The opinions in my community have been 100% negative. I can safely say that we didn't mind WHFB morphing into a different game. What we didn't like was the actual execution. Nowadays, there are numerous games, which the managers at GW HQ could have taken as an example when telling the design team what they want as a product (because that's how AoS has turned that bad IMO. I just can't believe that the game has turned this way on the design team's will). There's nothing wrong in copying good system mechanics from other games. Alas, AoS doesn't have much to show in this regard. The warscrolls themselves aren't a bad decision - I frequently give Warmachine as an example of a game that I've started playing without reading a single page of core rules. That is because the game in WM is mostly on the cards (as is in AoS's case). The difference between the two games is that WM has good core rules and AoS does not.
Some people have said that it is impossible to write a good ruleset in 4 pages. That may be so, but I strongly suspect that the core of one of the best rule sets I've ever seen (Dropzone Commander) could be fitted in 10 pages, provided that all the images are cut off. IMO lack of rule details in the core rules does not equal a bad game. The important thing is that the details that matter the most, that capture the essence of the game so to speak should be strongly represented ruleswise.
For example, in DzC these details are:
1. Alternating activation of battlegroups, which simulates the movement of larger forces without losing too much of the 'real' time element.
2. The transportation of troops and tanks across the field.
Taking everything else away - unit profiles, objectives, missions etc. the game's essence is about these two things.
My experience in WHFB isn't that ahem extensive compared to 40k for example, but I think that WFB on the other side was about:
1. Regimental movement of the units
2. Charges, multiple assaults, modifiers stacking and routing the enemy at the right moment.
AoS' core rule set doesn't retain any of the above cornerstones and doesn't introduce anything new or interesting by itself. Here's a list of the things it offers instead, for example:
1. Random player sequence each turn.
2. Random spell casting with random dispelling (ok, the dispel range is 18" which is relatively short compared to most spells' ranges).
3. Lobotomized magic section. 2 basic spells + unit specific spell. I can see the KoW parallel here.
4. VERY BAD cover system.
5. Shooting in and out of combat without any penalty. Other systems may do that aswell, but there's always a big deterrent.
6. Rules presented in a non-precise manner.
I'm not even commenting the missing mechanic for army organization or the new "social rules" (they're not that numerous in fact. We all know that we can turn a blind eye on them if we don't like that sort of thing hence I don't consider them a strictly bad decision). The above are bad enough by themselves.
All in all, this whole ordeal may have spelled the end of my community's support for GW when it comes to medieval fantasy related games. We just had a year with a good, steady surge of fresh people into the hobby and I can only imagine their frustration with the next iteration of their new pass time game.
There were many people which were getting ready to pre-order the new box and some other stuff, both to fill gaps in old armies and to build new ones. They all cancelled their orders to a man. This release has been a huge disappointment and I really don't want to think that something similar may be coming for 40k. I just can't shake the feeling though...
A lot of people here (including me) are VERY disappointed in GW. We're not angry because we've got other alternatives and it wasn't our only option so to speak. There are other games we play now, beside GW's WH and FB. This was supposed to be a big release (they certainly didn't announce that it would be a simple rules-light game) and right now it speaks very bad about how they intend to manage their games. It could have shown that they were willing and could produce a sound new, modern game, from scratch.
I've always considered myself more or less a GW fanboy, but from now on I'm starting to vote with my wallet and it will be saying 'NO' until I see a rulebook release (40k and FB) that I like on par with my other systems.
