is that really so overwhelmingly powerful at level 18, 19, and 20?
Concentration exists for a reason. What you're proposing doesn't actually make you you want to use hex, it just lets you ignore concentration for every other spell.
The fix for hex should be specific to hex. Making hex not cost concentration is not going to break anything, but making hex cause every other spell in the game to not cost concentration is absolutely going to break things.
as for fixing Hex, at some warlock level after first have it cast (at slvl1 for free) automatically (if you so choose) with Pact Weapon and Pact Familiar attacks. let it take effect immediately before the damage roll. there, now blade buoys can worry less about concentration (and duel wield light weapons) while familiar folk have a reason at all to pet attack before level 9.
if Tome-locks needs in on this, let them write a name in their death note that Hexes a target without line of sight. this takes a full minute (and might require their 'true name' or at least a description of them and their location to avoid mis-hexing). combine with Hexer invocation for additional range.
edit: removed some fluff that wasn't pertinent enough to the discussion.
Is there an alternative benefit to provide Warlocks that keeps all classes using the same concentration rules? For example, could an invocation for a Warlock allow them to add more damage per round that their concentration is held, such as adding +1 damage or allow them to ignore low rolls on a die, such as a roll of 1 damage is a minimum of 2+, etc.? The goal is to give the Warlock a benefit for sustaining their concentration well.
The thing about no concentration is that, that is what the UA for Ranger gives them for Hunter's Mark. Maintaining concentration on Hex limits warlocks significantly and they are already heavily restricted within this UA compared to the other two mage classes. I don't think there needs to be a benefit for maintaining concentration, hex just needs to stop being a blocker to using other concentration spells or Hex needs to get another usage which makes the concentration more worthwhile; right now the Hexer invocation is woefully bad.
My thoughts on Hexer is it should instead make Hex have no concentration but gives disadvantage on concentration checks while Hex is active and on a creature. Overall there is no real reason why Ranger should be better at Hunter's Mark than Warlock is at Hex.
I'm not gonna wade through the 65 pages but on the topic of Hex (and Eldritch Blast too) - I wish your subclass altered how they function. A fey hex and fiend hex could be mechanically different and it would fit so much better then just standard necrotic damage if there was an alternate damage type for each subclass and/or there were rider effects on it. Eldritch Blast could use the same treatment.
is that really so overwhelmingly powerful at level 18, 19, and 20?
Concentration exists for a reason. What you're proposing doesn't actually make you you want to use hex, it just lets you ignore concentration for every other spell.
The fix for hex should be specific to hex. Making hex not cost concentration is not going to break anything, but making hex cause every other spell in the game to not cost concentration is absolutely going to break things.
as for fixing Hex, at some warlock level after first have it cast (at slvl1 for free) automatically (if you so choose) with Pact Weapon and Pact Familiar attacks. let it take effect immediately before the damage roll. there, now blade buoys can worry less about concentration (and duel wield light weapons) while familiar folk have a reason at all to pet attack before level 9.
if Tome-locks needs in on this, let them write a name in their death note that Hexes a target without line of sight. this takes a full minute (and might require their 'true name' or at least a description of them and their location to avoid mis-hexing). combine with Hexer invocation for additional range.
edit: removed some fluff that wasn't pertinent enough to the discussion.
That's a terrible fix for Tomelocks, the kind that invites the perception that someone in the design staff just hates them.
Bladelocks and Chainlocks cast Hex without taking an action, Tomelocks need to take 10 combat rounds? It needs to be the same for all 3, not great for 2 and even worse than just casting the spell for the 3rd.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then? Just give then a class feature: Powerful Strikes Whenever you hit a creature with an attack roll, you deal an additional 1d6 damage to the target of the same type as the original attack.
Or for that matter, why bother having it be a class feature? Why not just increase the amount of damage dealt by weapons and cantrips by 1 damage die just for well... everyone?
1) Just give bit of a boost to the number of spell slots (NOt make a 1/2 ot 1/3 cater.
2) If you want to move away from Short rest to regain Spell Slots. Based on Warlock level character can spend (pay to patron) 'X' number of hit dice (In combat will cost an action. Useful in long fights, not so much if use before or after a fight)
1) Just give bit of a boost to the number of spell slots (NOt make a 1/2 ot 1/3 cater.
