Artifacts feel WAY better in 5.0
Coming back after a long time the new effects on each of the artifacts feel extremely fun and interesting. I'm not a god in this game (I've only ascended once legitimately), but I wanted to voice some positive feedback.
The Snickersnee's 1/turn free ranged Apply attack is my favorite effect so far. "Shkink!" Some fights can feel extremely tactical and interesting when trying to maximize the use of this ability.
The Sunsword has incredible utility, between it's wielded light and the new Expensive Camera style #Invoke blind effect you don't even need to wield it for. Could easily save a run vs all sorts of baddies, even in the Astral Plane vs a Rider.
Even the Trollbane's regeneration was super helpful for an early character.
You definitely feel the fewer wishes now, but there's just more interesting items available sooner that can really change a run. All the different dragon mail effects seem like they'd have good use cases if you have other essentials already covered. The Amulet of Flying working on mounts too means flying Wand of Speed boosted Warhorses.
The game is just more fun. That's my 2 cents anyway.