To be honest, the lore is by far AoS weakest point.. as is the utter destruction of the old world... they could've definitly handled that better... The rule-set is fine-ish. There's only a handfull of bits where I think they truly screwed up here.. Magic & special abilities lack complexity and interaction, especially with the opponent. It's far too easy to snipe someone if there's no wall to hide behind from archers.And the simplicity of the damage model creates some issues. The general flow of the game is fine though, and easy enough to get into while also allowing for complexity once you get the hang of it.
If I had to change only three things about AoS right now it would be - magic, especially the Rule of One and that there are only two basic spells. - shooting rules - change how mortal wounds work, OR change how common they are
Not just mortal wounds, but even normal wounds. Right now the only way to make a weapon dedicated to killing a specific target is either to use specific keywords (this weapon gains bonus rolls against "monsters") or to use one of your enemies stats against them (1 attack/target model, re-roll 1's if it has more than 5 wounds etc.). In contrast if for example wounds didn't carry over an attack that dealt 3 wounds would be a powerfull anti-monster attack, but fairly ineffective against a horde. Right now that 3-wound attack is just as powerfull in either case. Which creates some odd balancing with certain units just not really having a clear counter. It'd be much more interesting if for example I could take a look at a monster and tell that it's strength is hunting heroes so instead I send fodder at him that'l eventually wear him down.
There are bigger issues (shooting rules), but you are right, they are weird; you can 'hover' but not fly!
Well, I had to choose three. Flying rules and initiative would be on my list as well but they don't make the top3
@Canas is correct, literally tearing my eyes from their sockets is the closest I can get to stating that AoS is a good system.
we're sorry you have such difficulty expressing yourself, but I'm glad you can manage to express it somehow, even if it's a roundabout way.