About a month ago I was patiently optimistic since it seemed that the wedding event added a few new items (currently am time travelling so I haven't tried the event again yet), but aside from occasional special items you order from the catalogue and a repeat of Reese and Rover there isn't anything substantially new as of yet... and it's starting to affect the way I view the game...
I believe Bowser (the guy not the Mario one lol) confirmed in the most vague manner possible that there would be something in the future works for animal crossing but I don't know if this would be discussed in a future Direct or what. A lot of furniture sets that can be considered Classic AC vanilla furniture just seems to be missing for some reason, and things we have seen in Happy home Designer strangely have not appeared either (mostly ceiling furniture and new items that weren't in New Leaf). However, they did add the Cafe wallpaper to NH so it's possible we'll be dripfed more HHD content. But I think that is the main issue, people do not like being dripfed to this degree with the more impactful features so few and far between.
I think the biggest issue is the lack of QoL fixes. You still can only individually redeem items like nook mile tickets or Bell tickets rather than in bulk, which can be a big hassle if you're honoring a trader's conditions with either of those in large amounts, or you just want to get a lot of money together. Bulk crafting still isn't implemented for some reason, and we're missing NPCs like GracieGrace, Katrina, and Brewster who have never sat out on a mainline title before. Also, there is no way of expanding the Nook store beyond what is available, and it wears on people's patience very quickly if the only 10 decors on sale that day are all things they already purchased before.
For the uninitiated, the NPCs I described added to the mechanics of the game proper.
-Gracie often ran a clothing store either on her own or in your fully expanded Nookington's store. She designed haute/avant garde clothing that wasn't cheap, and her furniture sets cost a pretty penny. But for high rollers who have literal millions to spend, they get to have cool furniture: Dessert, Gracie collection, Playing Card set, the Gorgeous set, etc. If these become obtainable through an event in the future that is fine but there isn't any of it to be seen.
-Katrina is a fortune teller who is able to tell you if you will have good or bad luck. Players will work to ensure they have good luck (usually by wearing an item she suggests will avoid it), because it rewards a doubling in Bells from shaking trees and selling back items if I remember right. If you have bad luck, you can trip, your lights flicker, furniture squeaks, and you have lower income.
-brewster's utility has varied but he can offer a minigame where you work part time for him in exchange for barista furniture. In older games he offered anything between dialogue about other NPCs or extra gyroid storage. (And apparently we just dont have any gyroids, people really like them and were surprised not to have them as furnitures)
So I dont really know. I'm content with what there is but at the same time it feels like the grass could be a little greener a little faster. But at the same time I don't want an article to come out about the devs working crunch time a la Cyberpunk 2077. To rub salt into my nostalgic wounds, the original director of AC resigned in 2018 so the 'familiar' touch of nintendo can't exactly be all the way there. It puts me in a strange position as an AC fan.
