I've played three sessions of this game as Storyteller. I will list complaints given to me in general by new players at my table.

-The book is not well laid out for easy character creation, its rather scattered. (Flaws/Merits grouped together by concept rather than just by all flaws/ all merits, a lack of 'flow' between chapters that follows the steps in character creation.) -The rate of XP gain and the XP costs are absolutely glacial. At suggested rates of XP; it would take a tremendous amount of time to level up. My group is concerned that as fledgelings having survived several fights and strenuous encounters, they cannot improve themselves without more time passing. -The lack of an equipment table at all in this edition threw off my players who are used to having them, or at least a rubric for how much things should hurt. -Disciplines representing a significant XP sink, while yielding very little tangible benefit. -Overall, the group was confused by the Resonance concept and did not like the micromanagement compared to the simplistic (and very good) hunger tracking. -The character creation section itself had some confusing rhetoric at times, lifepaths dont seem to grant equal dots compared to advanced creation.

My personal complaints as a Storyteller for prior editions of vampire: -The game seems subconsciously geared towards Thin-Bloods (who benefit generally from Resonance and the fact they blend in easier) over full Kindred. I'd be alright if this was a WoD spinoff such as Hunters Hunted, but in a mainline "Vampire" core release, I'd expect to see more, lore permitting. -Disciplines feel like they have been "DnD-ified". As a Tremere player, the Blood Sorcery section makes me feel more like I am playing Dungeons and Dragons over being a blood mage with multiple applications. In general, Disciplines are extremely bare bones and frankly, I would not take any save a few. -The new XP thresholds for the current per-session rewards frankly, are not fun. Playing once a week for four to six hours, the amount of time required to advance a single skill I think does not make long games feasible. -Frankly, I find some of the new restrictions (SI monitoring all airports, unable to use phone touchscreens without a Blush of Life) extremely restrictive for a Vampire setting in a modern time. There is a lack of consistency as well in how some of this lore is detailed, making me think the book was chopped up to serveral departments with little communication. -I'm not a very big fan of how 'flimsy' Kindred feel now with the overall reduction in health pools.

What I enjoy about this edition: -Hunger is fantastic. I hated the bean counting of large blood pools. -Having some abilities tied to higher Humanity scores I think is very immersive, and better illustrates the pursuit of Humanity beyond what older eds had at times. -The paring down of a few skills (Awareness/Alertness) which tended to confuse new players.

Overall; I believe there are some good improvements in 5e, but overall I don't like what's been presented. My group is now using a hybridized version of V20 and 5e and is enjoying it vastly more. This ed feels very barebones, and barring bringing over some new mechanics into my V20 games, I probably won't use this again.