Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition - Now your playing with Playtests!

[Crow]

Keeping Vancian magic is an awful idea if "it's iconic" is the only reason to do so. Make the best game design you can: If this means abandoning old, obsolete ideas, so be it.

Couldn't disagree more.

Your statement makes perfect sense from the standpoint of designing an entirely new fantasy rpg. But you're not. Look at how they design cars. As models progress through the decades, there are always certain design cues that stick with the model. The majority of the car is completely different, but those design cues remain and tell the end user "I am a Porsche".

You change the guts. Make vancian magic run better. Improve it. But you don't scrap one of your model's iconic design cues. Not if you're making a D&D game.