I'm pretty sure there'll be one or two levels of difficulty both lower and higher. I saw a Josh Sawyer video and he said to remember the EA fans were not likely to be the typical player because they were the biggest fans, early adopters and those who were willing to really understand the mechanics. You have to make a game for all the 'normies' too if you want to be successful. I'm sure there'll be a level difficulty for those that find it too tough now.
Reading a lot of the replies and the other threads in this forum I think people actually think the priority is to make it as close to 5e as possible, no homebrew. While I can't speak for WotC obviously, I'm pretty sure this is not the case. I'm pretty sure the priority is to sell as many copies and introduce as many people to the basic concept and world as possible. If they lose a few purists along then way so be it.
When Neverwinter Nights came out lots of people complained about the liberties it took. But it sold a lot and spawned 2 expansions and a sequel which also spawned two expansions. It did what it was supposed to do, made a lot of money and introduced a lot of people to dnd that wouldn't have been introduced.
That's why I don't think backstab and height advantage will go. It's a nice simple way for someone unfamiliar with the rules of dnd and unwilling to learn them all for a videogame to 'game' the system and enjoy it.
It definitely would be nice if you could actually turn these off as a difficulty slider for people who want it. I hope, actually, that they give a lot of options in difficulty that you can customise. That would be cool.