2) If you want to move away from Short rest to regain Spell Slots. Based on Warlock level character can spend (pay to patron) 'X' number of hit dice (In combat will cost an action. Useful in long fights, not so much if use before or after a fight)
Hit dice are a fairly cheap resource for a back row caster, though. You typically either come out of a fight barely scratched, or banged up bad enough that you rate healing from a party member. Really, they've somewhat painted themselves into a corner if they're leaving short rests off the table. One of the primary functions of a short rest is to allow for resources that will be limited in a given fight but less limited across an entire day. If there really are that many tables not using them and it's not just a vocal minority of people who get stuck at bad tables, fixing the rests makes more sense than this mess. Making Warlocks a half caster just destroys the class identity and role in the party: Blade is SAD but still can't actually hold together in melee like a Paladin or Ranger, and Tome and Chain have almost nothing to offer that Wizards don't already cover. Making Arcanum Invocations just makes it worse by forcing people to choose between the more niche/specialized Invocations or a pale shadow of real spellcasting. The core identity of the Warlock was the full casting progression with quickly refreshing slots and a wide suite of Invocations to choose from. We're now 0 for 3 on those counts.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then?
It's still costing a spell slot.
The other option is to just make hex stronger and balance it in a different way. For example
Duration 1m
No ability to switch target when one goes down.
Much higher damage (say, 1d8 per spell level)
And yet this whole change to Warlock has come about because people want to have a surplus of spellslots, so that cost is negligible much of the time - particularly since upcasting can give you durations of several hours. Having Hex require concentration works perfectly fine, you choose either a long-lasting small but significant boost to single-target damage or to use a more powerful but short duration crowd control spell. This is the fundamental trade off inherent in the entire design of 5e.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then?
It's still costing a spell slot.
The other option is to just make hex stronger and balance it in a different way. For example
Duration 1m
No ability to switch target when one goes down.
Much higher damage (say, 1d8 per spell level)
And yet this whole change to Warlock has come about because people want to have a surplus of spellslots, so that cost is negligible much of the time - particularly since upcasting can give you durations of several hours. Having Hex require concentration works perfectly fine, you choose either a long-lasting small but significant boost to single-target damage or to use a more powerful but short duration crowd control spell. This is the fundamental trade off inherent in the entire design of 5e.
Hexes duration increase used to allow warlocks take a short rest and keep it going. Its long duration was a means to extend the slot efficiency due to warlocks having so few slots. At level 5 and above it was basically a cantrip that locked you out of using other concentration spells, and the concentration was there to keep it from being abusable with short rest recovery and long duration.
Now it is simply an inefficient use of a spell slot and an inefficient use of your concentration. The duration increase doesn't really help the spell and having more slots means the concentration hurts its usage even more as it prevents most exploration spells like invisibility and detect magic. The reason for it to have concentration at higher levels is gone, but it kept the concentration requirement anyway.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then?
It's still costing a spell slot.
The other option is to just make hex stronger and balance it in a different way. For example
Duration 1m
No ability to switch target when one goes down.
Much higher damage (say, 1d8 per spell level)
And yet this whole change to Warlock has come about because people want to have a surplus of spellslots, so that cost is negligible much of the time - particularly since upcasting can give you durations of several hours. Having Hex require concentration works perfectly fine, you choose either a long-lasting small but significant boost to single-target damage or to use a more powerful but short duration crowd control spell. This is the fundamental trade off inherent in the entire design of 5e.
Hexes duration increase used to allow warlocks take a short rest and keep it going. Its long duration was a means to extend the slot efficiency due to warlocks having so few slots. At level 5 and above it was basically a cantrip that locked you out of using other concentration spells, and the concentration was there to keep it from being abusable with short rest recovery and long duration.
Now it is simply an inefficient use of a spell slot and an inefficient use of your concentration. The duration increase doesn't really help the spell and having more slots means the concentration hurts its usage even more as it prevents most exploration spells like invisibility and detect magic. The reason for it to have concentration at higher levels is gone, but it kept the concentration requirement anyway.
That's self-contradictory though... it's designed to extend slot efficiency letting you keep a spell going for half of your adventuring day, but it's inefficient because you can't use other spells... Hex and other concentration spells work exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So I do not understand your logic here. Yes invisibility and detect magic break the long duration of Hex, but that was always the case, and detect magic and invisibility have always been available to warlocks and good utility option for them to take, I means -lock even get an infinite free casting of detect magic as an invocation and always have. Hex+EB damage scales exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So honestly here, what has changed to make Hex bad now??? I can see no difference in how Hex works for a full classed Warlock between One D&D and 5e. The designers have just given more spellslots so even if you don't take any SRs you can cast other spells for utility and then recast Hex when you go back to combat even if you don't take a SR in between.
