I'm an old gamer, though not a grognard by any means. I've embraced lots of new games and enjoyed the development of some of my old favorites. With D&D I've been around long enough to have played:
1979 Basic and Expert boxed sets
AD&D (1st edition)
AD&D (2nd Edition)
skipped 2.5
D&D 3rd
D&D 3.5
D&D 4th
I thought 3rd was a great improvement over the older editions, and tolerated the quick change to 3.5. I was pretty happy with 3.5, though higher levels things broke down. I played some 4th and thought it was well balanced, but the combats seemed to take a long time and the feel of some of the rules didn't really appeal to me. I never bought into 4th beyond the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual as they were on sale for 66% off at a local book store that closed. I'm still playing and running 3.5 and deal with it's warts as necessary.
My feeling on 5th or whatever is that it's kind of a big fuck you to the fan base. I know they need to make money, but it won't be from me this time. If I want advantages or Disadvantages I'll play GURPS. If I want D&D I'll play 3.5 or 4th. This is just personal opinion though. If people like the new edition then that's cool. If someone asks me to play 5th I
'll give it a whirl, but I'm not buying it. They are just to smug and arrogant with their fan base for me. To sum up my view