I don't care if it's moving even further away from the formula of the original. As far as I'm concerned, if you're still playing as a dude in a white hood killing Templars, then it's still an Assassin's Creed game; and in all honesty, where is it written that assassins HAVE to be stealthy. The original Hashasin weren't. They killed their targets bloodily, in public and in broad daylight while hopped up on drugs.
The only thing that I'm concerned about is whether this game is better made than its predecessor. AC3 was a damp squib because it was a buggy, unfocussed mess, rushed out of about 7 different Ubisoft studios around the world all trying to communicate working on one game. If this game is bug-free, with less guff and with what guff there is at least being more fun to play, then I'm in.
Oh, and a protagonist (modern or historic) that isn't less likeable than a wet shit would be great too.