The only thing that has really happened is that Warlocks have gotten access to the full Arcane spell list so they have access to better in-combat concentration spells that they didn't have access to before. So Hex hasn't gotten worse at all, rather warlocks have just gain the option to choose better in-combat concentration spells if you are playing in a campaign where having a spell last for multiple combat isn't necessary or useful. Hex was and remains a great choice for dungeon-crawly games, whereas it was and remains mediocre / poor for games with only a single-combat per adventuring day. Not every feature or spell has to be the best choice in every single game, and indeed it is impossible to make it so that is the case - even without concentration Hex is a mediocre / poor spell for a game with only a single combat per day, you'd get much more damage from a single Fireball than from a 3rd level Hex if you only fight 1 combat per adventuring day regardless of whether Hex requires concentration or not.
Hex clearly became worse. They added the 'You can deal this extra damage only once per turn' qualifier whereas before you could deal the damage for every EB bolt. You can't even up cast it to get equivalent damage because you slot progression is far behind what it was in 5e and mystic arcanum doesn't create actual slots.
Hex clearly became worse. They added the 'You can deal this extra damage only once per turn' qualifier whereas before you could deal the damage for every EB bolt. You can't even up cast it to get equivalent damage because you slot progression is far behind what it was in 5e and mystic arcanum doesn't create actual slots.
If you run the math, the damage is exactly the same because of the difference in the chance to trigger the damage. If you make 2 attacks on an enemy and have a 50% chance to hit, then if you deal an extra 1d6 if an attack hits, then you expect to see 3.5 extra damage per turn. However if you make 2 attacks on an enemy with 50% chance to hit and deal an extra 2d6 damage if either of those attacks hit then you expect to see 5.25 extra damage per turn.
Hex damage is only 1d6 between levels 5 and 9 because you don't get a third level spell slot to cast it with until level 9, and then if you're using a third level slot to cast Hex with... well...
One of the reasons that I suggested turning it into a cantrip and scaling it with Warlock levels. It would be 1d6 from level 1 to 5, 2d6 from level 5 to 11, 3d6 from level 11 to 17, and 4d6 from 17 onwards.
Then instead changing so much the Hex itself for a single class, that sounds more like a class specific cantrip/spell. That is probably what you mean but taking Hex as base for understanding.
Hex damage is only 1d6 between levels 5 and 9 because you don't get a third level spell slot to cast it with until level 9, and then if you're using a third level slot to cast Hex with... well...
One of the reasons that I suggested turning it into a cantrip and scaling it with Warlock levels. It would be 1d6 from level 1 to 5, 2d6 from level 5 to 11, 3d6 from level 11 to 17, and 4d6 from 17 onwards.
It can work as a cantrip maybe, but unless the concentration is solved its still in a bad spot. The whole i don't get short rests problem is centered around not having enough encounters per day as if you do, you are taking short rests. Without enough encounters even with limited slots you will be using a better concentration spell every fight.
I'd make it a class ability and like rage have a hexes per day column, have it last a minute at default, let it change targets freely, no concentration, maybe no components even as its not a spell anymore its a class ability. Add class features that give ways to amp it up along the way. Have more invocations tied to it. Move on.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then?
It's still costing a spell slot.
The other option is to just make hex stronger and balance it in a different way. For example
Duration 1m
No ability to switch target when one goes down.
Much higher damage (say, 1d8 per spell level)
And yet this whole change to Warlock has come about because people want to have a surplus of spellslots, so that cost is negligible much of the time - particularly since upcasting can give you durations of several hours. Having Hex require concentration works perfectly fine, you choose either a long-lasting small but significant boost to single-target damage or to use a more powerful but short duration crowd control spell. This is the fundamental trade off inherent in the entire design of 5e.
Hexes duration increase used to allow warlocks take a short rest and keep it going. Its long duration was a means to extend the slot efficiency due to warlocks having so few slots. At level 5 and above it was basically a cantrip that locked you out of using other concentration spells, and the concentration was there to keep it from being abusable with short rest recovery and long duration.
