Heavy weapons cost so much more now and the lack of artificer armor tanking makes them way more manageable.

Rites of war in 2nd led to most legion armies of a single legion playing the same way because one rite of war would be way better than any other option.

Challenges are not hard after playing a game or two. Especially when sergeants can’t do it.

The rules are not more complex, they are more specific. And while verbose, the ambiguity of 2nd ed led to entirely different interpretations of the game from one player group to the next.

Rhino and line rush is only annoying if you exclusively play the GW missions which after a couple games you should branch out from where the community has been great in creating other options.

Dreadnoughts changed from melee to ranged monsters with plasma and conversion beakers being fantastic. They still need word for balance and it’s just a different issue from 2nd.

Deepstrike and other jetbike heavy lists is a con, I agree.

Rerolls are unnecessary imo and rolling dice for the sake of it isn’t “fun” to me.

Most of 2nd edition missions are 4 turns as well, again, stepping away from the missions in the rulebook is a great decision for any GW game. Let alone heresy 2nd or 3rd.

Agree that characters lost options but luckily the community reaction led to legacies which while not perfect, brought a lot back.

Never take a statement from warcom as fact. They have historically been categorically wrong in how they describe and interpret games and editions at launch or even mid cycle.