I agree. This honestly really reminds me of the change made from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2. You had TONS of choices in ME1 to develop your char in different areas and then in ME2 you only get to choose and improve upon abilities, and not stats. It feels far less epic from a leveling standpoint.
ME1
ME2
HOWEVER
This new system is going to be far more beneficial for everyone, including Blizz, when it comes to end game raiding and pvp. Why? A few reasons.
1. Far less pvp nerfs because of pve and vice versa
2. Chance for more awesome abilities (like void shift) because you can limit what can be used with them (ie what GC said about Rogue tier 1)
3. We do get a choice.
Right now for a Holy Priest our choices are all lackluster... SoL... ToL... Darkness... Veiled Shadows... I mean, really? That's it?
I'm very excited for what 5.0 is bringing to the table, and even more excited to see the full picture (core/spec abilities).
Remember, most of you aren't leveling besides up to lvl 90. You are given abilities as you level and increases, you just don't have to put points into them. I know, personally, whenever I level a toon I really don't care about those stupid stat upgrades and damage bonuses, I care about getting the core abilities for the tree, and overall that will make it all a more fun experience.