It's not worse lol, it's just different to what you are used to...
Everyone's expectations were too high.
I personally think it is pretty damn cool, I think the graphics are better, I like how the fire actually has smoke to it and it looks real, I love the interactive backgrounds, nowadays newcomers to this francise don't want their 1st look at the game to be "I must become the best, everything must be so specific..."
For newcomers it's supposed to look modern and appealing, not the same old...
We have WA for all the roping, seeing as thats the one thing everyone hates the most about it, I really don't understand why people are complaining when they can just as easily play WA again lol, WR is totally different, it actually makes getting around on the rope more challenging, and I personally like that...