflect that at all.
For the rest, you raise valid concerns and critiques, and I second and support drawing attention to them!