Now it is simply an inefficient use of a spell slot and an inefficient use of your concentration. The duration increase doesn't really help the spell and having more slots means the concentration hurts its usage even more as it prevents most exploration spells like invisibility and detect magic. The reason for it to have concentration at higher levels is gone, but it kept the concentration requirement anyway.
That's self-contradictory though... it's designed to extend slot efficiency letting you keep a spell going for half of your adventuring day, but it's inefficient because you can't use other spells... Hex and other concentration spells work exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So I do not understand your logic here. Yes invisibility and detect magic break the long duration of Hex, but that was always the case, and detect magic and invisibility have always been available to warlocks and good utility option for them to take, I means -lock even get an infinite free casting of detect magic as an invocation and always have. Hex+EB damage scales exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So honestly here, what has changed to make Hex bad now??? I can see no difference in how Hex works for a full classed Warlock between One D&D and 5e. The designers have just given more spellslots so even if you don't take any SRs you can cast other spells for utility and then recast Hex when you go back to combat even if you don't take a SR in between.
The only thing that has really happened is that Warlocks have gotten access to the full Arcane spell list so they have access to better in-combat concentration spells that they didn't have access to before. So Hex hasn't gotten worse at all, rather warlocks have just gain the option to choose better in-combat concentration spells if you are playing in a campaign where having a spell last for multiple combat isn't necessary or useful. Hex was and remains a great choice for dungeon-crawly games, whereas it was and remains mediocre / poor for games with only a single-combat per adventuring day. Not every feature or spell has to be the best choice in every single game, and indeed it is impossible to make it so that is the case - even without concentration Hex is a mediocre / poor spell for a game with only a single combat per day, you'd get much more damage from a single Fireball than from a 3rd level Hex if you only fight 1 combat per adventuring day regardless of whether Hex requires concentration or not.
Before warlocks had 2 slots that recovered on a short rest. Hex concentration lasted 8 hours when cast as 3rd level or higher. Which lasted longer than the short rest.
Before casting hex cost you your concentration but DIDNT cost you a spell slot at all. That was the trade.
Now it costs one of your few precious 3rd level slots AND locks you out of concentration spells which you both have more access to and freer ability to cast thanks to more spell slots making the concentration more expensive AND the slot more expensive
Do some DMs actually allow players to maintain concentration through a SR? I certainly wouldn't. Nor do I allow PCs to game the system taking SRs right after a long rest. I expect most tables were the same and Hex always required a spell slot. Plus how would you get around the whole 'your target has to die before you can move the Hex' if you're casting it hours and hours before combat?
You don't have to cast Hex with a 3rd level slot now, you have tons more choices because you have tons more spell slots and access to the whole Arcane spell list. Hex is now just one option with pros and cons like any other spell rather than one of the few spells worth casting in combat on the warlock spell list. Though even in 5e unless you were doing a dungeon crawl you'd be better off using other spells beyond level 5, and still in One D&D beyond level 5 Hex is still a good choice if you are doing a dungeon crawl. So nothing has really changed. The costs & benefits of Hex are the same. Warlocks have just increased in power with more spell slots and access to more spells. Hex-EB blaster is just as powerful as it is in 5e, and remains a viable but not optimal simple Warlock playstyle.
Do some DMs actually allow players to maintain concentration through a SR? I certainly wouldn't.
There's no reason they shouldn't be able to. Concentration only drops if you're Incapacitated or fail the saving throw on damage; there's nothing in the language of a short rest that indicates it would end concentration.
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as for fixing Hex, at some warlock level after first have it cast (at slvl1 for free) automatically (if you so choose) with Pact Weapon and Pact Familiar attacks. let it take effect immediately before the damage roll. there, now blade buoys can worry less about concentration (and duel wield light weapons) while familiar folk have a reason at all to pet attack before level 9.
if Tome-locks needs in on this, let them write a name in their death note that Hexes a target without line of sight. this takes a full minute (and might require their 'true name' or at least a description of them and their location to avoid mis-hexing). combine with Hexer invocation for additional range.
edit: removed some fluff that wasn't pertinent enough to the discussion.
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tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
The thing about no concentration is that, that is what the UA for Ranger gives them for Hunter's Mark. Maintaining concentration on Hex limits warlocks significantly and they are already heavily restricted within this UA compared to the other two mage classes. I don't think there needs to be a benefit for maintaining concentration, hex just needs to stop being a blocker to using other concentration spells or Hex needs to get another usage which makes the concentration more worthwhile; right now the Hexer invocation is woefully bad.
