Why the hate on 5e?

[Keravath]

To the OP, the DM in question was being rude. They are completely welcome to their opinion on any version of any game but denigrating someone else based on their preferences isn't appropriate.

I've played everything from AD&D 1e to 5e, I didn't play Chainmail but a friend did have the original D&D box set. Anyway, each version of D&D has had its strengths and weaknesses. Like a lot of folks I didn't care that much for 4e. I didn't like the lack of differentiation in class mechanics, everything felt the same to me no matter which class I was playing but I only have experience with low level play in 4e.

1e was fun but "balance" was in the imagination. Save or suck spells. Level caps for non-humans. Multi-classing vs dual classing. The wizard was unbelievably bad for the first few levels while fighters were great. At high levels, one spell could change an encounter.

2e was a clean up and additional content on 1e

3e was a re-write which tried to streamline some of the mechanics and make it a bit easier to understand while 3->3.5->PF layered rules/classes/feats/extended splat books into what became a mechanically very heavy system. Characters could specialize in some skills or abilities to the point where they seemed almost unstoppable. Prestige classes, ultra high level advancement, epic levels and epic playstyles. Power gamer and min/max paradise in some ways but for the rest there were opportunities to create characters that could just not compete with the "optimal" choices.

4e tried to go in the completely opposite direction with balance across classes and levels being a goal and mechanics that I honestly think were intended to make mapping it to a video game very straight forward. Some folks loved it, others didn't like it because it felt completely different from the previous versions of D&D with the exception of the "lore" or "fluff".

5e is a compromise. Better balance and character power scaling reigned in. Re-introduce the mechanical flavor and differences between classes that were the hallmark of 1e-3e. Overall, I think it was successful at this goal and I think this is reflected in the increased popularity. The game is a lot more accessible without concepts like Thac0 and without hundreds of feats/classes/races that leave gaps for optimization (even 5e has a few of these optimization issues but nothing like 3.5).

Some people love mechanics so 5e lets them down and they don't like it. Others have fond memories of games in specific versions and they are most comfortable with the mechanics so 5e feels foreign. There are lots of reasons but preference of game version is not a good basis for deciding player skill :).

I've played all the versions to some extent or another, and personally, I like 5e the best of the D&D systems so far, it seems to hit a sweet spot for me in terms of role play and mechanics. (I've also played Traveller, GURPS, Shadowrun, Rolemaster (now that one is detailed :) .. if I remember correctly, it was a while ago), MERPS and others to varying degrees ... each has their strengths and weaknesses but I started with D&D and usually come back to it :) ).