I got to play a playtest for V5 and I'm 100% on board. I ended up picking up the Elder package. We're definitely going to be playing this game around my coffee table. It's pretty much done everything I'd hoped Masquerade would do:
- Replace blood points with a hunger system: It's no longer about twinking blood economy, but the relative hunger your vampire gains due to using their blood.
- Insert a story element that neutralizes a world filled with ancient 4000 xp elder PCs: You can't seem to find a VtM game (online or not) that isn't overburdened with supreme elder cheese characters with every discipline, every stat maxed, and way too much IC comfort. The new setting will make it difficult to be a vampire again.
- A return to the clans/structure we started with: While I prefer nWoD's system, I always will love the original VtM clans more. It'll be a lot of fun getting back to the world of Camarilla/Anarch with Brujah, Gangrel, Tremere, etc
- A New Inquisition: This second inquisition element is exciting. It's inserting into the setting that Vampires aren't the apex predators anymore, and maybe in a tongue-in-cheek way suggests that an era of one too many breaches of the masquerade have resulted in a severe need to worry about a 21st century society armed with cell phones, phone cameras, and near instant access to posting on Instagram.
I think the new ownership of the IP has really looked at the downsides of the oWoD game(s) and min-maxy player habits, and has made some really good decisions about how to play in the spirit of the setting.