My thoughts on Hexer is it should instead make Hex have no concentration but gives disadvantage on concentration checks while Hex is active and on a creature. Overall there is no real reason why Ranger should be better at Hunter's Mark than Warlock is at Hex.
I'm not gonna wade through the 65 pages but on the topic of Hex (and Eldritch Blast too) - I wish your subclass altered how they function. A fey hex and fiend hex could be mechanically different and it would fit so much better then just standard necrotic damage if there was an alternate damage type for each subclass and/or there were rider effects on it. Eldritch Blast could use the same treatment.
That's a terrible fix for Tomelocks, the kind that invites the perception that someone in the design staff just hates them.
Bladelocks and Chainlocks cast Hex without taking an action, Tomelocks need to take 10 combat rounds? It needs to be the same for all 3, not great for 2 and even worse than just casting the spell for the 3rd.
The think with no-concentration for Hunter's Mark & Hex is ... why are they even spells then? Just give then a class feature:
Powerful Strikes
Whenever you hit a creature with an attack roll, you deal an additional 1d6 damage to the target of the same type as the original attack.
Or for that matter, why bother having it be a class feature? Why not just increase the amount of damage dealt by weapons and cantrips by 1 damage die just for well... everyone?
It's still costing a spell slot.
The other option is to just make hex stronger and balance it in a different way. For example
Warlock spellcasting thoughts.
1) Just give bit of a boost to the number of spell slots (NOt make a 1/2 ot 1/3 cater.
2) If you want to move away from Short rest to regain Spell Slots. Based on Warlock level character can spend (pay to patron) 'X' number of hit dice (In combat will cost an action. Useful in long fights, not so much if use before or after a fight)
Hit dice are a fairly cheap resource for a back row caster, though. You typically either come out of a fight barely scratched, or banged up bad enough that you rate healing from a party member. Really, they've somewhat painted themselves into a corner if they're leaving short rests off the table. One of the primary functions of a short rest is to allow for resources that will be limited in a given fight but less limited across an entire day. If there really are that many tables not using them and it's not just a vocal minority of people who get stuck at bad tables, fixing the rests makes more sense than this mess. Making Warlocks a half caster just destroys the class identity and role in the party: Blade is SAD but still can't actually hold together in melee like a Paladin or Ranger, and Tome and Chain have almost nothing to offer that Wizards don't already cover. Making Arcanum Invocations just makes it worse by forcing people to choose between the more niche/specialized Invocations or a pale shadow of real spellcasting. The core identity of the Warlock was the full casting progression with quickly refreshing slots and a wide suite of Invocations to choose from. We're now 0 for 3 on those counts.
And yet this whole change to Warlock has come about because people want to have a surplus of spellslots, so that cost is negligible much of the time - particularly since upcasting can give you durations of several hours. Having Hex require concentration works perfectly fine, you choose either a long-lasting small but significant boost to single-target damage or to use a more powerful but short duration crowd control spell. This is the fundamental trade off inherent in the entire design of 5e.
Hexes duration increase used to allow warlocks take a short rest and keep it going. Its long duration was a means to extend the slot efficiency due to warlocks having so few slots. At level 5 and above it was basically a cantrip that locked you out of using other concentration spells, and the concentration was there to keep it from being abusable with short rest recovery and long duration.
Now it is simply an inefficient use of a spell slot and an inefficient use of your concentration. The duration increase doesn't really help the spell and having more slots means the concentration hurts its usage even more as it prevents most exploration spells like invisibility and detect magic. The reason for it to have concentration at higher levels is gone, but it kept the concentration requirement anyway.
That's self-contradictory though... it's designed to extend slot efficiency letting you keep a spell going for half of your adventuring day, but it's inefficient because you can't use other spells... Hex and other concentration spells work exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So I do not understand your logic here. Yes invisibility and detect magic break the long duration of Hex, but that was always the case, and detect magic and invisibility have always been available to warlocks and good utility option for them to take, I means -lock even get an infinite free casting of detect magic as an invocation and always have. Hex+EB damage scales exactly the same in One D&D as they do in 5e. So honestly here, what has changed to make Hex bad now??? I can see no difference in how Hex works for a full classed Warlock between One D&D and 5e. The designers have just given more spellslots so even if you don't take any SRs you can cast other spells for utility and then recast Hex when you go back to combat even if you don't take a SR in between.
