Getting this thread back on topic.
I was disappointed.
The bad
* Lighting improvements are not good because it's is a sign that the devs are focusing on honing their strengths instead of dealing with their weaknesses. The game is already beautiful. The problems are with the mechanics and rule implementation. Get the fundamentals right and then polish
* The gameplay seemed cheesy -- running to the fairy ring to bring the rest of the party to the fight seemed like an exploit of engine limitations. That was a missed opportunity because the hag fight can be won without cheese
* I was hoping for more content. I knew a new area was a long shot but at the bare minimum I was expecting to see both the druid and paladin classes introduced. Announcing the druid class didn't feel like a "big thing" at all. It's a core class, of course it's going to show up eventually.
* I didn't hear any mention of the issues most important to this community: movement mechanics, rule implementation and party size
* Hard to separate from ^ but I was annoyed that they brought in WotC to okay their rule changes. Another missed opportunity, was hoping for another "we listened to you on ___" statement. Like they did with cantrip surfaces
* The "this game has to ship sometime" comment worries me
Lighting improvements are a separate team, I've been expecting graphics to change since some moments have clearly been placeholders. We haven't seen what is in patch 4, but the group that would control mechanics and rule implementation were probably busy with all the bugs that were reported. Especially since several bugs were about rule implementation.
The gameplay avoided showing any hot topic discussions. I agree I'm a little disappointed, It would be cool if they would at least let us playtest combat if higher ground only provided disadvantage to enemies at least 6 feet lower. Or, the vice versa only providing advantage on attacks. Or even playing with them both removed.
I think the lack of mentions was deliberate. It felt like they wanted to avoid getting our hopes up for something that would not be in the patch.
Jeremy Crawford, always supports the DM's choice. He does provide great insight to how rules should play out, but the DM is the DM.
The good
* Bug fixes
* Smaller downloads
* Attention to realms lore -- the flaming fist now has the correct coat of arms
* More staff means more people getting paychecks and, hopefully, less wait time between patches
* I'm glad loaded dice is being implemented as an optional feature
* I liked seeing the cow getting scratched and petted.
I hope loaded dice will quell the comments about misses. It's worth noting that they were a smaller group of the community than anything in the mega-threads. I'm not losing hope yet on playing ranged casters without restrictions.
