For most games, you dont even need WED.

The only thing where its really nessesary is when you build
"block" levels that have to be compiled (static light).
But since most games dont require it (using Model-based levels and shaders),
its a tool that can be fortunately bypassed.
Also WED should have supported an engine-rendering editor view like 10 years ago... the program reminds me
of these 50s American cars in Cuba, that get constanty
refitted.

For many demos I used my own leveleditor, used some external tileeditor or just generated the levelcontent by
script.

What I would want from a new WED is a better way to
organise elements. In an easy to manage tree with subfolders
and objectgroups, and extendable objectclasses.
Smart would be to base the levelformat completely on XML,
wich can be easily manipulated manually or by custom code.



MED I see as an intermediary or beginners tool.
For that its quite ok.

SED is relatively good for a custom IDE,
and can be bypassed easily if you dislike it.