Well, having argued with the multiplayer lads, my first few hours with the game went exactly as I feared they would. My very first impression of the game-
Nah, just kidding, my first hour of the game was trying to get the god damn anti-cheat to let me play my game in singleplayer.
So already I've got issues from the multiplayer community screwing up what I actually want from the game. Eventually got it fixed, waited through the unskippable intros, and headed straight for what was once my favourite part of the game, skirmish:
What a gongshow. There's things locked unless you do ranked play. There's basically no customization at all left. There's no progression left. There's no consequences for doing well or doing poorly.
Annoyed, I moved to campaign. This might be the only area worth a look later. It's hard to say, because I only had a few hours before I had to leave for work, and the damn thing locked up and crashed before the last mission, so I had to redo it. Maybe the more open-ended campaigns will be fun, but so far, this is looking like a massive step down from the previous game for anyone who isn't a l33t multiplyr gamr.