Went to check things myself and it's not as bad as i thought. Or rather some blocks were crappy even in 1.3. Ask me, i still would rather revert it back, because:
— Gemspark is
objectively worse in 1.4. You simply will never
build like this anymore, if you want to use anything other than Accent Slab.
— very volumetric Dynasty wood texture effectively mandates it to not blend (i haven't checked how it works with stones, but i guess it works poorly)
— Crystal is a weird change. It had very unique texture, especially when colored. Now it's just a purple mess no different than Granite.
However, if i was in charge, i definitely would de-blend some earlier tiles:
— Crimtane Brick. Very poor "inside" tile for what seems to be a nice and shiny metal beam, plus it has literally the same texture as Crimtane wall. Considering it's a "brick", i see there certainly were conflicting priorities during its development.
— Adamantine Beam. It kinda works with new Accent Slabs, but inner architect in me says it should represent internal structure of steel/concrete buildings, and thus be unblendable with any bricks.
— Palladium Column. Just no. Its blending with every single tile completely defeats its entire purpose.
— Meteor and Sunplate blocks. They have this shiny outline that might be useful for detailing akin to Gemspark blocks, but their internal tiles are just worse versions of Ebonstone Brick and Shroomite Plating respectively.
—
maybe Glass, although i have other ideas on how to make it work via tileset
Thoughts?
Edit: and yeah, i'm fine with Accent Slab being added, i already use it.