I've never been fond of named characters... I prefer to use the generic lords and customize them myself. They become me in the game, makes it more of an attachment to the army. I can definitely see the benefits of Wulfrik however. his ability is beastly. I can understand the items issue. There does seem to be the move away from special items like in 7th. 7th still had the problem of people only taking certain items (Puppet, Black Mace) as well... Overall though, 8th edition has been my favorite since 3e...