Well, i do like the change. I force you to be more strategic and think a bit more, and raise difficulty in Zot:5 which is welcome (by me, at least).
And Tomb doesn't suck ! It's just very hard, that's all. I never loose a char in extended unless i'm not well prepared.
Ehh...There's not much strategy about random pits dumping you 3 floors down without any counterplay (nor can you really think your way out of it, since it's random and independent on environment), and still very little strategy around rats juggling the player via teleport traps.
I also don't really like Tomb. It's a static layout floor, with one-way stairs, very little in the way of strategy, and right now, with a ton of random teleports because of mummies wandering around the god damn floor. The only challenge I usually face is whether I've stashed enough blink scrolls this run. In general I feel the entirety of extended is poorly designed, but from what I remember, a remake isn't really in the works because relatively few people see it.
edit: @EnigmaticHat - you can run into a gate out, or you can fight enough enemies for the abyss to spawn a gate underneath you. You generally don't want to fight stuff there, especially when lower level, because enemies spawn constantly and any fight is likely to prolong, leading to a constant drain on your consumables. Chugging teleport scrolls and running tends to be the (relatively) best strategy in my experience.
Also edit for better post tone: man I'm having real difficulties not sounding like an asshole these days, what's wrong with me