It looks like your preferences go back to something I mentioned in another thread (and is merely a recontextualization of things other folks have said for years)... which is that 5E feels like the "hub" version of Dungeons & Dragons on the whole-- it sits in the middle space between AD&D/2E, 3.x/PF1, and 4E-- taking bits, pieces, and essences of all those different games into itself to create a centralized version. It doesn't go out as far as any of those games in the design directions they go... but is the "second-best" version of each of them.Similar games...
- 3.x/PF1
- PF2
- Gamma World 7e
- D&D 4E
- 13th Age
So the fact that you prefer both 3.x/PF1 and 4E more than 5E appears to me that you prefer when games take a design style and run it far downfield, regardless of the direction. Two games might be built and designed to go in two opposing directions... but that seems to be preferable to you than staying back and being halfway between both. I mean that makes sense... some players prefer big swings in one direction while others prefer to remain more in the middle so they can move in either direction a ways as they want and need. And while some players might like the ability to shift back and forth in style in a single game (like myself)... others prefer to just play separate games that go all-in in a single direction instead (as it seems like you perhaps do?) So it would not be surprising why 5E wouldn't do a lot for you. It doesn't have the customization of 3E, nor the intricately-designed gridded tactical combat of 4E. It has shades of both... but not nearly enough to please you (at least from what I'm getting.)