I like that they have descriptions, but I don't like how it takes up so much room. The problem I can see with it though is what do you put there instead? in vCoH wasn't it just a blank panel anyway?
I also really disagree with whoever said the UI hasn't been improved at all. Some parts look great to me, and I especially find the tooltips for vetrancy really useful. I also find it good how the keyboard shortcuts seem to be layed out slightly better than previous. My number one gripe is also with the resource panel. It just doesn't feel right