DnD 4th edition My return to gaming  

So I made a contact on FB for a DnD 4th edition game with a hope leading into a Hackmaster campaign in the future . 

My take on DnD4 interesting with the models and battle-board . Takes some of the imagination out of the combat . I dont hate the board but i dont like it either . Its kinda of take it or leave it i dont care thing . Power and there role in everything you do combat wise in DnD 4th  . Im not impressed with the power system of DnD now . This system seems to loose something of the feel of DnD when combined with the battle board . Id like to play a combat without the battle board and see how it feels . Saving throws and Hit points . I like the earthdawn like to hit saving throws better then you roll a saving throw verse a number . The healing surges and what not are cool i dont have a problem with them and i dont have a problem with max hp at start or at level . 

DnD PHB 1 - Ive never seen a more poorly laid out book for character creations . I had to go to the index so many times to figure out stuff and i still think i got some things wrong because i didnt use the online builder . 3rd Edition did this better . With 3rd edition i sat down and created a character no problem but with 4th edition it was all over the book to create a character . I would say to WoTC to take all the PHB for all editions and have the same group of noobs create characters . 

It may just be the setting /dm im playing with but the role-playing part of the game seems to have gone away . Im playing in a game store right now and with a dm that was running encounters what ever that is but it seems to be more like a warband game then a role playing game . 

Group wise in a different setting i could see a better game happening . The gm doesnt seem to have full control in 4th Ed like old ed. 

I would like to see what the guy that invited me to this group can run he seems to have xp in games and a vision . 

On the other end of the coin i would love to run a 3rd edition game as im drawing way tomany game maps and creating endless worlds in my head .