While I don't see this as the death of imagination, I do see it as a restrictor. One of my favorite things to do is see how much of a monkey wrench I can throw into the game while still keeping in character and on plot. Normally this entails using a spell or ability in some completely unusual way (i.e. windwall a "wind tunnel" through a gas filled room, Summon a few pixies to fly into a dragons ear and just irritate it till it leaves, that sort of thing). Doing off the wall things like this will be severely limited with this online engine. I hope they are comming up with ways to let DM's modify general play to allow for creativity. Otherwise I might as well play WoW.