@morticon, I think you being too hung up on what 8th ed isn't. You yourself had said you expected an improved 7th but expectations did not match reality and it's fine to be bummed out by that. I think that for a lot of people (at least initially) need to get over the hump that it's a completely brand new game and stop comparing it to 7th. Once people get out of that mindset (even sub consciously) they might enjoy the game more, or at least give it a fair chance.
I see this a lot when a lot of people emigrated to kings of war when fantasy died, a lot of people struggled initially because they were playing like they would in fantasy but once they got there head around it being a new game they started to enjoy it much more and kings of war hasn't looked back since