I feel your pain man, I feel it.
exactly tbh. And city folk seemed much more...well it tried to be bigger but it ended up being much more of a mess, I kinda prefer how much more compact New Leaf was.That was probably my biggest disappointment of E3, the fact that no new AC game was announced, and all we get are a few minigames that rub salt in the wounds.
I would actually prefer if the next game is on the New 3DS, because I think a handheld fits the series much better. The real-time clock works much better on a portable device, where you can access the game at any time a lot more conveniently.
That's a big reason why I disliked City Folk so much, coming from Wild World. Among other things.