I'm on the second island, and I'm having mixed feelings about new features/mechanics:
I'm not charmed that experience share is no longer optional (unless I just don't know how to turn it off?). There are a few instances where I want it off.
I don't really care about daycare vs nursery, but I'm sure there are players that miss the daycare.
I like having an accurate map on the bottom screen, but so far the world feels kind of small. And I'm already on 2nd of 4 islands. Plus all the roadblocks don't help this feeling.
I'm not a fan of SOS battles. I got stuck in an Eevee loop that never seemed to end, and none of them wanted to stay in the balls once they were alone.
I'm probably in the minority, but I kind of miss the yarn and berry picking games, but on the other hand I like being able to take care of poisoned/paralyzed pokemon after a battle.