7th edition 40k and the meta... Has anything really changed ?

I recently posted my predictions for the new Tau... To quickly summarize I think they will be towards the bottom of top tier because they didn't really get anything to address their overall shortcomings... They just got better at what they already do best which is shooting.

I would rank the top tier as follows not accounting for any allies:

Eldar
Space Marines
Necrons
Tau

Daemons are up there too but it's an army that requires an expert player in my opinion with a good deal of experience.

Remember the top armies in fifth edition:

Imperial Guard
Grey Knight/Space Wolves
Necrons (right at the tail end)

We now have to factor in the effects of allies and multiple detachments but overall I don't think anything has really changed much - there will always 3-4 armies that dominate in 40k. I'm not saying that's a good thing or bad - it's just the way it is for whatever reason.

If we look back at sixth edition I would rank the armies as follows:

Tau-Eldar (allied)
Eldar
Tau
Daemons
Space Marines

Eldar and Tau really dominated sixth edition... The combination of the two was really over the top since they were battle brothers which allowed for many broken over the top shenanigans.

At the beginning of seventh edition a lot of people thought GW wanted to finally balance armies with the initial release of codices such as Astra Militarum, Blood Angels, Dark Eldar, Grey Knights and Orks... But then the proverbial power houses were released and we all realized it wasn't the case. Maybe GW originally intended to try balancing the game but overall sales dropped and they went to their old ways. One thing I can say is Eldar have never gotten a bad codex ever. To me it will be very interesting to see what happens with the next new codex - will it be the next big thing or just another dud or mediocre army for all intensive purposes ?

I have stayed away mostly from the subject of allies and mixed detachments... Allies have been a much hated subject with the release of sixth edition but honestly I don't here as much of a concern about them lately. That could be due to things such as the pure strength of armies such as eldar and Necrons - then there are those amazing new formations that seem to have eclipsed the subject of allies... It is definitely one of the big things now.

I feel very fortunate that the armies I like to play have good codices but I do feel for the players who aren't satisfied with armies such as Orks. I can tell you there a lot of disgruntled Tyranid players as not everyone wants to field five flying Hive Tyrants equipped with dakka guns and haywire templates... So I think the next new codex could be a really big deal... What we really need is another codex like Khorne Daemonkin that takes something rather mediocre at best and transforms it into a playable army again - this is what GW should focus on doing now and it would really help the game we all love or just love to hate.