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I have tried the D&D Next material and found that I really enjoyed the mish-mash of all the editions.

The thing I noticed most was the move back to the reliance on the core abilities rather than skills. With this came an openness that had, I felt, become lost under the mask of the skill set. I noticed that by relying on the abilities rather than a set of skills, my players were encouraged to think outside the box and weren't so confined to the question of whether or not said skill could accomplish what they wanted or needed. I know that this mechanic has essentially been available all along, but we (as players and DMs) tend to forget about it when we have most of the actions covered in a set skill set. This openness brought back more of a feeling of freedom to choose your actions according to what you wanted to accomplish.

I love the Advantage/Disadvantage system. This eliminates more of the math that has a tendency to bog down play. In combination with the previous mentioned ability mechanic, I found it (as a DM) easy to quickly come up with solutions to all actions. "Oh, you want to jump that chasm and grab that rope? Easy enough, that will take a Dexterity check to make the jump and a Strength check to hold on. Oh, that's right, the rope is covered in the ichor of that spider you killed. You have disadvantage on your Strength check." To me, it's this simplicity that I appreciate... it keeps the game moving at a quick pace and the 'improv' feeling of assigning abilities to actions and having a simple solution to, well, advantages and disadvantages really kept my game moving.

I liked how the skills weren't entirely eliminated, either. Some players, depending on backgrounds and such still get advantages when using certain applications of their abilities.

I also liked the new movement rules... it added a new tactical element and allows the player more freedom in combat.

The classes, I noticed took a sort of turn back to their roots, which is good; giving classes unique abilities and bringing back the more stereotypical class niches. The fighter is the damage dealer, the cleric is the well-rounded protector, the wizard is the glass-cannon, and the rogue has returned to being more the utilitarian class. After playing this version, I realized that this was kind of what was missing from 4e. While the classes all had 'roles', the similarities between all the classes were abundant, which made for a uniform experience where a player could jump from class to class to class and not have to learn an entirely new style of play, but on the other hand, it was the uniqueness of the classes that was present in previous editions that made each class special.

The specialities and backgrounds are still a little strange to me. I see their appeal, but at the same time, they do feel a little restrictive in their options. A lot of players might feel that their ability to customize their characters is being restricted... a couple of my players did.

In the combat department, the single action system is great. It keeps things simple, open and able to cover many situations with a simple decision. This in combination with the aforementioned movement system kept the combat moving. There was hardly any lag due to trying to 'correctly' assign the appropriate actions during a turn. Returning to a single defense and save system also improved things for me and my players, making things easier to understand. Some of my players didn't always seem to understand that the type of attack determined the defense it targeted in 4e. I think they just took it for granted and didn't bother to really differentiate.

It's been a couple weeks or so since I've made the group sit down and PT the Next material, so I may be missing some points, but these were the key issues that stood out to me. Overall, I like the new direction that D&D is headed... I'm a big fan of simplicity in the system; for me it takes focus less off of math and rules and allows the RPG elements to come more to the front or at least sit on a more equal level. And with Next it seems that a lot of the fluff has been cut and rules that were seperate, but similar in nature have been folded together to make a more streamlined, simple experience and this is always good for me.

If Next continues down the road it is currently going, the odds of me making the switch are very good. I give D&D Next a 8/10.