Play-Testing D&D Next and 1001 Traps

A few posts ago I trash talked D&D Next. My objection was the amount of money that one spends on books in the first place, even though I bought most of mine on Amazon, here's a link just in case you've never heard of Amazon. Now, I've signed up to play-test it. I'm sure your all wondering how much they paid me to change my mind, but actually they didn't have to. There are three things I like about this new version of the game over 4e.

1. The Hit Points are Lower - Our group spends so long in some combats, it loses it's fun, this should shorten combat. Some would argue that I, as DM, could fix this by letting my players take on easier monsters, good point but with Toc in a party it is imposable to balance everyone. Toc can breeze through dungeons I've designed to challenge PC's three to five levels higher then him. However less hit points doesn't mean that the PC's are weaker then the monsters, it lowers whole bar, monster can be smashed with one hit, creatures beheaded with a single stroke. It gives a real sense of empowerment.
2. The Magic System is Back! - In 4e they gave powers to everyone, not in next. Now only clerics and wizards can use spells, just like in 3.5e, which brings me to number three.
3. What were they Thinking? - Like I said, in 4e they gave everyone powers. They called them different things, like spells for the wizard, prayers for the cleric, and martial exploits for the fighters, What? My Half-Orc Fighter, who can barely write his own name is not going to use martial exploits. He is going to hit things with a big sword, hard, while screaming. Also placing powers into the hands of a fighter drastically tipped the scales of power in the fighters direction.   

There you have it. That is why I'm play-testing it, when our group next meets. Now to send you off here's a tidbit I got in today's email. It's a thread on the D&D website with over 1001 trap ideas for your game, have fun! 1001 Trap Ideas