Are the rumors true that its a pen and paper MMORPG and that clerics are now next to non-essential characters?

I spent about an hour or so reading through the new PHB and you're pretty much right on about it. Clerics not so much though. I'm new to anything that ever came out past 1996, so this was a real eye-opener.

It's super-detailed. Super-crunchy. It's like you're playing one giant multifunctional MTG card and the DM plays the rest of the deck. Over time you get more abilities to add.

I saw the XP table. You earn more skills/actions per level. Levels are 1-30 and all 30 levels are split up into 3 phases, "hero" (?), "paragon," and "epic" characters.

This book is a rules-lawyer's dream. Every action you could ever think of seems to have its own ability or stat now. Everything is pre-determined. You don't say to the DM, "I try to ______ the monster," and then DM determines the difficulty. No-no-no. There's now a sub-table for it somewhere.

The art is incredible.

I really want to sit in on a demo now. Maybe not actually play it, but just watch. Real curious. I didn't read far enough to figure out any "bag o' rats" loopholes, so I'm dying to find out.

-PJ

Thanks!

Yea, all the rules have been made so if your new, its easy to start off, but if your a hardy, veteran adventurer, then you can be challenged. All the classes have been beefed up, so now its not just the fighter hacking away while the Mage casts magic missle. All the classes have special abilities, which are limited throughout the day/encounter. And the PHB has been totally re-disigned, very nice througout, and much easier to read.