The only thing that has really happened is that Warlocks have gotten access to the full Arcane spell list so they have access to better in-combat concentration spells that they didn't have access to before. So Hex hasn't gotten worse at all, rather warlocks have just gain the option to choose better in-combat concentration spells if you are playing in a campaign where having a spell last for multiple combat isn't necessary or useful. Hex was and remains a great choice for dungeon-crawly games, whereas it was and remains mediocre / poor for games with only a single-combat per adventuring day. Not every feature or spell has to be the best choice in every single game, and indeed it is impossible to make it so that is the case - even without concentration Hex is a mediocre / poor spell for a game with only a single combat per day, you'd get much more damage from a single Fireball than from a 3rd level Hex if you only fight 1 combat per adventuring day regardless of whether Hex requires concentration or not.
Hex clearly became worse. They added the 'You can deal this extra damage only once per turn' qualifier whereas before you could deal the damage for every EB bolt. You can't even up cast it to get equivalent damage because you slot progression is far behind what it was in 5e and mystic arcanum doesn't create actual slots.
If you run the math, the damage is exactly the same because of the difference in the chance to trigger the damage. If you make 2 attacks on an enemy and have a 50% chance to hit, then if you deal an extra 1d6 if an attack hits, then you expect to see 3.5 extra damage per turn. However if you make 2 attacks on an enemy with 50% chance to hit and deal an extra 2d6 damage if either of those attacks hit then you expect to see 5.25 extra damage per turn.
Hex damage is only 1d6 between levels 5 and 9 because you don't get a third level spell slot to cast it with until level 9, and then if you're using a third level slot to cast Hex with... well...
One of the reasons that I suggested turning it into a cantrip and scaling it with Warlock levels. It would be 1d6 from level 1 to 5, 2d6 from level 5 to 11, 3d6 from level 11 to 17, and 4d6 from 17 onwards.
Then instead changing so much the Hex itself for a single class, that sounds more like a class specific cantrip/spell. That is probably what you mean but taking Hex as base for understanding.
Yes, although Hex is tagged "Warlock" in the playtest materials, so it's likely that Warlock will be the only class that can take it anyway.
It can work as a cantrip maybe, but unless the concentration is solved its still in a bad spot. The whole i don't get short rests problem is centered around not having enough encounters per day as if you do, you are taking short rests. Without enough encounters even with limited slots you will be using a better concentration spell every fight.
I'd make it a class ability and like rage have a hexes per day column, have it last a minute at default, let it change targets freely, no concentration, maybe no components even as its not a spell anymore its a class ability. Add class features that give ways to amp it up along the way. Have more invocations tied to it. Move on.
Before warlocks had 2 slots that recovered on a short rest. Hex concentration lasted 8 hours when cast as 3rd level or higher. Which lasted longer than the short rest.
Before casting hex cost you your concentration but DIDNT cost you a spell slot at all. That was the trade.
Now it costs one of your few precious 3rd level slots AND locks you out of concentration spells which you both have more access to and freer ability to cast thanks to more spell slots making the concentration more expensive AND the slot more expensive
Do some DMs actually allow players to maintain concentration through a SR? I certainly wouldn't. Nor do I allow PCs to game the system taking SRs right after a long rest. I expect most tables were the same and Hex always required a spell slot. Plus how would you get around the whole 'your target has to die before you can move the Hex' if you're casting it hours and hours before combat?
You don't have to cast Hex with a 3rd level slot now, you have tons more choices because you have tons more spell slots and access to the whole Arcane spell list. Hex is now just one option with pros and cons like any other spell rather than one of the few spells worth casting in combat on the warlock spell list. Though even in 5e unless you were doing a dungeon crawl you'd be better off using other spells beyond level 5, and still in One D&D beyond level 5 Hex is still a good choice if you are doing a dungeon crawl. So nothing has really changed. The costs & benefits of Hex are the same. Warlocks have just increased in power with more spell slots and access to more spells. Hex-EB blaster is just as powerful as it is in 5e, and remains a viable but not optimal simple Warlock playstyle.
There's no reason they shouldn't be able to. Concentration only drops if you're Incapacitated or fail the saving throw on damage; there's nothing in the language of a short rest that indicates it would end concentration.