The only time I had problems dealing with the speed of the game was setting up AOE. Still, when I did have problems with characters running all over the place, it was because I didn't set their first target. What was really nice was usually a party member would break off a current target to take advantage of an enemy disoriented, staggered, or brittle as soon as a cooldown was finished if you took the time to set the tactics appropriately.
I didn't think I had to be explicit in saying that the hack-in-slash gameplay was added in an attempt simplify things for less experienced users and an attempt to broaden the audience. Obviously this didn't happen because of the other more serious problems with the game stemming from a rushed schedule and talent drain. Of course the ensuing bad reviews dragged sales down hard.
Also, hack-n-slash and RPG mechanics overlap all the time. Labeling a game one doesn't mean that mechanics of the other cannot be found or implemented in it. And, just because both weren't executed optimally, doesn't mean that they couldn't have been done well if given better resources. Furthermore, it isn't like the RPG mechanics were wiped from the game like with MA2. I could foolishly dump all attribute points into fortitude if I didn't care about getting better weapons for everyone.
Anyway, I'll give DA3 a shot no matter what the mechanics as I'm interested to see if how Bioware will deal with critiques. Considering how MA3's gameplay was revised and the excellent support/updates the multiplayer was given, I'm anxious to see whether similar results are coming with DA3. Also, I guess I'm curious as to whether fans of DAO found DA2's and MA3's sins to be so grievous that they've already decided to stay away from DA3.
Old dogs don´t learn new tricks. The talent or the will aren´t there to deliver something that´s remarkably different from Bioware´s latest outings.